Nurturing Minds

P Kyle Stanford —Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California-Irvine —joins Vance and Rachel to discuss his co-author study of people’s estimations of the dangers that unattended children face. Listen to learn about: Moralized judgments How norms about parental supervision of children may be shaped by gender and racial biases Whether it is possible to ratchet down our collective anxieties about leaving children unattended for even brief periods No Child Left Alone: Moral Judgments about Parents Affect Estimates of Risk to Children Black Dads Are Doing Best of All Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

Samantha L. Tornello—Associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State and parent of 2—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their research on how LGBTQ couples divide housework and childcare. Listen to learn about: Simone de Beauvoir and Dorothy Gale from Kansas agreed that housework is torture How families divide up gendered work at home differently depending on the parents’ genders Communication as key to satisfaction with the division of housework and childcare—and why that satisfaction matters more than who does what https://pure.psu.edu/en/publications/transgender-and-gender-non-binary-parents-pathways-to-parenthood This episode’s title pays homage to Dr. Charlotte J. Patterson, PhD, without whom this episode would not exist. Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales—a lesbian couple who are moms of two—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their journey to parenthood. This is the second and final episode of a two-episode series.   Listen to learn about: How people become parents without penile-vaginal intercourse Legal, social, and financial barriers to lesbian parenthood Why it’s more complicated than “just adopt!” Joy, community, and social support in queer parenthood   Guest Experts: Tiffany Holland, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro   Maria Rosales, Executive Director of FaithAction International and recently (at the time of recording) Provost of Guilford College   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

Tiffany Holland and Maria Rosales—a lesbian couple who are moms of two—joins Vance and Rachel to discuss their journey to parenthood. This is the first episode of a two-episode series. Listen to learn about: Becoming a parent without penile-vaginal intercourse Legal, social, and financial barriers to lesbian parenthood Why it’s more complicated than “just adopt!” Joy, community, and social support in queer parenthood Guest Experts: Tiffany Holland, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro Maria Rosales, Executive Director of FaithAction International and recently (at the time of recording) Provost of Guilford College Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

Dr Amy Reed-Sandoval — writer, philosophy professor, and founder of two different Philosophy for Children initiatives — joins Rachel and Vance to discuss how adults can encourage young children’s philosophical curiosity, and why adults would want to do that. Listen to learn about: • What it means to say that children are “natural philosophers” • Why encouraging children to raise questions can enrich a parent-child relationship • Prof Reed-Sandoval’s work with the Oaxaca Philosophy for Children Initiative and with the Philosophy for Children in the Borderlands program Guest Expert: Amy Reed-Sandoval, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com

Welcome to Nurturing Minds, a lively discussion co-hosted by a philosopher (Dr. Vance Ricks) and a social scientist (Dr. Rachel Riskind) about how scholarly research can shed calm light on charged topics. Unlike parenting advice podcasts, this podcast will draw on research from many disciplines and open up possibilities for how the world could be.   Nurturing Minds is for anyone who wants to feel energized and empowered about parenthood. It's for anyone who wishes they could go back to college--but skip the tests. And it's for anyone who is, was, knows, might be, wants to be, will never, or doesn't want to be a parent.   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com  

Special guest expert Selena Wolf-Berkley helps us understand racism as a social determinant of health during pregnancy and childbirth, and how we can make institutional changes to better support pregnant people and their families.   Listen to learn about: How the biopsychosocial model explains pregnancy and postpartum experiences Why maternal mortality disparities can't be explained by income or education alone How doulas help advocate for patients facing medical discrimination Structural changes needed to make childbirth safer for everyone   Guest Expert: Selena Wolf-Berkley, Assistant Director of Learning and Writing Center at Guilford College, doula and birth worker   Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com/

In the pilot episode of Nurturing Minds, co-hosts Rachel and Vance briefly introduce themselves and discuss parenthood and childhood as topics of philosophical interest and importance. Listen to learn about: • Modern-day philosophical views of what makes someone a parent • An argument for anti-natalism (the view that it’s bad to be born or to cause someone else to be born) • Why parents and children might have obligations or responsibilities to each other • Why societies might have responsibilities to parents and (separately) to children Subscribe to the Nurturing Minds newsletter: https://nurturing-minds.beehiiv.com