Parent Footprint With Dr. Dan

Dr. Dan interviews Kwame Alexander poet, educator, speaker, publisher, and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 38 books including the powerful memoir Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances. Dr. Dan and Kwame discuss his father, family, parenting, writing, his mom, and much more during this intimate, lyrical, poetic interview. Dr. Dan and Kwame’s conversation is inspiring and unforgettable.  A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Coretta Scott King Author Honor, Three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. He is the Executive Producer, Showrunner, and Writer of The Crossover TV series, based on his Newbery-Medal winning novel of the same name, which premiered on Disney+ in April 2023. For more information please visit www.KwameAlexander.com. Email your parenting questions to Dr. Dan podcast@drdanpeters.com (we migh

Dr. Dan interviews Dr. Victoria Waller about her book Yes! Your Child Can: Creating Success for Children with Learning Differences as well as her proven techniques to create success for children with learning differences and challenges to draw out the singular genius within each child.   Dr. Dan and Dr. Waller talk about her “secret sauce” and teaching to strengths and passions. Dr. Waller explains how to use our child's natural strengths and passions to build academic, social, and personal confidence. Dr. Waller empowers parents to let their children follow their own interests, whether it's learning about sharks, reading to the dog, or writing. Dr. Waller’s techniques are effective and inspiring – just like this energizing episode. For over 40 years, internationally acclaimed reading specialist and student advocate Dr. Victoria E. Waller has helped children who have trouble reading, who can't sit still in class, who don't feel like they can participate—children whom teachers have all but given up on.  Every

Dr. Dan interviews with Ebele Onyema of One Love Foundation about the recent Surgeon General’s stern warning on social media and teens.  Dr. Dan and Ebele discuss how social media can actually serve as a positive lifeline for teens in need of healthy connections.  They explore how to strike a balance between IRL (“in real life”) and online connections as well as making sure that teens have tools to build relationships – romantic or platonic – in a healthy way.  In addition, Dr. Dan and Ebele discuss One Love Foundation, a nonprofit that empowers young people to recognize the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships. With workshops, PSAs and resources like their 10 Signs of an Unhealthy Relationship, One Love Foundation was founded to honor the unnecessary and tragic death of Yeardley Love and has reached over 100 million young people.  Ebele Onyema is the Director of Digital Content & Partnerships at One Love Foundation, the national leader in educating young people about relationship health. Onyema belie

***Content Warning: drowning and child loss. Today Dr. Dan interviews filmmaker Chezik Tsunoda to raise awareness about childhood drowning. In September 2018, journalist Chezik Tsunoda’s life changed when her son Yori died after a tragic drowning accident. Dr. Dan interviews Chezik Tsunoda about her loss and her sorrow as well as her powerful documentary Drowning in Silence about the grief she experienced after losing her son to drowning. The film is a beautiful tribute to her son but also a call to action for Black communities to incorporate water safety into their daily lives. Sixty-four percent of African-Americans have no swimming ability. In addition, fatal drowning is the leading cause of death for children one to four, according to the CDC.  Chezik Tsunoda is a mother of four boys, a documentary filmmaker, and the founder of No More Under. Tsunoda is passionate about drowning prevention, with a specific emphasis on equity in aquatics and expanding water safety accessibility. Her commitment to this effo

Listen to July’s Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episode now! Host Dr. Dan and podcast producer Laura Rossi answer your questions about a sleepaway camp debate, parents questioning their adult daughter’s boyfriend choice, a seemingly friendless kid, and Dr. Dan’s book recommendations. Each month Dr. Dan answers listener questions about parenting (and sometimes adulting, too!) on our Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episodes. Please email your parenting questions to podcast@drdanpeters.com or DM us on social media. We read every question and we want to consider yours for a future bonus episode. Our new bonus episodes drop in our regular podcast feed that last Tuesday of every month. Follow us @parentfootprintpodcast (Instagram, Facebook) and @drdanpeters (Twitter). Listen, follow, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Wondery, Amazon Music, or wherever you like to listen. Remember you can hear every episode one week early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in the @WonderyMedia App. For more information:

Dr. Dan is excited to speak to the inspiring, passionate, beloved parenting expert Hunter Clarke-Fields about her books and parenting tips. Hunter is the #1 bestselling author of Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids as well as the new book Raising Good Humans Every Day: 50 Simple Ways to Press Pause, Stay Present, and Connect.  Hunter Clarke-Fields, MSAE, RYT (“mindful mama mentor”) is the creator of the Mindful Parenting course and host of the Mindful Mama podcast. Using the Mindful Parenting Method, she helps parents bring more calm and peace into their daily lives. Today Dr. Dan and Hunter discuss how mindfulness can make you a better parent and much more. Hunter has over twenty years of experience in meditation practices and has taught mindfulness to thousands worldwide. For more information about Hunter, the course, her books, and more visit www.mindfulmamamentor.com and follow Hunter on social media. Email your parenting questi

Dr. Dan welcomes clinical psychologist, expert, and author Dr. Gail Post to the podcast to discuss tools to help parents of gifted children in this educational episode for gifted and 2e (twice-exceptional) families. Dr. Post has written hundreds of posts and articles about giftedness and is passionate about advocating for the needs of gifted children, dispelling the pervasive misconceptions and stereotypes about giftedness, and supporting families in their parenting efforts - especially the needs and emotional life of parents of gifted children. A Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Post is the author of The Gifted Parenting Journey: A Guide to Self-discovery and Support for Families of Gifted Children. The book combines her experience as a psychologist, parent, and advocate for change. For more information and resources please visit: www.gailpost.com. Email your parenting questions to Dr. Dan podcast@drdanpeters.com (we might answer on a future

Today Dr. Dan interviews pediatrician and author Dr. Maggie Kozel about children and emotionally-based illnesses. In this unprecedented time of pediatric (and adult) mental health crisis, this episode is essential listening for all families, caregivers, and medical professionals. Shortly after Dr. Kozel accepted a position as Medical Director of the Inpatient MedPsych unit at Hasbro Children’s Hospital (Providence, RI), she realized she had been treating emotionally-based illnesses in her previous pediatric patients with “one hand tied behind her back” and this revelation transformed her work. Now through My Legs Are Crying, Dr. Kozel’s pediatric experience teaches us about the emotional brain, mental health, depression, and anxiety.  Dr. Dan and Dr. Kozel discuss the book (Dr. Dan was an *early reader), her work, and methods to effectively manage pediatric anxiety.  A graduate of Georgetown University Medical School, Dr. Kozel is an activist for healthcare equity and common sense gun safety, and her numerous

It’s Family Time on Parent Footprint! Dr. Dan welcomes The Brooker Family — their POPcast recently launched Season 2! Hosted by 2-time Emmy Award-winning and Webby Award-winning journalist, actor and comedian Heather Brooker, her husband Chris and their 10-year-old daughter, Channing, their show is the first ever video podcast to bring parents and kids together to talk about entertainment, video games, music, pop culture and more.  Dr. Dan interviews Heather and Chris about their family, their family entertainment video podcast, and how three entertaining personalities, all of them in the performing and creative arts, pour over pop culture current topics and releases together. This episode is like The Brookers —  relatable, unfiltered, fun, and funny!   Heather Brooker is an Emmy Award-winning actress/comedian. She’s appeared in over 40 films and TV shows including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Office,” “Fresh Off The Boat,” “The Mindy Project'' and more. Heather was in the unprecedented role of digital entertainmen

On the new June Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episode, host Dr. Dan and audio engineer Phil have a great conversation about your listener questions including: tension between a mom and son, financial challenges, a new autism diagnosis, and more. Each month Dr. Dan answers questions listeners submit about parenting (and sometimes adulting, too!) on our Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episodes. Please email your parenting questions to us at podcast@drdanpeters.com or DM us on social media. We read every question and we want to consider yours for a future bonus episode. Our brand new bonus episodes drop in our regular podcast feed that last Tuesday of every month. Follow us @parentfootprintpodcast (Instagram, Facebook) and @drdanpeters (Twitter). Listen, follow, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Wondery, Amazon Music, or wherever you like to listen. Remember you can hear every episode one week early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+ in the @WonderyMedia App. For more information: www.exactlyrightme

Content warning: parental loss Dr. Dan speaks to Liz Glazer, an award-winning standup comedian, actor, and writer. Dr. Dan and Liz discuss the one-year anniversary of Liz’s first daughter’s stillbirth and how her debut album, A Very Particular Experience, honors Liz and her wife’s first daughter Leo Pearl. A Very Particular Experience (out now) is a way to create something positive from this tragic experience and it will resonate with listeners. Recently Liz (first place winner in the Boston Comedy Festival) celebrated her 10th year of standup comedy. A Very Particular Experience is her deeply personal album about grief, inherited trauma (Liz is the grand-daughter of 4 Holocaust survivors), life, love, and loss. Her openness and honesty makes this a unique and special episode. Liz Glazer’s comedy has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and she has also appeared as an actor on “The Blacklist” on NBC, “For Life” on ABC, and “BULL” on CBS. Liz is currently working on a comedy pilot about her life as a law p

Welcome to Exactly Right and Parent Footprint’s two year anniversary episode!   Dr. Dan and Parent Footprint celebrate their second Exactly Right anniversary on this new episode with special guest Jordan Carlos, co-host of Exactly Right’s Adulting. Jordan (with co-host Michelle Buteau) gives real life advice with a heaping portion of hilarity – and a dollop of truth – on their popular podcast. Continuing Parent Footprint’s tradition of interviewing our Exactly Right fam (shout out to Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgariff, Kara Klenk, Kurt Braunohler),  now Dr. Dan talks to Jordan Carlos, a comedian, actor, podcast host, and Dad. Dr. Dan and Jordan commiserate (and laugh) about #Dadlife, poop, what it means to be a hall of fame parent (maybe the next new parenting trend!?!), listening to our kids, the writers strike, and more.  Listeners will want to listen to this hybrid Parent Footprint and Adulting episode on repeat. Big thanks to Jordan, Exactly Right, and all our listeners. Get ready for another great year o

Dr. Dan and author Kelly McMasters discuss The Leaving Season, her new memoir about divorce, creativity, the sacrifices of motherhood, and her decision to leave her marriage. This interview explores the many lessons about self, parenting, family, grief, and love Kelly learned while writing her book. Her wisdom will resonate with listeners. Kelly’s honest story about moving with her husband, a painter, from New York City to rural Pennsylvania, where their children roamed idyllic acres in rain boots and diapers is wrenching and inspiring. Eventually the pastoral landscape and the bookshop she opened — restorative at first —  became the part of her reasons for plotting her escape. Dr. Dan and Kelly hope that today’s episode will connect listeners, create community, and decrease loneliness. Kelly McMasters is an essayist, professor, mother, and former bookshop owner. She teaches at Hofstra University and lives in New York. https://www.kellymcmasters.com/ Email your parenting questions to Dr. Dan podcast@drdanpete

Dr. Dan interviews Sheila Liming, the author of “Hanging Out,”  about why unstructured time is essential and why she urges us to say no to calendar invites and yes to “chilling.”  Sheila explains to Dr. Dan how simple acts of casual connection are the glue that binds us together, and how community is the antidote to the disconnection and isolation that dominates contemporary life. With constant digital access and smartphones around 24/7, our lives still aren’t connected in a meaningful way. Loneliness is an epidemic and Sheila Liming offers the cure: we need to hang out more. Dr. Dan and Sheila discuss what it means  to “hang out”; why modeling “chilling” is important for our kids to see; and how we can help future generations embrace “killing time.” Sheila Liming is an associate professor at Champlain College (Burlington, VT), where she teaches classes on literature, media, and writing. The author of two previous books, her essays have appeared in The Atlantic, McSweeney’s, The Los Angeles Review of Books, a

Welcome to the May episode of Sitting Down with Dr. Dan. Host Dr. Dan and Laura (our podcast producer and girl-boy twin Mom) answer your listener questions about summer and parent relaxation, bullying/body shaming/name calling, Father’s Day and more. PLUS Dr. Dan discusses a powerful new study (released May 14, 2023 from Sapien Labs) that’s everywhere on social media and relates to the finding that the earlier kids get smartphones the worse their mental health is as an adult (study linked here).   Each month Dr. Dan answers questions listeners submit about parenting (and sometimes adulting, too!) on our Sitting Down with Dr. Dan bonus episodes. Please email your parenting questions to us at podcast@drdanpeters.com or DM us on social media. We read every question and we want to consider yours for a future bonus episode. Our new bonus episodes drop in our regular podcast feed that last Tuesday of every month. Follow us @parentfootprintpodcast (Instagram, Facebook) and @drdanpeters (Twitter). Listen, follow, and

In a nod to our favorite true-crime-comedy podcast My Favorite Murder (and podcast network), Dr. Dan interviews journalist Lisa Belkin about her brilliant true crime book Genealogy of a Murder. Lisa’s multigenerational tale of three families whose paths collide one summer night in 1960 with the murder of a police officer is at the core about a true crime in Lisa’s own family (does this qualify as a Hometown Murder Story Georgia? Karen?). Dr. Dan and Lisa discuss how these family histories affected her own life as a daughter and as a parent. Lisa also talks to Dr. Dan about careers and parenting, her own early struggles as a new Mom, the role of her Dad  during her childhood, and what led to her journalism career focus on life/work. Today’s conversation is riveting, real, enlightening, often surprising, and ultimately about how we become who we are. An award-winning journalist, Lisa Belkin writes about American social issues. Her many roles at The New York Times included national correspondent, medical reporte

Dr. Dan speaks to writer and mother Tanya Frank about her new book ZIG-ZAG BOY: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood.  Tanya and Dr. Dan discuss Tanya’s compassionate, heartrending memoir about her quest to understand her son’s journey through psychosis.  One night in 2009, Tanya Frank finds her nineteen-year-old son, Zach—gentle and full of promise—in the grips of what the psychiatrists would later label a psychotic break. Suddenly, Tanya is thrown into a parallel universe: Zach’s world, where the phones are bugged, his friends have joined the Mafia, and helicopters are spying on his family. In the years following Zach’s various and changing psychiatric diagnoses, Tanya struggles to find support while navigating broken mental healthcare systems, first in California and then in her native London during lockdown. Dr. Dan and Tanya discuss this compelling story about mental health and the power of a mother’s love. This episode is an important listen for May and Mental Health Awareness Month because the discussion

Dr. Dan interviews children’s entertainment and music superstar Laurie Berkner on today’s episode. Laurie is beloved by parents, children, and families worldwide. Kids and grownups love her music and they will surely adore her even more after listening to this personal interview. With more than 1 billion total streams, an average of more than 22 million monthly streams, and millions of CDs and DVDs sold, People magazine calls Laurie “the queen of kids’ music,” and the Los Angeles Times says, “Laurie Berkner does what Fred Rogers did: respect, validate and reassure young children.”  Laurie’s YouTube channel has received more than 350 million views.  Laurie’s passion and creativity are singular and special - just like this episode! Dr. Dan and Laurie discuss how her classroom experience with young children informs all of her music as well as the choices she has made throughout her career. During this conversation, Laurie talks about the important role of music in the life of the young child (and all children). 

Dr. Dan welcomes back parenting expert Debbie Steinberg Kuntz to discuss screen time, mental health, and the effects screens have on children and teens. A licensed family/marriage therapist, Debbie explains how we can help our kids reset their screen time to avoid negative health impacts like depression, craving, addiction, and loneliness. This is an important episode for May and Mental Health Awareness Month.   Dr. Dan and Debbie talk passionately about how we are all living during a child and teen mental health crisis of epidemic proportions. The impact of excessive screen use (including social media) on kids and families includes anxiety, depression, social atrophy, poor sleep, and much more. They answer and explore such questions as what can parents do? What should parents do? and more. Finally, Dr. Dan and Debbie discuss Debbie’s Bright & Quirky 6th Annual Summit because the 2023 summit focuses on Screen Time & Mental Health. Parent Footprint Podcast listeners can register for free and watch the summit l

National Foster Care Awareness Month is May and over the years Parent Footprint listeners have asked us for more shows about foster care, foster parenting, adoption, and foster-to-adoption. Today on the podcast, Dr. Dan interviews adoptive parent and advocate Jenell Jones about foster care, adoption, and the foster-to-adoption journey as well as her personal experiences chronicled in her book Shattered. Jenell Jones is an early education entrepreneur specializing in providing high quality learning experiences for children who have experienced trauma in low-income areas. In addition, Jenell provides advice and experience to foster and adoptive parents based on her own experiences as an adoptive mother. In today’s interview with Dr. Dan, Jenell shares the joy and pain navigating the foster-to-adoption system for her daughter, Mercy. By the time she found a place in Jenell's family at 8 years old, Mercy had been bounced around with more than 20 placements, and her history of abuse and mental illness was not disc