12-part Podcast: Birth of a Parent
Photo by Taylor Gray
Early Child Matters is now delivering the podcast “Birth of a Parent”, hosted by Michael Feigelson, exploring “how becoming a parent transforms who we are and what we are capable of”.
The “Birth of a Parent” podcast explores the emerging science of how parenthood transforms the human mind. Host Michael Feigelson interviews leading scientists, writers and thinkers to investigate “whether becoming a parent is one of life’s most profound - and least understood - developmental stages”.
There are 12 episodes (and a 2-minute trailer) in the series:
1. A Human Metamorphosis (39 minutes): Many animal species undergo metamorphosis. Historian of science Oren Harman looks at the wider world of nature and posits “a surprising way of thinking about what happens when a baby turns someone into a parent”.
2. The Mom Brain Revolution (38 minutes): There have been centuries of research into what pregnancy does to the body. Neuroscientist Susana Carmona has been moving those impact studies forwards, looking at the brain, “uncovering evidence that motherhood reshapes the human brain in ways scientists are only beginning to understand”.
3. The Dad Bod Theory (44 minutes): Anthropologist Lee Gettler’s research on hormone changes including testosterone, have helped suggest “that fatherhood doesn’t just change how men think and feel, it changes their biology too”.
4. The Connected Mind (44 minutes): Developmental neuroscientist Vicky Long studies those moments when children really seem to connect with their caregiver, “uncovering how parents and children synchronize their minds and get ready to learn from one another”.
5. The Rituals That Hold Us Together (31 minutes): Anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas studies rituals. His work “reveals why humans return to rituals whenever life becomes uncertain, and why parenthood may be one of the most ritual-filled experiences of all”.
6. The Illusion of Knowing (40 minutes): Science journalist and Radiolab host Lulu Miller explores “why we are so determined to make sense of the world, and what happens when life [e.g. parenthood] refuses to fit the story”.
7. World’s Best Managers (32 minutes): Economist and data expert Emily Oster explains “what parenting can teach us about decision-making, leadership, and why good management matters more than perfect answers”.
8. Is a Blade of Grass Enough? (29 minutes): Ecological engineer Nadine Galle explores how parenthood reshapes our relationship with nature. “Before children, a city is something you move through. After children, it’s something you start to see.”
9. The Questions Without Answers (40 minutes): Writer and On Being host Kirsta Tippett “reflects on how becoming a mother transformed the way she sees the world, and why wonder may be one of parenthood’s most overlooked gifts”.
10. The New Fatherhood Script (45 minutes): Richard Reeves explores what happens when old ideas about manhood no longer fit, and “why fatherhood may be one of the places where a new script is still being written”.
11. The Stories We’re Missing (45 minutes): Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List, has spent his career identifying overlooked stories. Given that “parenthood may be one of the biggest transformations in human life…, he helps us think about one of the biggest stories we may still be struggling to tell”.
12. The Grandmother Hypothesis (38 minutes): “Most species don’t have grandparents. Humans do. Why? In this final episode of season one, developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik explores a strange feature of human evolution, and what it reveals about childhood, caregiving, and why raising children was never meant to be a job for parents alone.”