#2.9 - Robin Wilkins - PhD: Parenting is HarD

Explicit content warning

04/28/21 • 50 min

Maybe you don't think there's much philosophy involved with parenting. Descartes, after all, was too busy figuring out how playing with a ball of wax could reveal the nature of existence to worry about which sippy cup leads to the best SAT scores.

But it's hard to imagine an experience that throws a person into a deeper state of existential tension and reflection than does being a parent. And that tension can also open the door for a lot of bad and dumb ideas about which sippy cup is best for navigating the murky waters of parenting.

Robin Wilkins is a teacher, writer, artist, and musician who holds a master's degree in philosophy. She and John - both of whom are parents - discussed the parenting philosophy of Alison Gopnik (who argues parents should be more like gardeners and less like carpenters) as well as some of the dumber, more infuriating, and more toxic ideas that circulate among the vulnerable and often gullible parenting sphere.

The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children

Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity (Night Glow Board Books)

Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children

More Work For Mother: The Ironies Of Household Technology From The Open Hearth To The Microwave

Robin's Blog

Robin on Twitter: @pamina_q

The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children

Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity (Night Glow Board Books)

Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children

More Work For Mother: The Ironies Of Household Technology From The Open Hearth To The Microwave

Robin's Blog

Robin on Twitter: @pamina_q

Previous Episode

Hard to Believe Weekend Bonus Mini Episode - Shakespeare Authorship with Sebastian Major

In honor of "Shakespeare's" "birthday", a bonus mini-episode featuring a conversation between John and Our Fake History host Sebastian Major discussing the Oxfordian authorship case.

Next Episode

#2.10 - Witch Life - with the hosts of the That Witch Life podcast

It's hard to imagine a more misunderstood and misrepresented form of religious expression than witchcraft. And the definition of "Witch" is as wide and varied among those how practice witchcraft as the definition of "Muslim" or "Christian" is to those who practice Islam and Christianity.

Hilary Whitmore, Kanani Soleil, and Courtney Weber launched the podcast That Witch Life in part to untangle and demystify modern witchcraft, and in the process created a show that is thoroughly engaging, warm, hilarious, and insightful. The three best friends and practicing witches joined John to talk about how they all wound up together in the Pacific Northwest and how their respective spiritual journeys converged around witchcraft - and, furthermore, what witchcraft is and isn't.

You can find more about more about them and their podcast at the That Witch Life website.