How should we respond when our kids talk back? Some experts say it’s normal child behavior; we should take a deep breath and ignore it. We say no way. But yelling “How dare you!” isn’t getting us anywhere either. Here’s what actually works.

Once we become parents there’s a great divide (of perspectives, bedtimes, and tolerance of baby videos) between us and our friends without kids. Here’s how to stay connected. Guest: Candace Feit, documentary photographer, kid-free leisurely bruncher.

The randomer the thing, the greater the love. From grapefruit LaCroix to Target bathing suits, here’s the beverages, websites, and brands that we (and our listeners) can’t live without, both for our parenting and for our daily sanity.

At school our sons manage to keep it together. At home, flushing the toilet is well beyond their capability. This leads to a litany of "hurry up, put that down, stop doing that, start doing this" from their mothers. But are we too hard on our boys?

Whether it's moving to the big boy bed or heading off to high school - transitions are hard. We discuss ways to help kids transition and how to get underneath tough behaviors to figure out what's really going on.

Psychologists say we parents transfer our own unfulfilled ambitions onto our children. (Sing out, Louise!) Are we living through our kids? Is that bad? How do we stop? Here’s how to take a step back if you find yourself a little too over-invested.

Before our kids were born we had an idea of the mothers we would be— and definitely knew the mothers we would NEVER be. (And then we became parents.) We asked our listeners to tell us the mothers they swore they’d never be— and yet somehow are.

While we grade our husbands’ household contributions against our own, the world grades them against Don Draper— which means any guy with a Baby Bjorn gets a ticker tape parade. But guest Kevin Madsen of HeyDad says that’s not as good as it sounds.

Successful travel as a family doesn’t mean your choice of destination needs to revolve around your kids. But you may need to keep your expectations flexible. This episode is full of ideas for creating family vacations with appeal for all ages.

The best partnerships are symbiotic, so in this episode we give a shout-out to all the things our spouses handle way better than we do, such as: broken dishwashers. Broken bones. Successful repurposing of leftovers. Pancake-making. Thanks guys!