Ever plan a family vacation for months only to come home thinking, we could’ve done that better? Between the money, the logistics, and the kids, traveling as a fam can be A LOT. 

That’s why we sat down with Jacqui Gifford, Editor-in-Chief of Travel + Leisure, to get her smartest, most practical tips for globetrotting with kids. A lifelong traveler—born in Japan and raised in Saudi Arabia and Qatar—Jacqui now lives in New York City and travels the world with her husband and 10-year-old son whenever she can. You may have seen her sharing her expert advice on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNBC, and MSNBC.

So listen up and come home with happier kids, great stories, and way fewer “never doing this again” moments.

In This Episode:

👉 When it comes to vacations with your kids, why Jacqui believes you should go big or stay home (and plan a great staycation). 

👉 Last-minute family travel: possible or impossible? 

👉 The surprising family travel hack involving European cities. 

👉 The best way to use frequent flier miles when traveling with your family. 

👉 What this intimidatingly well-traveled mom packs in her suitcase. 

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📱Travel + Leisure Website 

📱Follow Jacqui Gifford: @jacquigiff

📱Follow us: @barenakedmoms

After having her first child nine years ago, Adrienne Harper started Bundles of Joy, an incredible organization that provides critical items to families living in poverty throughout New York City and Westchester County. 

There’s a gap in social services that you don’t know or think about unless you’re caught in it: Even families who receive the benefits of free shelter and public assistance still lack essentials like clothing, diapers, shoes, school supplies, and so on. Bundles of Joy is the leading provider of such essentials—thanks to Adrienne’s vision, passion, and dogged commitment. 

Adrienne takes us back to how it all started for her, why social work is so important for kids and families to engage in, and actual ways to make it happen for YOUR family.

In This Episode:

👉 Asking for help takes courage.

👉 Rich or poor, motherhood is the great equalizer.

👉 The major impact of diapers.

👉 What families in need really need. 

👉 What volunteering kids and families gain from helping less fortunate families.

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🎁 Donate to Bundles of Joy

📱 Follow Bundles of Joy: @bundlesofjoyny

📱 Follow us: @barenakedmoms

What happens when a brilliant Wharton professor who studies household and gender economics looks you in the eye and says, “Hey… you’re not the problem—the system is”? You get one of our favorite conversations with Dr. Corinne Low about her new book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women’s Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. Consider it your permission slip to set better boundaries, reclaim your time, and finally correct the imbalances at home and at work.

In This Episode:

👉 Why women literally can’t have it all—and why the feeling of “I’m failing” is baked right into the myth.

👉 The train-station-bathroom meltdown that catapulted Dr. Low into a whole new life: ending her marriage to a man, marrying a woman, and creating a family with two kids that is thriving.

👉 How using the rules of economics on your home and career can bring more joy than any self-help hack you’ve ever tried.

👉 Plus: Official permission to abandon the herb garden you bought during a moment of pure delusion. Consider it… compost.

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Learn more about Corinne Low and her book. 

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Psychotherapist and bestselling author of ALL IS CALMish, Niro Feliciano helps us understand the nuts and bolts of holiday anxiety - why we have it, why it’s so harmful, and how to stop it in its tracks before it hijacks the all season’s good stuff.

Some anxiety is inevitable, but Niro gives us simple, practical, insanely doable strategies to manage it and be less surprised by it. Preparing for anxiety and creating a game plan is the first line of defense. But there are so many things we can do to help ourselves during actual moments of intense stress.

Niro takes the cumbaya out of practices like meditation, giving, and gratitude as she explains why they’re so effective at reducing stress: they keep us in the present—not in the past or the future, where anxiety likes to hang out. Suffice it to say, the timing of this nourishing conversation—on the eve of Thanksgiving—couldn’t be more perfect. 

In This Episode:

👉 Understanding holiday anxiety

👉 Things you can actually do to disrupt anxiety.

👉 Positive loops are just as easy to create as negative loops.

👉 Saying No can be just as valuable as saying Yes.

Follow Niro: @niro_feliciano

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

It’s the main concern parents hear about today: rising anxiety in kids. We asked an expert, Dr. Kathy Cosgrove, who is on the frontlines, how to recognize it and how to help. Here’s the twist: Sometimes, the most effective thing you can do is simply listen.

In This Episode:

👉 What’s a normal level of anxiety in kids and when to worry? 

👉 How a seasoned psychologist handles anxious responses in her own kids.

👉 Anxiety in girls vs. anxiety in boys. 

👉 Moms get anxious, too; the anxieties we’re feeling these days. 

Learn more about Dr. Kathy Cosgrove and The Counseling Center

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

All the stuff Mitch Henderson has figured out on the job—as a Division 1 basketball coach—has made him a better dad to his three school-age children. He shares his tips  for connecting with his tech-native Gen Z players  (spoiler alert: it takes more work) and talks about the value in meeting both his players and his kids where they are, not where he thinks they should be. Of course, we also ask him how he approaches sports for his own children, being a college coach and former superstar athlete himself. What he said surprised and inspired us! 

In This Episode:

👉 The parallels between coaching and parenting.

👉 How a college coach thinks about sports for his own children.

👉 The life-changing power of meditation. 

👉 Leadership is about connection more than authority.

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Watch us now on YouTube

Alanna and Milano wrap up Season 2—and the school year—with some straight talk about sleepaway camp: Is your child right for sleepaway? How do you know if a certain camp will be a good fit? Can parents trust that their kids will be kept safe? How do counselors handle homesickness, bullying, and other challenges? And what if camp interferes with travel sports schedules?

Doug Knight, Director of Camp Tecumseh in New Hampshire, breaks it all down for us. He shares his observations of what happens within (and between) kids when they leave screens, plumbing, electricity, and families behind: self-awareness, self-reliance, collaboration, conflict resolution, and resilience. In other words, GROWTH. 

A former lacrosse legend in his own right and father of three boy athletes, Doug also lends a unique perspective on the ongoing battle between sleepaway camps and youth sports training camps—and how sleepaway, in his opinion, is a much bigger bang for everyone’s buck. 

In This Episode:

👉 How to determine whether the sleepaway experience is right for your child 

👉 Questions and concerns unpacked: homesickness, picky eating, and camper safety 

👉 Cost-benefit analysis of sleepaway camp vs. sports training camps 

👉 What it means to “make good boys better”

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Learn more about Doug and Camp Tecumseh

What’s the difference between your middle-schooler making a dance video and posting it on TikTok? And is an hour of video games the same as an hour-long movie or an hour on Instagram? How does a five-minute work break scrolling Instagram always turn into an hour?

In this week’s episode, Alanna and Milano sit down with social media whistleblower, Max Stossel, who explains why smartphones and social media are so powerful and dangerous for kids. He gives us compelling intel about all the strategy that goes into designing these social media apps—because, a decade ago, he used to be one of the people designing them! (Spoiler alert: We might think we’re using the apps and smartphone, but really they’re using us). 

As Max helps us to understand, addiction to smartphones and social media is as real as any other addition. He shares great tips for undoing the addiction in ourselves and our kids—and seeing every engagement with our phone and social media as a trade. 

In This Episode:

👉 Understanding the trade-offs with smartphones and social media. 

👉 Learning how and why social media apps are designed.

👉 Why kids below certain ages aren’t ready to handle smartphones and social media.

👉 An arsenal of tips for fighting tough battles with smartphones and social media.

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Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Follow Max: Social Awakening and Center for Humane Technology

Ever wonder about the winding roads that lead us to where we are, especially to the wild, beautiful, and often chaotic journey of motherhood? This week, we're peeling back another layer, but this time, it’s from one of our very own. Milano steps into the guest seat on a different podcast, and we knew we had to share this special conversation with you, our Bare Naked Moms community.

In this borrowed episode from "The Pawcast" (Princeton Alumni Weekly), Milano opens up about her remarkable path to and through Princeton University. She gets real with host Liz Daugherty about what it was truly like navigating an Ivy League world with a profoundly unique background: a childhood marked by her mother's mental illness and intermittent homelessness, and being taken in by a true village of good samaritans.  It’s a story of resilience, the kindness of strangers (and campus security!), the devotion of family (like her aunt and uncle) and how these formative experiences shaped the mom and podcaster she is today.

In This Episode:

👉 Milano’s account of her "wild journey" to Princeton against great odds.

👉 A candid view of student life, unlike her peers.

👉 A story of compassion by Princeton campus security during a vulnerable time.

👉 The unexpected chapters after Princeton that led to Bare Naked Moms.

👉 Embracing our past, even if unconventional, can positively impact the present.

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Check out the Princeton Alumni Weekly Podcast

Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Not everyone affected by it is a mother, but all mothers are affected by it: Menopause. What’s more bare and naked than pulling back the curtain on this inevitable, charged event that’s both personal and universal—and usually takes hold of moms right when their children are undergoing their own huge hormonal shifts (a.k.a Puberty)? After all, if Mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy! 

In this week’s episode, Alanna and Milano sit down with endocrinologist and mom of four Dr. Gillian Goddard. Also the author of “Hot Flash” from ParentData and the upcoming book The Hormone Loop, Gillian breaks it all down for us: what’s happening, when it’s happening, who we should turn to for guidance, and what we can do to soften the landing. Together, we form a menopause framework and plan, so it doesn’t disrupt our own wellness, or the balance of our family ecosystems.

In This Episode:

👉 Defining and redefining menopause: the big picture and the smaller pictures. 

👉 Clarifying confusion and misinformation from social media soundbites. 

👉 A plan of attack: symptoms to look for and how to treat them.

👉 Assembling the right health team for this chapter of motherhood.

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Follow us: @barenakedmoms

Follow Gillian: @gillianmgoddard

Read: Gillian’s articles