When was the last time you asked for help, or accepted it when offered? As parents it's easy to feel like we're all furiously rowing in our own boats, doesn’t it? That we're required to be independent. That having people see us when we’re struggling is a sign of weakness. But the truth is, we need those connections — and that help — from other people. Today we visit a place, and time, when a community of parents felt a shared responsibility to one another. And we talk with Mia Birdsong, author of the book How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community, on how to build meaningful connections with other parents — and remind you why it’s necessary.

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"I look at them and they're in a different world. I don't know how to describe it other than, 'I don't know what this is, and I don't know what comes next.'" 

Esau McCaulley always knew he wanted to be a father. But he's now working through some unexpected, complicated feelings around being able to give his four children a carefree life. Esau describes how he grew up poor in Alabama and sometimes struggles with relating to his children's comfortable upbringing outside of Chicago. We talk with Esau about this tension: about how to be in your children’s world, when you feel outside of it. 

Esau, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, first wrote about this conflict in a recent essay: "I Grew Up Poor: How Am I Supposed To Raise My Middle Class Kids?"

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Parents are holding things together at the seams. In our second pandemic winter, parents and caregivers are working in overdrive to deal with positive covid cases at home or around them, school closures, covid testing lines, and making sure our kids are okay. But… are parents okay? This week we hear from parents on where they’re at, and we offer some practical ideas for staying resilient in this herky-jerky time.

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Exhausted? Snippy? Yelling? Yasmeen’s in the same boat. Today, she gets personal on when and how she loses her cool with her daughters and the way she’s trying to manage it. We hear from a licensed clinical social worker who has specialized in “the shit we need to do to not lose our shit.” She wants to make sure individual parents know they’re not the only ones who get a little snappy and yell, even if it feels that way.

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We're diving into one enormous question: how have you changed since becoming a parent? Maybe you've changed in ways you're not comfortable with, or maybe you'd actually like things to be different. Perhaps you've never even considered the question. Today we're digging into all the ways we transform as parents and, more importantly, how to deal with change when it feels really hard.

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Being a parent is really freakin’ hard. Of course, it can also be incredibly rewarding and delightful. Either way, it consumes us. Childproof is a show about us, the parents, and how we can raise kids without losing track of ourselves in the process. Each week host Yasmeen Khan, a journalist and mom, brings us conversations and stories with fellow parents and experts on how to navigate this whole parenting thing — especially the shifts that happen within ourselves. Because parents are growing too.

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