This week, Quinn and Claire have Kevin Maguire on the pod. Kevin is the dad behind The New Fatherhood newsletter, an executive coach for CEOs and CMOs at companies like Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube, and the author of a book that is very much about dads but honestly applies to anyone who has ever sat down to write a list of the parent they were going to be and then looked back and laughed at themselves.

We discuss: reconfiguring your ambition, writing about your kids as they age, and paternal postpartum depression.

--------------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

LINKS

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Claire and Quinn have Amanda Hess (NYT writer and author of Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age) on the pod. They discuss the summer logistics of having a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, Amanda's emerging second-book obsession (cryogenics, death tech, and the very human story underneath the billionaire-escape-pod headlines), boy mom discourse, training your Instagram algorithm, genetic testing, shame, and the difference between information that helps and information that just produces unnecessary grief and anxiety.

--------------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

LINKS

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Quinn and Claire are joined by Kaitlyn Teer. She's the senior editor at Cup of Jo's Big Salad, essayist, college writing teacher, and author of the essay collection Little Apocalypses: Essays on Motherhood, Climate Change, And Hope at the End of the World.

They discuss green motherhood as yet another impossible ideal, climate anxiety, water bottle hygiene, and their thoughts on an "unstructured summer."

--------------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

LINKS

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Quinn and Claire are joined by Meghan Murphy-Gill. She's an Episcopal priest, former hospital chaplain, mom, and author of The Sacred Life of Bread. They talk about religion, community, and what we actually want to pass down to our kids.

From why Claire sent her kids to Catholic school even as a "faithfully agnostic" parent, Quinn's atheist-but-curious upbringing, and how Meghan went from an Irish Catholic kid to managing editor of US Catholic to Episcopal priest.

Also: Pre-Cana horror stories, the Pope's AI stance, collars (Megan has eight or nine in her car), and whether Mary ever yelled at Jesus (obviously, yes).

--------------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

LINKS

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Something new from the team behind Not Right Now.

It's Called Reality is a podcast about reality TV, and everything it's secretly about. Every episode, hosts Willow Beck and Briana Brown take a show you're already watching and pull the thread on what it's actually telling us about the world.

If you listen to Not Right Now, you already know that the culture your kids are growing up in shapes them in ways that are easy to miss until it's too late. Reality TV is one of the most powerful parts of that culture. America's Next Top Model told a generation of girls what their bodies were supposed to look like. The Bachelor has been teaching young women about what femininity and being "marriage material" are supposed to look like since 2002. The Kardashians essentially invented the influencer economy that your kids are growing up inside.

It's Called Reality takes all of that seriously, with analysis, humor, and zero apology for loving the shows we're critiquing. If you've ever watched something with your kid and thought "wait, what is this actually teaching them", this show is for you too.

New episodes Fridays. Find It's Called Reality wherever you listen to podcasts.

-------------

LINKS

Listen to It's Called Reality: itscalledreality.tv

Follow us: Instagram @itscalledreality and TikTok @its.called.reality

Get in touch: [email protected] -- send us your hot takes, questions, memes, and shows you want us to cover. We read them all.

Take action: whatcanido.earth

Support the show: It's Called Reality is produced by Important, Not Important. If you want to go deeper on the issues we cover (and get future ad-free and bonus episodes!) consider becoming an Important Member: importantnotimportant.com/upgrade

-------------

It's Called Reality is co-hosted by Willow Beck and Briana Brown, produced by Important, Not Important. New episodes on Fridays.

If you love it, leave a rating and review!

It's Maycember, and we're not okay.

This week, Claire and Quinn are back to commiserate about the absolute chaos of late spring parenting, from overloaded school calendars to the age-old debate between fifth and eighth grade graduation parties.

Also discussed: Teacher Appreciation Week, Mother's Day logistics, being the "hang-out" house, garage sale slippers, Geometry Dash, and other trigger words.

--------------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Claire and Quinn are joined by AJ Daulerio, He's a dad of three, founder of the recovery community The Small Bow, host of The Small Bow Podcast, and parenting advice columnist for Slate. AJ has been sober for nearly 10 years, and he brings the same honesty and self-awareness to parenting that he brings to writing about recovery.

They chat about why AJ is more scared of the internet conversation than the alcohol conversation, sports betting, travel baseball all-star tryout for eight-year-olds, and how sober parenting meetings are really just about not letting your worst self show up when your kid strikes out.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

Links:

Follow us:

Music by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

It's a crossover episode! Quinn had the editor-in-chief of The Week Jr, Andrea Barbalich, on his other show The Most Important Question. It was such a great conversation, and so relevant for parents, we thought we should run it on the Not Right Now feed too. We hope you enjoy it!

Andrea is the editorial director of The Week Jr., the only weekly news magazine reporting current affairs directly to children, ages 8 to 14. Under Andrea's leadership, it has grown to over 155,000 subscribers.

Andrea's got 25-plus years in editorial leadership at places like Child Magazine. She's also the editor of a book called Feeling Safe: Talking to Children About War and Terrorism.

We talk about how you explain wars and elections and climate change to an 8-year-old without either terrifying them or talking down to them, why a physical magazine is thriving in a world of 8-second attention spans, and what every parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, and more can do this week to help the kids in their lives become informed, curious, and resilient.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

Links:

INI Book Club:

Follow us:

• Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Quinn and Claire are joined by Willa Koerner, a creative strategist, writer, gardener, flower farmer, newsletter author, artist residency co-founder, and mother of a very busy four-year-old.

They get into unschooling, invasive species, gardening, skincare, aging, and late-stage capitalism.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

Links:

Follow us:

• Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week, Quinn and Claire are joined by journalist and author Fortesa Latifi. She's pregnant, has a toddler at home, and is somehow also promoting a book. Respect.

Fortesa has spent years reporting on the world of mom influencers and family vloggers, and the result is her new book, Like, Follow, Subscribe. The gang covers how she got into this beat, why she approaches her subjects with empathy instead of judgment, and what she's learned about influencer kids who are now adults making their own choices about what to put online.

Also discussed: the economic reality behind "sharenting", snark subreddits, and some practical options for sharing your kids privately with family.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Send a message to [email protected]

Get all of our episodes at notrightnow.show

Find every action recommended in Not Right Now here: whatcanido.earth.

-----------

Links:

Follow us:

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors