Even under the best of circumstances, the decision to end a marriage is often painful and always complicated - and even more so when kids are involved. Today on ParentData, writer and social worker Miranda Featherstone delves into the endless choices that accompany divorce, including making the initial decision, what it means to share your kids, what (and how much) to tell them, and other ways of thinking about the emotional and logistical aftershocks of making the right choice for yourself.

Please look into support from the Domestic Violence Support Hotline, if it applies to your situation.

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You probably remember peanut butter being everywhere when you were a kid: commercials, birthday parties, packed in your school lunchbox. Now peanuts are notable for their absence. What accounts for such a dramatic change in such a short amount of time? When did something so commonplace become so high-risk? Dr. Gideon Lack led the study that aimed to understand what happened. Today on ParentData, he explains the precipitous rise in peanut allergies over the last twenty years, our own unfortunate role in the rise of allergies, and the best ways to safely introduce allergens to your babies.

Read Dr. Lack’s randomized LEAP trial paper in the NEJM and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ subsequent revised recommendations.

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Kids today face an unprecedented pressure to succeed, and it's pushing their mental health, and their families, to a breaking point. Today on ParentData, journalist Jennifer Breheny Wallace explains her research in her bestselling book, "Never Enough," how we got here, how these problems exist across both class and culture, and how we can combat this pressure by simply allowing our kids to matter as much as we already know they do.

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Becoming a parent is transformative. It is also terrifying. From conception and pregnancy onwards, you’re handed a new set of rules to follow with little explanation of the reasons or risks. For each decision, you want to do the “right” thing — but how, with conflicting advice from all directions? For the past decade, Emily Oster has been a guide through the biggest decisions and most challenging moments of pregnancy and parenthood by translating the latest scientific research. ParentData brings Emily and other experts together to debunk myths with data and navigate understudied areas of pregnancy and parenting, from the impact of social media on teens to navigating a complicated birth. Each conversation brings us closer to Emily’s mission: to create the most data-literate and informed generation of parents.

I’m thrilled to share the audio from an event we held earlier this month to mark the 10-year anniversary of my first book, Expecting Better. It was hosted by Dr. Sara Readon (also known as The Vagina Whisperer) and we were joined by Amy Schumer, who helped put the book on the map. We also announced my new book, The Unexpected, which is coming out next spring!

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

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I spoke with Dr. Anupam Jena, known as Bapu, who hosts the podcast Freakonomics, MD, about his new book, Random Acts of Medicine, written jointly with Dr. Christopher Worsham. The book is out this week, and after you listen here, I highly recommend you pick it up.

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

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Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman is a PhD student at Harvard in economics and public policy. Last year, she edited The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System, which features Black scholars and experts across economics, education, health, climate, criminal justice, and technology. This week, the book is out in paperback. In honor of this, she and I connected to chat about two of the chapters — on education for Black girls and representation in children’s books.

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

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When I do my weekly Q&A on Instagram (@profemilyoster), I get a lot of questions about running. Rather than interrupt the parenting content, we thought we’d collect those separately and put them in podcast form. And then I convinced Laura Green to ask the questions. If you do not follow Laura on Instagram, she puts out very funny running comedy; it is seriously the best. So: if you like running and parenting and discussions of the pelvic floor, please give this one a listen.

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

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I heard about Virginia Sole-Smith’s new book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, a few months ago and was so excited I immediately insisted on reading it and interviewing her. I’m a big fan of Virginia’s — she is a journalist, an author, a podcaster, the writer of the excellent Substack newsletter Burnt Toast, and a mom. Her new book is about kids and weight and food, and I think it is an absolute must-read for all parents, especially for that moment when your child asks, “Does this shirt make me look fat?” and you know there is a right thing to say, but in the moment you don’t know what it is and instead you melt into a floor puddle, never to be seen again.

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

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I speak with Megan Nix about her book Remedies for Sorrow, in which she recounts her journey with her daughter, Anna, who was born with congenital CMV. I would highly recommend the book, which is a combination of informative and deeply affecting.

ParentData relaunched in September 2023. Please enjoy this episode of the earlier version of the podcast from our archives. You can read transcripts and listen to all of our episodes at parentdata.org/podcast.

Want more on data, pregnancy, and parenting? Subscribe to the ParentData newsletter for free atparentdata.org.