Valerie Davis Raskin, coauthor of This Isn’t What I Expected.

Topic: Overcoming postpartum depression.

Issues: Symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) and how it’s different than “baby blues”; dealing with panic attacks, stress overload, and obsessive urges; breaking the cycle of negative thinking; coping with the loss of self-esteem, when to get help; the dad’s role in support a new mom suffering from PPD

Alfie Kohn, author of The Myth of the Spoiled Child.

Topic: Challenging the conventional wisdom about children and parenting

Issues: Parents are accused of being permissive and overprotective, unwilling to set limits and afraid to let their kids fail. At the same time, young people are described as entitled and narcissistic. But there is no scientific evidence at all to support these claims.

Deborah Heisz, author of Live Happy.

Topic: Ten practices for choosing joy.

Issues: The truth about happiness; the science behind having a positive attitude, building positive connections and relationships, nurturing creativity, mindfulness, resilience, gratitude, giving back, and even spirituality.

Heather Shumaker, author of It’s OK to go up the slide.

Topic: Renegade rules for raising confident and creative kids.

Issues: Risk vs. independence; why we need to put safety second; the importance of modeling mistakes; navigating technology; children’s rights at school; don’t banish scary stories; deal with disasters in the news; mean words matter learning to relax.

Mary Reckmeyer, author of Strengths Based Parenting.

Topic: Developing your children’s innate talents.

Issues: Setting kids up for success; finding out what your parenting strengths are; understanding your children’s strengths; creating a parent-child partnership based on your and your children’s strengths.

Andrew Hacker, author of The Math Myth.

Topic: Delusions and false promises of STEM.

Issues: Debunking the ideas that everyone needs to study math; most kids who don’t finish high school or college have had problems in math classes; how mandating math for everyone actually becomes a barrier to graduation and careers; the problem with common core; the importance of teaching numeracy (practical application of basic math concepts such as statistics).

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, author of In Her Own Sweet Time.

Topic: Egg freezing and the new frontiers of family.

Issues: The media circus that surrounds the hook-up culture; what the data says about shifting family structures and how they affect the children born into them; pros and cons of post-35 pregnancy and motherhood; important facts about fertility, egg freezing, and other modern reproductive technologies.

Joelle Casteix, author of The Well-Armored Child.

Topic: A parents’ guide to preventing sexual abuse.

Issues: What is child sexual abuse (myths, signs, healthy behavior)? How predators groom children; teaching children to be save without panicking them; the importance of teaching kids the proper biological names for all of their body parts; communicating with your child, from toddler to teen.

Erika Christakis, author of The Importance of Being Little.

Topic: What preschoolers really need from grownups.

Issues: The importance of creating an atmosphere of free expression; bolstering children’s resilience; what parents should look for in a preschool; the paradox of early learning (kids are hard-wired to learn but there’s an epidemic of preschool expulsions, medication, and anxiety); why all those craft projects are more for the parents than for the kids.

Adam Breiner, ND, medical director of The NeuroEdge Brain Performance Center, in Fairfield, CT.

Topic: Head injuries, concussions, and brain injury.

Issues: Symptoms, signs, myths, and fact about head injuries and concussions; hyperbaric oxygen therapy, diet moditication, and other unusual–and very successful–treatment options.