Bonus Main Character Syndrome: Your Mom

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

As we head into Mother’s Day weekend (there’s still time to get to the florist if you hurry!), we dive into “motherhood in the moment”—where “pro-natalism”, the rising cost of childcare, and, um, Chapelle Roan are making the “Tiger Mom” era of a decade ago seem quaint. Guest: Jenée Desmond-Harris, staff writer for Slate and host of Dear Prudence. This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, Isabel Angell, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Happy Friday Slatesters, it's Mary, and it's time for us to loosen things up a bit,
0:06.9	which we do every couple of weeks or so with a little water cooler segment just for Slate Plus members,
0:11.8	which is you. So come on in. For the last few weeks, we've been playing a game we call
0:17.6	Main Character Syndrome with all our friends from around the Slate newsroom.
0:21.3	We're asking for like bite-sized updates on a single person, place or thing. They think you need to
0:26.8	know about this week. My guest, this week is Slate's advice guru Jeney Desmond Harris. Jenae,
0:33.2	hello. It's so nice to have you. It's really nice to be here. I like the idea of being around
0:37.4	the virtual water cooler with you. Yes. It's actually, it's just nice to have you. It's really nice to be here. I like the idea of being around the virtual water cooler with you.
0:39.3	Yes.
0:39.9	It's actually, it's just like I totally let my belly out in these segments.
0:43.1	So totally unfiltered for better and for worse.
0:47.0	Okay, then I'm going to imagine we're going on a walk to get coffee outside of the office.
0:50.8	Exactly.
0:51.3	I'm really telling the truth.
0:53.7	You write Slate's Dear Prudy advice column.
0:56.3	This weekend is Mother's Day, which means we have a kind of unconventional main character
1:01.0	syndrome segment this week.
1:03.1	We've decided that your mom needs to be your main character this week because if you're
1:09.0	not choosing your mom, you really need to get brunch reservations,
1:12.2	like ASAP. Like, mom is your main character. Okay, so, Jenae, it's a perfect time to talk to you
1:18.8	about motherhood because you're constantly getting questions about motherhood and also because
1:23.2	you are just back from parental leave. You have a little baby. Yes, I have a seventh-month-old and a three-year-old.
	...

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