Care & Feeding | Preparing Kids for the Worst (Without Freaking Them Out)

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Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, a listener faces an agonizing parenting dilemma: Their beloved dog is old and undergoing risky surgery—and they’re not sure how honest to be with their child about what might happen. Should you keep things upbeat and hopeful? Or give your kid a soft landing pad in case the worst comes true? The hosts unpack how to talk about death when it’s still a maybe, not a certainty. Then in triumphs and fails, Lucy dives a little too deep into her daughter’s love life, Zak regrets letting the kids watch something not-so-age-appropriate, and Elizabeth dials in with travel tales from Mongolia. Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Make way!
0:03.0	Coming through.
0:04.6	Rolling deep with my entourage here.
0:06.8	Make way!
0:07.8	Sorry, are you on GIFCaf or something?
0:10.7	Yeah, and they just saved me 400 quid on this new Google Pixel 9 Pro.
0:15.6	That explains the swagger.
0:17.8	What's with all the ducklings?
0:19.5	My entourage? Say hi, guys.
0:22.5	Get the latest phones at great prices from GIFGaf.
0:26.4	And Z August 10th Times Apply. See GIFGaf.com for more info.
0:29.9	This episode will contain explicit language.
0:34.4	Welcome to Karen Feeding, the show where we raise the next generation together. I'm Zach Rosen. I host another podcast. It's called The Best Advice Show. And I am dad to 7-year-old Noah and 4-year-old Ami. We live in Amsterdam. Hi, I'm Lucy Lopez. I host a podcast, The Mamasita, Rika. I'm Mother to Amelia, who's 15, and Avery who's 12. And we live in Miami,ika. I'm mother to Amelia who's 15 and Avery who's 12 and we live in Miami, Florida.
0:57.7	I'm Elizabeth New Camp. I write the family travel blog, Dutch Dutch goose. I'm the mom to Henry
1:01.9	who's 13, Oliver who's 11, and Teddy who's 8. We live in Tokyo, Japan, but I'm currently traveling
1:07.9	with the kids. We are in Ulan Putar, Mongolia, which fun fact is the coldest capital city in the world.
1:15.8	How cold is it right now?
1:16.9	Well, it's not that cold right now because it's summer.
1:20.3	It's like in the 60s here, but in the winter, I guess, as capital cities go, it's very cold.
1:26.4	Wait a minute, it's 60 degrees right now where you're on?
1:28.9	It's a cute 95 in Miami right now.
1:31.8	Yowsers.
	...

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