The following podcast contains explicit language.

Welcome to Mom and Dad are Fighting, Slate's Parenting Podcast for Thursday, November 15th, the Grandma's Baggage Edition.

I'm Gabriel Roth. I'm the editorial director of Slate Podcast, and I'm the father of Leo, who is four, and Eliza, who is seven. I'm Rebecca LaVoy. I'm a journalist and podcaster in New Hampshire. And I am mom to Henry, who is 17, Teddy, who is 15 and a half, and my stepdaughter, Lily, who is 18. And I'm Carver Wallace, a writer and podcaster in Oakland, California. And I'm the father to Georgia who was 13 and Ezra who was 15.

Today on our show, we have a question from a mother who is fed up trying to work around

her husband's night shift schedule, and another about a three-year-old who is being a jerk to his

grandma. Plus, as always, we're going to have triumphs and fails. We're going to have recommendations

on Slate Plus. Will Oremus will join us to present a classic parenting conundrum. What do you do with a sick kid when both parents have to work to hear that segment? You should be a member of Slate Plus. First, let's do Triumphs and Fails. Rebecca, triumph, fail. What do you got? I've got a triumph. And full disclosure, I've been saving this one because I felt really bad about rolling it out on one of Carvel's fail weeks where he talked about Ezra and school and his interventions and so forth because Teddy, it seems, is turning this shit around.

I had his parent-te teacher conference a couple weeks ago,

and it was the very first time in the history of parent teacher conferences that involved

my son, Teddy Levoy, where I left the building feeling fantastic in every regard. He is doing fine. His grades are like in the, you know,

80s or whatever, and it's so easy to say. And I'm totally doing my best to let all this

other stuff go about like what he could be doing and his potential and so forth. But I'm just like,

he's doing what he's supposed to be doing.

He's found a baseline.

He's hit a groove.

All of his teacher says he's a pleasure to have in class.

He participates.

He's not missing all of his assignments.

He's missing like one or two here or there.

He actually asked to retake a test that he didn't do well on and retook it and did fine.

And this has really been independent of any other kind of intervention on our part.

You know, we set him up with tutoring last year.

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