The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hello and welcome to Mom and Dad are Fighting, Slate's parenting podcast for Thursday, October 31st, the Parent Under the Influence Edition.

I'm Dan Coise. I'm an editor and writer at Slate. I'm the author of the book How to Be a Family, and I'm the dad of Lyra who's 14 and Harper, who's 12.

My name is Jamila Lemieux. I'm a writer and a contributor to Karen Feeding, Slate's weekly parenting column. I am the mother of Naima, who is six, and we're based in Englewood, California. I'm Rebecca LaVoy. I'm a journalist and podcaster in New Hampshire, and I am mom to Henry, who is 18, Teddy, who is 16 and a half, and my stepdaughter Lily, who is 19. And this is

Rebecca's final show as a regular host. She has assured us she will be rejoining us from time to time

over the future. But she is leaving us, if we'll have you,

as she is leaving us for the glorious grind of the Daily New Hampshire News

Cycle.

Rebecca, I'm just going to ask you a quick question to commemorate your years on this show

and the many, many, many wonderful episodes that you put in. What was the worst

ever fail that you presented on the show? Just the stupidest, dumbest, most terrible fail that you

ever pulled off. Well, it's more of a compilation of a thematic fail because listening back to the show

sometimes I realize, and this sounds familiar. I think I've said this before. And it usually is,

oh shit, I didn't know this thing was happening in my son, usually Teddy, because he's younger one

in school and has more like stuff I need to

know. Like, I didn't know that meeting was happening. So I just blew it off. I didn't know this concert was happening. So I almost missed it. I didn't know this like regular thing that all these other parents seem to know is happening. So I had to make some sort of last minute scramble just to like do the bare minimum. So that's sort of the theme for me.

I always feel like out of the loop. Like I'm not the adult in the room when it comes to parenting my

kids and just knowing what the hell is going on. So that would be the one I think I'd point to the most.

That's very in the spirit of mom and dad are fighting a show that launched with one of our original co-host, Alison Benedict, confessing that she never opens her mail.

And therefore, as a result, she often finds out about stuff like parent-teacher conferences three months after they happen.

That's right.

I will note, Rebecca, that several Facebook commenters noted that your triumph from a couple weeks ago where you discovered that past you had assembled all the stuff you needed for financial aid.

...