Preparing Kids for the Worst (Without Freaking Them Out)

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey Spotify, is Dampson Idris here to celebrate Tommy Hill Figures' Apex GP collection.
0:06.0	Fuelled by the thrill of speed and the power of style,
0:09.0	Tommy Hill Figures capsule collection merges performance-driven design with limitless confidence.
0:13.0	This isn't just a lot. It's the uniform for those on a journey to achieve their dreams.
0:18.0	Discover Tommy Hilfiger's limited edition Apex GP collection, inspired by F1 the movie, only in
0:23.6	cinema's June 25th.
0:25.6	Adobe Express is the quick and easy Create Anything app.
0:32.6	It has taken my content to the next level, making it simple to create everything I need to promote my
0:37.9	business, from Instagram and TikTok posts to logos and flyers, all in just a few clicks. Build your
0:45.5	brand with Adobe Express. Search for Adobe Express to find out more and get the app for free. Adobe Express,
0:52.8	the quick and easy create anything app.
0:57.4	This episode will contain explicit language.
1:02.0	Welcome to Karen Feeding, the show where we raise the next generation together.
1:05.9	I'm Zach Rosen. I host another podcast. It's called The Best Advice Show.
1:09.7	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, Florida. I'm Elizabeth Newcampamp. I write the family travel blog, Dutch Dutch Goose.
1:28.3	I'm the mom to Henry who's 13, Oliver who's 11, and Teddy who's 8.
1:32.3	We live in Tokyo, Japan, but I'm currently traveling with the kids.
1:36.3	We are in Llan Putar, Mongolia, which fun fact is the coldest capital city in the world.
1:43.3	How cold is it right now?
1:44.5	Well, it's not that cold right now. Because it's summer. It's like in the 60s here. But in the winter, I guess, as capital cities go, it's very cold. Wait a minute. It's 60 degrees right now where you're on? Yeah. It's a cute 95 in Miami right now. Yowsers. Today on the show, we're going to start with a round of triumphs and fails.
1:43.6	After that, we'll going to start with a round of triumphs and fails.
2:03.5	After that, we'll answer a listener question about how and when to talk to kids about death.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.