Quick Fix: Three Pillars of Parenting
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When working on her new book, Hello, Cruel World!, science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed a wide variety of researchers about raising resilient kids. On this episode of How To!'s Quick Fix, Melinda shares the top three pieces of advice she heard from them.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you |
| 0:24.8 | on April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:34.7 | Hello and welcome to Quick Fix, how-to's exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus members. |
| 0:40.6 | Today, more of my conversation with science journalist and author Melinda Wenner-Moyer. |
| 0:45.9 | In our main episode, Melinda offered up advice to a mom who's trying to raise her three-year-old |
| 0:50.2 | daughter with strong, progressive values, without jeopardizing her daughter's close relationship |
| 0:56.0 | with a pair of conservative grandparents. After that conversation, I couldn't resist talking with |
| 1:02.0 | Melinda about her new book, Hello, Cruel World, Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific |
| 1:07.6 | Kids in Terrifying Times. I found it incredibly relevant, especially for those of us with slightly older kids and their |
| 1:15.1 | tweens and teens. |
| 1:16.7 | Here's a moment from the book that I loved. |
| 1:19.2 | She writes, |
| 1:20.3 | Parenting is the hardest job in the world, but as it turns out, the science on what truly |
| 1:25.7 | helps kids isn't all that hard to grasp or understand. I can't |
| 1:29.9 | tell you the number of times I went into an interview and found myself smiling and nodding along |
| 1:35.2 | as I heard a researcher tell me something I'd heard two weeks ago, and also two months ago, |
| 1:40.2 | when I was reporting on different topics for two different chapters. |
| 1:50.0 | In other words, there is a simplicity on the other side of complexity when it comes to parenting well. |
| 1:51.3 | In this book, Melinda identifies three core things that she's taken away from all of her reporting. |
| 1:56.8 | The first one, prepare more than you protect. |
... |
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