The fear & shame of modern parenting
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.6 • 8.8K Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From textbook bans to health food trends, there’s a whole culture of fear and political propaganda that preys on new parents, convincing them that just buying this or just voting for that will keep their children safe. But how do you know if something is a moral panic or a legitimate concern?
Brittany is joined by Karen Leick, author of Parents, Media and Panic through the Years, and Cynthia Wang, Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University to sift through the differences.
(0:00) The burdensome anxiety of modern parenting
(2:01) How parental fear & shame impacts children
(4:26) How perceived threats shape parental behavior
(10:31) The emotional impact of parental fears on kids
(13:13) How to know a real vs. perceived threat in modern life
Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluse
For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Okay, y'all, are you a parent or have you talked to a parent recently? Well, newsflash, the parents |
| 0:07.2 | are not okay. And I mean this in a couple of ways. Yes, there's the financial strain of raising a |
| 0:14.1 | child right now, but I'm also talking about this underlying anxiety that seeps into every |
| 0:20.5 | conversation I have with the parent. |
| 0:22.6 | The question of, am I a good parent? |
| 0:26.1 | For the next few weeks, we're going to look at the culture of parenting in America today, |
| 0:30.7 | from the political propaganda that preys on new parents to the challenges of raising a child |
| 0:35.5 | equipped to survive in our rapidly changing world. |
| 0:38.5 | We're showing you how not to fall for the parent trap. |
| 0:48.3 | The parent is thinking, my identity as a parent is very important. If the child succeeds, then it shows that I'm also succeeding as a parent. |
| 0:56.7 | That's Cynthia Wong. |
| 0:58.0 | She's a professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University. |
| 1:01.4 | And she studies how fear and shame affect a parent's self-image and, in turn, their kids. |
| 1:08.2 | But if the child fails, then it's a reflection on my parental identity in a negative |
| 1:13.7 | manner. Lord, have mercy. It seems like it's very driven by this idea that your child is an extension |
| 1:18.9 | of you and you are on the hook for every single thing that could ever happen to them or that they could |
| 1:26.2 | ever do good, bad, or indifferent. |
| 1:28.2 | It's a lot of pressure. |
| 1:29.0 | It is a lot of pressure. |
| 1:30.2 | And I think identity drives so much of our decisions. |
| 1:33.1 | We have professional identities, but one of the strongest identities is this parental identity. |
| 1:38.4 | I mean, they're literally a part of us. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 10 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.