ParentData with Emily Oster ParentData

Hiring a doula for your birth is, quite simply, a great idea. They’re non-clinical, cost-effective, and, as many mothers will attest, one of the most valuable parts of the experience - a value that is supported by data. The decision to have one should be pretty easy.

But actually crafting policy that captures that value is hard. Today on ParentData, we’re welcoming New York State Senator Samra Brouk, who is doing just that. Senator Brouk spearheaded an effort in New York to get doula services covered by Medicaid (which they now are, as of January 2024!). She explains her love of data, why doulas are important for maternal health - especially for Black women - and how to convince your older, perhaps non-doula-using colleagues that these issues matter.

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American kids are struggling. And there's a lot of discussion around the reasons why. Is it smartphones? Is it social media? Is it a hyper fixation on feelings and therapy?

Today on ParentData, we’re releasing an episode of Good Inside with Dr. Becky, which Emily joined to discuss the latest book making the rounds in parenting circles, Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy. They delve into what parental authority is and what it isn't, how minimization of risk is not a life strategy for kids or adults, and how we can hold two things are true - we can be authorities who also come from a same-team approach with our kids.

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As a parent, it’s extremely easy to get very focused on “doing it right.” Which means, usually, doing what is considered “right” in your particular time and cultural context. And sometimes, amid this pressure, we need a little perspective. Human history is long, and what is considered right has changed a lot.

Today on ParentData, we’re joined by author Jennifer Traig, who offers this perspective in spades. Her book “Act Natural: A Cultural History of Misadventures in Parenting” is a history of parenting (or at least child-rearing) from ancient Rome to Puritan New England to Dr. Spock. We’ve done it a lot of ways and we’re all still here…so we must be doing something right.

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We have all heard it takes a village to raise a child, but the reality is that many of us in the modern world, especially after the pandemic, are asking …well, where’s my village?! Where’s my community of people who will show up for me in joy, and in grief, and help me introduce my kids to a world that’s bigger than themselves?

Today on ParentData, we welcome Rabbi Sharon Brous, whose book “The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts” is about just this: finding community, finding your people, sometimes in faith, sometimes not, but who always show up for you, in both the good times and the bad.

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In January, ParentData launched a new newsletter — Hot Flash — authored by Dr. Gillian Goddard. Hot Flash covers women’s health in the post-reproductive years. Think perimenopause and menopause, but also the late reproductive years, when you’re done having children but still, technically, might be able to do so. This week in Hot Flash, Gillian wrote about birth control at this stage — how do you think about birth control when you know it’s forever?

Today on ParentData, Gillian joins us to walk through it all: from hormones to IUDs to surgeries. We talk about risks, benefits, trade-offs, and more.

Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.

Invisible labor. It’s the work — in our households especially — that has to happen but that no one sees. It’s making the doctor’s appointment, ensuring the Valentine’s cards are purchased, remembering the milk. When we think about equity in household labor, we often find that there are already inequities in the visible work, and they can become insurmountable when the invisible work is added in.

Today on ParentData, Eve Rodsky joins with some solutions to this seemingly endless task list of problems. Her book, “Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live),” and the movement it’s inspired, aims to rebalance workloads and encourage hard conversations, saving time, sanity, and even marriages along the way.

Subscribe to ParentData.org for free access to new articles every week on data-driven pregnancy and parenting.