Episode Description
"Family-friendly society" sounds SO BORING but listen: it's what we all want. It's what singles and elders want, it's what parents and partnered people without kids want, it's what KIDS WANT. A society that takes all of us — and our needs and capacities — seriously?? That considers all of us, in whatever scenario we find ourselves, AS A FAMILY? When we announced that we were doing this episode, we got a ton of questions asking us to also consider people who weren't parents in their 30s and 40s, and yes, of course, team, I would never approach this topic without thinking expansively about it — as in, expansively enough to include me, and our beloved co-producer Melody, and all of our various family configurations.
I would only do an episode with expansive questions like yours with someone (with tremendously policy experience) who understands "family-friendly" expansively. So listen in as Elliot Haspel and I imagine a better (and possible!) family-friendly world.
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Show Notes:
Find out more about Elliot's work here — and buy Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All here
Subscribe to Elliot's truly excellent newsletter, The Family Frontier, here
A pretty fantastic write-up of the 1971 Comprehensive Childhood Development Act (and its failure) by the Institute for Research on Poverty
More on "the curb-cut effect"
Elliot cites a now famous maxim from the former mayor of Bogotá mayor, Enrique Peñalosa: "children are a kind of indicator species, if we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for everyone.”
"70% of children under the age of 6 have all available parents in the workforce"
Elliot cites Elissa Strauss's book When You Care — here's my interview with her
Only 13.9% of US workers were part-time in December 2024 — compare to the EU numbers here!!!
The AMAZING coconut-miso-ginger curry I mention in the Wild Alaskan ad!
We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:
New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS
How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH
How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)
The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)
Wedding culture (especially the more, uh, cult-like or obligatory components)
What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!)
For our next Culture Of Place: Puerto Rico!
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment
As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here
For this week’s discussion: What did this conversation make you want the MOST? What feels like it could be possible in our lifetimes, and what still feels intractable?