Raising Parents with Emily Oster

The mid-life episode: I wish you all had delved into defining “boring” in a deeper way. I don’t think there is such a thing as a “boring life,” but there are certainly people who are bored with their own lives as evidenced by the host. I’m glad Emily pushed back on some of the misconceptions this host had. Thank you for the perimenopause discussion. I’m 47 and have 3 teenage kiddos. I love this phase of life and see many open doors for growth and fulfillment! I wonder why spirituality was not part of your discussion? If you’re not living for something bigger than yourself, well, that’s totally boring!

I loved the first episode. I wrestled a bit with the second. The third I couldn’t finish. Specifically in the conversation about ADHD, for having allegedly talked to so many experts, somehow what got presented about ADHD was that there are a bunch of common symptoms from Tik Tok influencers leading people to believe they might relate. Sure social media has changed peoples understanding of ADHD. But never did she mention that an actual diagnosis for ADHD is a pretty strict process, and you have to meet a certain number of consistent symptoms, be evaluated in-depth by a neuro-psychiatrist, and have displayed symptoms since before the age of 5. No mention of different presentations of ADHD, which do change with time but don’t get “grown out of” generally. Casting ADHD as a boon for pharmacists or a social media ploy to pathologize symptoms that everyone deals with is harmful to the many people who are just trying to function more effectively. It’s also a separate conversation from whether medication is appropriate. As an adult with ADHD who does not want medication, diagnosis and deeper understanding of the condition has been what has empowered me to find coping strategies that work for me and be effective in my work and home life. I believe the same can be true for kids. (My understanding is that first line of treatment IS behavioral or environmental for kids.) And even though I don’t want medication, research shows that ADHD medications are the single most effective medication for any mental health / psychiatric condition in terms of medication success. I think this episode could have been a much more reflective or nuanced episode about coping, when medication is appropriate (or not), or even on other reasons (besides social media) that ADHD might be on the rise (a gene environment interaction perhaps?). But rhetoric like in this episode is NOT helpful. And as a life scientist, I found it irresponsible. Unfortunately between that and the discipline episode, I think I’m less interested in tuning in to future episodes. 😕 There is some interesting and worthwhile content for sure, but I’ve lost my enthusiasm for the depth of “data analysis”.

I absolutely love Emily's balanced, common sense and data driven approach to this series. It was very refreshing to listen to a parenting podcast that doesn't try to sell you a magic wand nor makes you feel like you are failing in everything you do as a parent. I wish there was second season exploring more thought provoking questions like these!

In today’s biased world it’s hard to find a sober non partisan voice. Emily oster is that voice. If you’re ready to hear a variety of views on parenting this is the podcast for you.

I think we are living in a time where we desperately need more data informed opinions to combat all the misinformation out there so I was excited for this podcast. However, I have been wildly disappointed and I feel like I wasted my time listening to biased opinions rather than an analysis of the research by professionals. To give a pastor who advocates hitting children a platform like this is gross. The episode about what we’re feeding our children completely disregarded the harm we do when we restrict certain food and label foods “good” or “bad” and the episode about boys was infuriating, to say the least. I will not be finishing this podcast because it added no value to my parenting journey. Overall, it was infused with right wing views and really seemed to center White middle to upper class families.

I’ve been following Emily Oster from my first pregnancy a decade ago but I thought the ADHD episode was really counterproductive for a lot of families trying every which way to support their neurodivergent children. I appreciate that big pharmaceutical has some very specific problems in the US (see opioid crisis) but the heavy reliance on a British skeptic seemed to come from a very different place. Because the UK does have some national health service they will push back on certain medical wisdom simply because of cost. Specifically very little antenatal care is offered because “it’s a natural process” leading to one of the highest stillbirth rates in the western world. No chicken pox vaccine because “herd immunity” leading to needless instances of hearing loss and other complications. And putting in places years long waitlists and rigorous screenings because, as the so called expert on this show claimed boys acting out is due to child abuse or domestic violence or parents who at best don’t understand childhood. There is a real debate to be had but I wish the podcast had found a wider and less agenda driven panel to avoid the parent shaming rhetoric.