Parenting Archives - Public Seminar

Body & Mind

Why communal care must be at the heart of feminism

September 12, 2025 • by Maggie Wyss

Privatized parenting asks individuals to do the work of a village and then punishes them when they can’t keep up....

Past Present

Past Present Podcast, Episode 360

January 31, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss the history of the sleepover—and why they have become so complicated for parents today....

Politics

Why Hollywood Still Can’t Change a Diaper

Passing the American Families Plan may bring us better films about dads and babies

October 6, 2021 • by Janet Golden

During a year spent at home, one new father reported that he had finally learned “how to properly wash my hands—and a baby’s hands.” A parenting resource, meanwhile, let dad know he could get down on the floor and engage his baby in age-appropriate play. In the midst of the ...

Why Hollywood Still Can’t Change a Diaper

Kinships

Inheritance

Pregnant Girl: A story of teen motherhood, college, and creating a better future for young families

May 4, 2021 • by Nicole Lynn Lewis

_____ Honey. For a long time, that’s the only name I had for her, and it fit. Her voice, soothing like honey drizzling over a piece of warm buttered toast, came through the phone every few months. as if she was reading a book or singing a hymn, she chose each word carefully ...

Capitalism

The PMC Has Children

Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class

April 8, 2021 • by Catherine Liu

_____ From the very moment of conception, which for professional managerial class (PMC) parents is always a “choice,” the future child and infant possesses “potential” that has to be both optimized and maximized. PMC mothers have to do prenatal yoga while setting up intrauterine Mozart streams on pregnant bellies. Preparing for ...

Kinships

Hilaria Baldwin’s Newest Baby Should Make Us All Happy

A fresh baby makes us understand how little we understand of other families

March 15, 2021 • by Amanda Katz

_____ In its infinite generative power, Twitter recently churned up an oddly enchanting term: the fresh baby. What is a fresh baby, you may ask? Well, a fresh baby is the baby you get when you already have a newish baby, say less than six months old, and then all of ...

Hilaria Baldwin’s Newest Baby Should Make Us All Happy

Education

Shakespeare on Helicopter Parenting

‘And so shall starve with feeding’

June 22, 2019 • by Luke Williams

Minor disagreements have been overshadowed by common findings; first, helicopter parenting is hyper-present, characterized by abundant parental support but only to craft a child's behavior and public image. And second, helicopter parenting hinders the child's ability to develop an autonomous character -- the ability to make critical, life-changing decisions, more ...