All the Feels: What Should Dads Do With All Their Guilt, Shame, and Pride?

In the final episode of the season, Joshua David Stein and Jason Gay talk guilt — what it is, where it comes from, and how to get rid of it — and its pleasant counterpart, pride, with Dr. Jessica Tracy, author of "Pride: The Secret to Success" and the director of the Emotion & Self Lab at the Unive…

Shooting Blanks: Are We Becoming a Nation of Vasectomized Men?

More than 500,000 men get vasectomies every year in the United States. On this very fertile episode of the podcast, Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle, both vasectomized men, talk to Dr. Joseph Alukal, professor of urology at the Columbia University Medical Center about why and how. He'…

A Crowded Field: Will the 2020 Elections Do Anything for American Families?

This week on the podcast, Joshua speaks with NPR's political editor Domenico Montanaro, father of one, on how the 2020 field looks for America's struggling middle-class families. Also, Fatherly's own Patrick Coleman swings by to explain how American families got into this mess in the first place. (…

The Second Go-Around: What Does It Mean to Start a Second Family?

The American nuclear family exploded decades ago. The trend has been steadily towards more divorce and more complication — half-siblings and awkward introductions ("This is my ex-wife's husband"). There's nothing wrong with that, but it has forever changed what it means to be a family man. Interest…

A Muffled Cry for Professional Help: Can Therapy Help Parents Not Pass On Their Bullshit?

Therapy can be massively helpful, but it can also feel ridiculous and obligatory. Eager to get a sense of how to make better use of expensive sessions, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein and co-host Jason Gay reach out to Lori Gottlieb, the noted therapist and author of "Maybe You Should Talk…

The Best Children's Book Ever Hasn't Been Written: What Makes Great Literature for Kids?

Children's books are part of the fabric of parenthood. We read them. Then we read them again. We come to know them as well as our kids' stuffed animals (and better than their friends). But what makes one of these deceptively simple tomes tick? Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein, a children's …

Parenting Costs Too Much: Why Are Family Finances So Hard to Manage?

Being a parent is costly. And that's just the money.... This week, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein and co-host Postell Pringle go looking for peace of mind on all things money. Spoiler alert: They don't get it. Instead, they get schooled by Brookings Institute economist Richard Reeves, aut…

Kid Stuff Doesn't Have to Be Ugly: What's With All the Plastic Crap?

New babies don't come with tons of injection-modeled nonsense, but it tends to wash up in their wake. But why is the infant paraphenalia and playtime juvenalia so poorly designed? Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein put the question to architecture critic Alexanda Lange, author of "The Design …

Searching for Peace and Quiet: Can We Support Our Kids If We're Stuck in Our Monkey Minds?

It's hard enough to feel centered in the dumpster fire that is modern life, but being a parent can make it even harder. How do we empathize with our kids without feeling all their pain? Can we help others without presuming weakness? How can we live by our values, or at least just be a little fuckin…

You Still Gotta Live With You: How Can Fathers Living With Mental Illness Prioritize Their Kids?

In an intensely personal episode, Fatherly Podcast host Joshua David Stein speaks with his co-host, Jason Gay, and founder and president of Treatment and Research Advancements for Borderline Personality Disorder (TARA4BPD), Valerie Porr, about his struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder and …