Alissa Hamilton, author of Got Milked?
Topic: The great dairy deception and why you’ll thrive without milk.
Issues: The major players in promoting milk in the U.S.; how milk makes us sick and increase the risk of bone fractures; the need to balance calcium–which we get a lot of–and Vitamin D and magnesium (which we’re not getting enough of).

Jamie Glowacki, author of Oh Crap! Potty Training.
Topic: Everything modern parents need to know to do it once and do it right.
Issues: How do I know if my child is ready; why won’t my child poop in the potty; how do I avoid power struggles; How can I get their daycare provider on board? what about nighttime? why children regress.

Richard Rende, coauthor of Raising Can-Do Kids.
Topic: Giving children the tools to thrive in a fast-changing world.
Issues: The importance of allowing time for unstructured, pretend play; getting children involved in chores on a regular basis; letting kids be samplers instead of specialists; reframing failure; emphasizing learning over grades; and much more.

Brad M. Reedy, author of The Journey of the Heroic Parent.
Topic: Your child’s struggle with mental illness.
Issues: The need to understand yourself before you can help your child; breaking free from guilt and setting healthy boundaries; understanding the difference between control and influence; why being right won’t solve the problems at hand; learning to understand your child.

Dawn Dais, The Sh!t No One Tells You About Toddlers.
Topic: A guide to surviving the toddler years
Issues: Restaurants are battle zones: don’t even bother trying to feed a toddler; potty training; taking the fun out of vacations; when you’re not the favorite parent.

Ann Gadzikowski, author of Creating a Beautiful Mess.
Topic: Essential play experiences for a joyous childhood.
Issues: Playing with blocks; turn-taking games; pretend and make believe; the joys of messes; finding and collecting; and more.

Frederick Travis and Robert Keith Wallace, coauthors of Dharma Parenting.
Topic: Understand your child’s brilliant brain for greater happiness, health, success, and fulfillment.
Issues: Different brain/body types and where they come from; how understanding your child’s brain/body type will help you better connect; how each type responds to food and other inputs; routines to improve family dynamics.

Katherine Ozment, author of Grace without God.
Topic: The search for meaning, purpose, and belonging in a secular age.
Issues: Percentage of adults who don’t identify with any organized religion is growing; are they skipping out on more than tired rituals and ancient folklore? How do non-religious people fill the need for community, more guidance, and meaning without religion?

Margie Ulbrick, author of Mindful Relationships.
Topic: Creating genuine connections with ourselves and others.
Issues: What is mindfulness? How to meditate; the science of mindful relationships; applying mindfulness techniques to your relationships with your spouse, family, children, and coworkers.

Paul Tough, author of Helping Children Succeed.
Topic: What works to help low income kids and why.
Issues: What does growing up in poverty do to children’s mental and physical health and development? How does adversity at home affect their success in the classroom? What practical steps can parents, teachers, and policymakers take to improve their chances for a positive future.

Jeffery Leving, author of Fathers’ Rights.
Topic: Hard-hitting and fair advice for every father involved in a custody dispute.
Issues: How to stay in control of your emotions; ways to protect your relationship with your children; special issues facing military fathers; the importance of finding an effective and empathetic attorney; potential challenges of a divorce from a foreign national.

Michele Borba, author of Unselfie,
Topic: Why empathetic kids succeed in our all-about-me world.
Issues: The hidden advantage of empathy and why it matters for children; how to develop empathy; what empathetic kids do that non-empathetic kids don’t; developing moral courage; becoming an empathetic leader

Jess Shatkin, author of Born to Be Wild.
Topic: Why teens take risks and how we can help keep them safe.
Issues: What adolescents think about risk; what you need to know about the adolescent brain; why adolescence is crucial to evolution; the truth about peer pressure; what parents, schools, and society can do about risk taking.

Ira Chasnoff, author of The Mystery of Risk.
Topic: Drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, and the vulnerable child.
Issues: An overview of biological and environmental risks to newborns; risks to children exposed to marijuana, alcohol, and harder drugs in utero; behavior, memory, and other problems in drug-/alcohol-exposed children; diagnosing and treating drug-/alcohol-exposed children.

David Lancy, author of Raising Children.
Topic: Surprising insights from other cultures.
Issues: Culture and infancy; questions about infant attachment; children playing and learning; protection vs. suppression; going to school; consequence of raising “unique individuals”; major differences between the US and other cultures.

Catherine Pearlman, author of Ignore It!
Topic: How selectively looking the other way can decrease behavior problems and increase parenting satisfaction.
Issues: What behaviors are appropriate to ignore and what to do when ignoring isn’t an option; use ignoring to eliminate problem behavior in just a few days; creating a reward system that actually works; use time-outs effectively so they don’t become a battle of wills; what to do when mom and dad aren’t on the same page.

Michael Hollander, author of Helping Teens Who Cut.
Topic: Skills and techniques to end self-injury.
Issues: Understanding self-injury and why kids do it; introducing DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) and why it’s successful; how does hurting themselves make some kids feel better; how to help your child restore emotion to its proper place.

Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett, authors of F*ck Love.
Topic: Sensible advice for finding a lasting relationship.
Issues: Reasons good people can’t find good partners; questions to which the answer is always “no”; how to prevent yourself from getting worn out by internet dating; the myth of the sense of humor; should my partner and I break up? what to consider before deciding to get divorced.

Kent Hoffman, co-author of Raising a Secure Child.
Topic: How “Circle of Security Parenting” can help you nurture your child’s attachment, emotional resilience, and freedom to explore
issues: How to balance being nurturing and protective with promoting your child’s independence; what emotional needs a toddler or older child may be expressing with difficult behavior; how your own upbringing affects your parenting style—and what you can do about it.

Richard Watts, author of Entitlemania.
Topic: How not to spoil your kids, and what to do if you already have.
Issues: Why it’s a mistake to be friends with your child; Do delay gratification, Do let your kids struggle; Do give memories instead of things DON’T sacrifice yourself to make life easier for them; DON’T share your estate plan with them; DON’T hand down too much.

6/11/17
Erin Leyba, author of Joy Fixes for Weary Parents.
Topic: Quick, research-based ideas for overcoming stress and building a life you love.
Issues: Grieving your former life; rebel against the “should”; stop kicking your own ass; parent-kid date nights; parent-parent date nights; how to get your kids to cooperate; many, many more great ideas.

Beau Lotto, author of Deviate.
Topic: The science of seeing differently.
Issues: Why we don’t see reality (and why our brains didn’t evolve to perform that function); how realizing that we aren’t seeing reality can make us more creative and innovative at work, home, play, and love; why we need to embrace uncertainty; how changing our environment changes the brain.

Judith Orloff, author of The Empath’s Survival Guide.
Topic: Life strategies for sensitive people.
Issues: Are you an empath? How to stop absorbing other people’s distress; empaths and addiction; protecting yourself from narcissists and other energy vampires; empaths, parenting, and raising empath children; empaths and intuition; much more.

Mary Lamia, author of What Motivates Getting Things Done.
Topic: Procrastination, emotions, and success.
Issues: The differences between task-driven procrastinators and deadline-driven procrastinators; tools to turn agitation and annoyance into affirmation and acceptance; helping procrastinators jump-start their system and make the most out of their time; much more.

Heather Haupt, author of Knights in Training.
Topic: 10 principles for raising honorable, courageous, and compassionate boys.
Issues: The elements of the Knight’s Code: Stand against injustice; protect the weak, respect women, don’t give offense, speak truth, be generous, pursue excellence, and more.

Lea Waters, author of The Strength Switch.
Topic: How the new science of strength-based parenting can help your child to flourish.
Issues: Understanding strengths; the ages and stages of strength growth; building strength through attention, savoring, gratitude, and goofing off; strength-based living in the real world; much more.

Michelle Janning, author of The Stuff of Family Life.
Topic: How our homes reflect our lives.
Issues: Does putting your smartphone on a restaurant table during a date impact your relationship? How does where you place your TV in your home impact your family? Exploring and understanding the changing world of families by looking at their stuff; more.

Jack Gilbert, author of Dirt is Good.
Topic: The advantage of germs for your child’s developing immune system.
Issues: The microbiome; the importance of the bacteria that live inside us across the lifespan (but especially in childhood); where does our microbiome come from? The effects of diet, antibiotics, probiotics, and more; physical, emotional, and psychological effects of the microbiome; the dangers of antibacterial soaps and attempts to keep our children’s environment super clean; more.

Lisa Sugarman, author of Untying Parent Anxiety.
Topic: Myths that have you in knots—and how to get free.
Issues: Debunking myths like: Good grades are what matter most; if I punish my kid, she’ll hate me; drama is a middle school and high school problem; kids should be seen and not heard; my kids are too immature to do chores; saying “no” to my kids makes me a horrible parent; many more.

Michael Bradley, author of Crazy Stressed.
Topic: Saving todays overwhelmed teens with love, laughter, and the science of resilience.
Issues: Understanding what’s wrong with the teen brain, teen culture, and the world they live in; what resilience is and why it’s so important; common resilience challenges such as behavior, school, sex and dating, and social issues.

Dennis Trittin, author of What I Wish I Knew at 18.
Topic: Life lessons for the road ahead.
Issues: Getting a perspective on life; the importance of character; relationships and communication; handling adversity; career selection and advancement; college academics; managing your finances; love and marriage; much more.

Lisen Stromberg, author of Work, Pause, Thrive.
Topic: How to pause for parenthood without killing your career.
Issues: The politics of pausing; men want a place in the home; conscious careers, conscious choices; thriving: the career you deserve, the life you want; money matters; the need to prepare yourself and your career before you pause; what to do during your pause.

Michael Gurian, author of Saving Our Sons.
Topic: A new path for raising health and resilient boys.
Issues: Recognizing and confronting the boy crisis; the real causes of male violence; the new science of healthy boyhood; dangerous attacks on boyhood; supporting and building male emotional intelligence; the male motivational and maturity gap; much more.

Harriet Lerner, author of Why Won’t You Apologize?
Topic: Healing big betrayals and everyday hurts.
Issues: Best ways to ruin an apology; why some people refuse to apologize while others over-apologize; how to get past anger and resentment when you’ll never get the apology you deserve; why forgiving too quickly can hurt you; the simple sentence that will teach children to apologize.

Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read.
Topic: Your parenting legacy–past and future.
Issues: How the past comes back to but us (and our children); the importance of your child’s environment; feelings–what they are and how to understand and validate them; support–making sure we give it to our kids and overcoming what we didn’t receive from our own parents; much more.

Joseph McCormack, author of Noise.
Topic: Living and leading when nobody can focus.
Issues: Weapons of mass distraction and how we’re becoming deaf to information overload; how our brains are changing; the effects of info overload; the loss of civil discourse; how to start tuning in; how to start focusing on what matters most to you and your family; learning to say no to the noise; much more.

James McKenna, author of Safe Infant Sleep.
Topic: Expert answers to your co-sleeping questions.
Issues: What is co-sleeping? The history of co-sleeping; controversies, confusion, and flawed conclusions; science behind co-sleeping; benefits of co-sleeping; effects of co-sleeping; how to do it.

Robert Hamilton, author of 7 Secrets of the Newborn.
Topic: Secrets and (happy) surprises of the first year.
Issues: The importance of letting the baby lead the way (meaning no schedules, no programs); why all your baby needs for the first few months is you (no toys, no gear, nothing but mom and dad); moms and dads are equally important; no screens for the first year; much more.

Tim Jones, author of You’re Grounded for Life.
Topic: Misguided parenting strategies that sounded good at the time.
Issues: The trials and tribulations of parents with kids of all ages; the daunting task of starting, raising, and surviving a family; innovative parenting strategies that have produced hilariously disastrous results.

Tara Haelle, coauthor of The Informed Parent.
Topic: The science of parenting in your child’s first four years.
Issues: The importance of looking at the science before acting on advice you get from a friend (or the Internet); the truth about soft cheese, cat poop, alcohol, vaccines, SIDS, bed sharing, pacifiers, and much more.