In our final episode of the Pandemic Parenting Podcast, Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and Dr. Lindsay Malloy revisit some of the best advice, stories, and research findings our guest experts have shared over the past two years. While these “best moments” are from conversations centered around the pandemic experience, these insights will be ones we carry with us as we enter new challenges in parenting our children through every stage of their lives.

After more than two years of fulfilling our mission to reach parents where they’re at with immediately accessible and relevant science-based resources, it’s time for Pandemic Parenting to close our virtual doors. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and Dr. Lindsay Malloy reflect on the crisis-responsive, mission-driven work the organization set out to accomplish, where you can continue to find pandemic parenting resources, and what listeners can expect in the months and years ahead.

What is positive psychology? How can it help us? And, more specifically, how can we hold both the negative and positive experiences of the pandemic together in the stories we tell ourselves. Dr. Lindsay Malloy joins Dr. Amanda Zelechoski to discuss specific positive psychology coping strategies and the ways they each have experienced growth in themselves and their families since 2020.

The teen years involve a lot of physical, social, and cognitive change for our kids. As parents, we might expect challenges as our children grow into their independence, but for parents of teens during the pandemic, these challenges were often exacerbated by so much uncertainty. In this episode, Dr. Amanda Zelechoski takes a look at some of the latest research findings on teenagers during the pandemic, and talks with Dr. Crystal Burwell, a licensed psychotherapist, and several parents of teens. Together, they discuss: How has parenting teens changed in the last few years? How have parent and teen relationships been impacted by the pandemic? And how can we support our teenagers' mental health and recognize the toll the pandemic years have had on our kids?

Welcome back to our Generation COVID series where we’re exploring the impact of the pandemic on pregnant and postpartum parents. In this episode, we’re focusing on childbirth and parent mental health. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski interviews Dr. Sharon Dekel and three parents. Together they discuss the pandemic impact on child birthing experiences, the increase in traumatic child births, and the overall mental health challenges new parents have faced in these uncertain times.

For those who were pregnant or trying to conceive during the pandemic, all expectations of what their life as new parents would look like shifted. Fertility treatments were paused, doctors appointments were rescheduled, and hospitals were changing protocols on who could and couldn’t be in the maternity ward during labor and delivery. So much was unknown. This is the first part of a two-part series about pregnant and postpartum parents. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski talks with Dr. Ezra Aydin about the impact of the pandemic on parents, pregnancies, and infant development. We’ll also hear from four parents about their journeys through fertility treatments, pregnancies, and caring for a Generation COVID newborn.

Last month, we heard from researchers about the uneven effects of the pandemic on families. In this episode, we hear directly from parents about some of their unique challenges. We also talk with scientists who identified related trends in their research and share some ideas about what families can do. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski talks with Dr. Heather Prime and Dr. Nicole Racine about their research findings, including the mental health impact of the pandemic on mothers specifically, some barriers single parents and co-parents face, and what all of this means for the family unit as a whole.

When pandemic lockdowns began, researchers around the world were asking a lot of questions and collecting lots – and lots – of data. What was the impact of the pandemic on mental health, both short-term and long-term? Which communities experienced the most negative effects of the pandemic? How can we better support these communities, and the entirety of our society, when disaster strikes next? In this episode, Dr. Amanda Zelechoski spoke with two researchers about their recent studies that start to answer many of these questions. You’ll hear from Dr. Lara Aknin, a psychologist and head of The Lancet’s COVID-19 Mental Health Task Force, and Dr. Simona Skripkauskaite, who works with the University of Oxford’s Co-SPACE study (COVID-19: Supporting Parents, Adolescents, and Children During Pandemics).

We’re back! This season, we’re diving into the newly published research about the impacts of COVID-19 on children, parents, and families. Along the way, we’ll talk with the researchers who conducted these studies and identify key insights we can incorporate into our lives right now. But before we review the research, we want to set the stage. How do we, as parents, understand the science behind articles, videos, and social media posts where we find this information? Join Dr. Amanda Zelechoski as she discusses the scientific process, understanding research jargon, and how to vet news sources with Dr. Eric Youngstrom, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC-Chapel Hill and Co-Founder of Helping Give Away Psychological Science (HGAPS), and Melinda Wenner Moyer, a science journalist, author, and faculty member at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

As a parent, supporting your child day-in and day-out is a lot of work -- especially if your child has experienced or is experiencing stress and trauma. In this excerpt from the Roadmap to Resilience audio series, guest experts Dr. Archana Basu, Dr. David Corwin, Dr. Michael Salter, and Karen Zilberstein speak to the big and small ways parents and caregivers can help foster resilience in children. Learn more at www.roadmaptoresilience.org.

How can we best support children experiencing stress and trauma? A new audio series from Pandemic Parenting and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders explores this question. Psychologists Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and Dr. Julian Ford talk with 16 child trauma experts to understand what is trauma, how different kinds of trauma impact children, and what we as parents, professionals, community members, and caregivers can do to help foster resilience. Learn more at www.roadmaptoresilience.org.

While we get ready for season two, take a listen to this bonus episode where Dr. Lindsay Malloy and Dr. Amanda Zelechoski discuss postpartum depression and anxiety and reflect on their own experiences recognizing and coping with PPD/PPA.

When living with a disability, life can look different. And, when living in a culture and society that doesn’t offer the support or accommodations you may need, we know these differences can become challenges. Whether you live with mental illness, physical disability, chronic illness, or other disabilities, this episode is for you. This episode is the second in a two-part series examining the intersection between parenting and disability. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and our producer Carmen Vincent talk with Rich, a dad reflecting on his experience with depression, and Jason, a father who uses a wheelchair after a spinal cord injury. You’ll also hear from Dr. Lindsay Malloy who shares her experience parenting with a chronic illnness.

Parenting comes with joys and challenges. And for parents of children with disabilities, those joys and challenges look…. well, different. Whether your child is neurodivergent, has a chronic medical condition, or lives with another form of disability, you know that the journey with your child has additional twists and turns than that of other parents or caregivers. Many of those discrepancies became even more apparent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode is the first in a two-part series examining the intersection between parenting and disability. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski and our producer Carmen Vincent talk with Jennifer, a mother of an 8-year old and a 4-year-old who, in her words, happens to have nonverbal autism; and Nisha, a mother of twin 7-year-olds and a 3-year-old who is battling a complex congenital heart disease.

Two out of every three children have a fear of needles. For many of these children, the fear may actually get worse as they get older. One out of 10 adults has a fear of needles so significant that it impacts their willingness to engage with medical care—a reality that can contribute to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. At a time when vaccines are on the minds of so many parents, clinical psychologist and child pain management expert, Dr. Christine Chambers, joins Dr. Lindsay Malloy to discuss how we can help manage needle pain and fear our children may experience. (Pro Tip: Many of these strategies work for adults, too!) Dr. Christine Chambers is a clinical psychologist, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Children's Pain, and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience & Pediatrics at Dalhousie University. She is also the Scientific Director of a national knowledge mobilization network, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), whose mission is to improve children's pain management by mobilizing evidence-based solutions through coordination and collaboration.

“Should my kids go back to school?” was the pressing question we addressed during our very first Pandemic Parenting webinar. And unfortunately, many of us are back again asking ourselves the same or similar questions a year later. In-person, at home, or hybrid schooling? Masks or no masks? What is safe or necessary right now? In this episode, Dr. Lindsay Malloy and Dr. Amanda Zelechoski revisit and update their August 2020 conversation about why making decisions during the pandemic has been so hard. Although the answers will be different for every family and we can’t tell you what the right decision is for you, there are several concepts, resources, and research studies in psychology that can help us navigate these tough, ongoing decisions.

“Let’s go outside” took on new importance for families during the pandemic. Supervised school recess and organized sports were canceled in many places leaving parents fully in charge of the children’s physical activity. Backyards, driveways, and parks became safer gathering places than meeting indoors, making “going outside” a social benefit in addition to a physical one. In this episode, Dr. Lindsay Malloy talks with Dr. Genevieve Dunton, a psychologist who studies physical activity and nutrition, and Dr. Mariela Alfonzo, an urban design and behavior researcher, to understand how the time we spend in green spaces impacts our mental, physical, and social wellbeing. Listen in to hear how the pandemic has affected children’s outdoor time, what inequities exist in who has access to outdoor spaces, how parents can advocate for community green spaces, and advice on how parents can incorporate more outdoor time into their family’s day-to-day activities.

The pandemic lockdown brought unique challenges for LGBTQ+ parents and youth. Many LGBTQ+ youth who primarily found support and community outside of the home faced increased isolation. For many parents in same-sex relationships, virtual work and school meant navigating increased visibility into their home lives. Dr. David Langer and Dr. Marissa Peifer join us to share their expertise as psychologists working with LGBTQ+ youth and their own experiences as LGBTQ+ parents during the pandemic. From how to talk with your child about gender and sexuality to advice for advocating for yourself as an LGBTQ+ parent, our guest experts remind us of the power of community, support, and curiosity.

Returning to the workplace after more than a year of working from home poses challenges—and opportunities—for parents and their employers. It’s a bit of an understatement to say the pandemic blurred the lines between work and caregiving responsibilities. How can parents redraw these lines now that employers are inviting and, in some cases, requiring them to return to the workplace? Dr. Malissa Clark, Associate Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the University of Georgia, and Christine Robinson, Resource Management Leader for Baker Tilly, join us to discuss how parents can advocate for the work flexibility they need and how employers can proactively support working parents. Thank you to our sponsor, Baker Tilly.

Our guest expert, Dr. Erlanger Turner, speaks to some of the emerging research about fathers in the pandemic and answers questions from several of our listeners who identify as fathers from diverse communities.  Dr. Turner is a licensed psychologist and an assistant professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. His research focuses on mental health among racial and ethnic communities, access to behavioral health services, cultural competency, and the impact of race-based stress.