Why U.S. public spaces aren't family-friendly

"Family-friendly society" sounds SO BORING but listen: it's what we all want. It's what singles and elders want, it's what parents and partnered people without kids want, it's what KIDS WANT. A society that takes all of us — and our needs and capacities — seriously?? That considers all of us, in whatever scenario we find ourselves, AS A FAMILY? When we announced that we were doing this episode, we got a ton of questions asking us to also consider people who weren't parents in their 30s and 40s, and yes, of course, team, I would never approach this topic without thinking expansively about it — as in, expansively enough to include me, and our beloved co-producer Melody, and all of our various family configurations.

I would only do an episode with expansive questions like yours with someone (with tremendously policy experience) who understands "family-friendly" expansively. So listen in as Elliot Haspel and I imagine a better (and possible!) family-friendly world.

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Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!

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Show Notes:

• Find out more about Elliot's work here — and buy Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All here

• Subscribe to Elliot's truly excellent newsletter, The Family Frontier, here

• A pretty fantastic write-up of the 1971 Comprehensive Childhood Development Act (and its failure) by the Institute for Research on Poverty

• More on "the curb-cut effect"

• Elliot cites a now famous maxim from the former mayor of Bogotá mayor, Enrique Peñalosa: "children are a kind of indicator species, if we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for everyone.”

• "70% of children under the age of 6 have all available parents in the workforce"

• Elliot cites Elissa Strauss's book When You Care — here's my interview with her

• Only 13.9% of US workers were part-time in December 2024 — compare to the EU numbers here!!!

• Chamber of Mothers!

• The AMAZING coconut-miso-ginger curry I mention in the Wild Alaskan ad!

We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• New trends you've noticed in the world of MOMFLUENCERS

• How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH

• How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)

• The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)

• Wedding culture (especially the more, uh, cult-like or obligatory components)

• What would LIFE AFTER CARS look like?? (With the hosts of the War on Cars pod!)

• For our next Culture Of Place: Puerto Rico!

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: What did this conversation make you want the MOST? What feels like it could be possible in our lifetimes, and what still feels intractable?