Comments on: Best of Both Worlds podcast: Celebrating 7 years of BOBW

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 19:01:29 +0000

In reply to Rachel.

@Rachel – yep, having some childcare enables a lot of things, including investing in relationships with other kids. Tonight my husband will be spending a lot of time with the 9-year-old doing various things. I’ll be at the 14-year-old’s cross-country meet. This is enabled because someone else is with the 4-year-old, who would find either of those things terribly boring and would hate spending his evening that way.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 18:42:30 +0000

This was a great episode. I *really* liked your segment at the end (Laura) where you outlined that you love kids. I sometimes find it hard to seperate out the notion of “I love having a big family and a big life” from “I need childcare because my kids are an impediment to my big life”. It may be part of that weird “childcare is less than” sentiment that you highlighted.

I find when I talk about free time, work time, and how childcare basically enables us to live an awesome life I sometimes feel the judgement that I’m somehow saying that my kids are an impediment to an awesome life, or a logistical hurdle around which to plan awesome.

So having you say, outright, “the point of this is that we love kids and we want to plan awesome WITH and AROUND our kids” was really good to hear. And I think can sometimes be missed by people like me who get very into the minutiae of my layered childcare arrangements.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 07:14:00 +0000

Another listener who’s listened to all of the episodes! I started listening as a single woman without kids with a fun but not super demanding job. Now, also thanks to your encouragement, I am a mom with a leadership role. Sometimes the podcast’s perspective is too American, too privileged and too capitalist for my cirumstances but I still enjoy listening and try to take what suits my situation.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

In reply to Amanda. @Amanda- thank you for this kind comment! This made my day. And yes, I encourage everyone to buy a copy of I Know How She Does It as a baby shower gift! Perfect for the ambitious mom who is going to make it all work.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 01:13:23 +0000

To say that this podcast and both of your work has been influential on my life is an understatement. I found you towards the end of my medical training when I was just starting a family and in retrospect was very burned out and worried about how I would possibly make it all work. You’ve inspired me to make sure I make time for important things like sleep and exercise, and have also given me permission to spend out on childcare to make my family’s life easier. I’ve also embraced the flexible parts of my job and not felt guilty about sometimes using that flexibility for personal reasons (while still exceeding work expectations, making progress, and getting great performance reviews from my boss). I truly think these things would look very different in my life if it wasn’t for you. I buy a copy of “I know how she does it” for most baby showers that I go to, and never miss an episode. Thank you both and congratulations!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 17:09:41 +0000

In reply to Shannon La Spina. @Shannon- there's definitely a college episode coming up! Glad you've enjoyed the content so far, and yes, there are new complications that arise with teens for sure.

By: Shannon La Spina

Shannon La Spina — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:33:20 +0000

Thank you, thank you for fullfilling a gap in the podcast world! I have listened for several years and rarely miss an episode. My husband and I work full time in non-flexible, non-remote but fulfilling (education and healthcare) roles and the mom guilt used to be real at times. But, your message is so resonating and I have learned to much, and have totally changed my perspective on how I see my work/life balance. I now see it as a gift that I can have both and feel supported/create the support I need. And now that I have teens, I see the beauty of the independence and examples we have set for them on how to plan, work hard, deal with situations we can’t be at their whim to fix, and work as a team to make it all happen.
Some suggestions for future episodes as your kids get older:
-college applications 101, and how not to get sucked into the frenzy
-vacation planning with teens
-balancing travel to family/parents friends with teens work/friends schedules as they get older. It gets complicated!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:43:36 +0000

In reply to Grateful Kae. @Grateful Kae- we appreciate you listening! You'll have to come on as a guest some time :)

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:43:17 +0000

In reply to Melinda. @Melinda- thanks for listening!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:43:04 +0000

In reply to Yukun Wu.

@Yukun – interesting to think what we’ll say in September 2027! The episode with Josh was a fun one – Sarah’s family members are good sports.