The Mother Of It All

Dr. Megan Prior is a parent and a board-certified pediatrician in DC who serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Early Childhood. A lot of us know her from her popular social media account, Itty Bitty Revolution, where she describes herself as a pediatrician and mom with a policy obsession.
We love her work and were thrilled to have her on the show to chat about the real, massive impacts that federal policies have on American families. From recent changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, to age-old issues around paid parental leave and childcare costs, Prior helps us think about where we are right now and what parents today can and should be focused on and fighting for to make family life better for all.
Links:
* Dr. Megan Prior on Instagram
* Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All by Elliot Haspel
* Biden’s Build Better Back bill
* The Economics of Early Childhood : “Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman estimated that every dollar invested in early childhood programs yields a return of $7 to $13 in economic benefits long term.”
* Adultism and children’s rights with Eloise Rickman
* Courtney Martin on right-sizing
* Bridgerton
* Live-action Cinderella
* the Just Tell Your Kids What To Do essay
If you love the work we do, please consider becoming a ✨paid subscriber✨ on substack. Paid subscribers get access to everything behind the paywall, like subscriber-only episodes, book reviews and more. Or, support us by following, sharing or reviewing our show here and everywhere else you listen to podcasts you love. Thank you!
Visit our Bookshop storefront to find all the books we’ve mentioned here and in previous episodes. When you shop there, we get a small affiliate fee (thank you!).
You can follow the podcast on Instagram (@themotherofitall).



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In this subscriber-only episode (you can become a paid subscriber by clicking here), we explore something we’ve been wondering about for a while: Why do we care so much about what other parents do? Why are we inclined to examine other parents choices? What should each of our b****y, judgy alter-egos be named? Does it tame them to name them, like they sa…

We sit down with the whip-smart UK-based American journalist Stephanie H. Murray (a contributing writer for The Atlantic) to talk about the flawed baseline logic of American parenthood, freedom, control and the sacrifices we make to be part of a community. Murray explains that finding community may mean that we can’t “overindex” every little parenting decision, why ‘freedom’ as parents and kids might be more complex than it seems, why she wishes her neighbors would yell at her kids more often, and more. Plus: Book recommendations, parenthood and vigilance, Fanta in the UK vs. US, and Sarah demands permission to give your child the trashiest birthday present she can find.
Links:
* Stephanie H. Murray newsletter, Family Stuff
* The Isolation of Intensive Parenting
* Bring Back Communal Kid Discipline
* “No gifts” or “Yes gifts?” Edith Zimmerman and I hash out who is superior (from Evil Witches Newsletter )
* What’s On Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life by Alison Daminger

If you love the work we do, please consider becoming a ✨paid subscriber✨ on substack. Paid subscribers get access to everything behind the paywall, like subscriber-only episodes, book reviews and more. Or, support us by following, sharing or reviewing our show here and everywhere else you listen to podcasts you love. Thank you!
Visit our Bookshop storefront to find all the books we’ve mentioned here and in previous episodes. When you shop there, we get a small affiliate fee (thank you!).
You can follow the podcast on Instagram (@themotherofitall).



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit motherofitall.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Jack Schneider, Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor at UMass Amherst and and host of the Have You Heard podcast about education policy, joins us to break down the recent “schools are bad” media bonanza (links below). Dr. Schneider digs in to what’s flawed about the panic-inducing articles about the state of American public education, and shares tips on what to say to the person next to us at a dinner party who starts to s**t on our kids’ public school. Also, the questions to ask your kid if you really want to know if they’re school is good, and a thought-provoking take on Little Free Libraries.
Links:
* America’s Children Are Unwell. Are Schools Part of the Problem? From A.D.H.D. to anxiety, disorders have risen as the expectations of childhood have changed. By Jia Lynn Yang (New York Times)
* The Big Fail Student achievement has fallen off a cliff. And neither Trump nor the pandemic is to blame. By Andrew Rice (New York Magazine)
* Jack Schneider, educational historian and professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
* The Education Wars (Jack Schneider)
* Beyond Test Scores (Jack Schneider)
* Jack Schneider in The Nation
* r/Teachers: “What does this generation of students do better than others?” (via Evil Witches Newsletter )
* Scopes Monkey Trial
* Arizona Education Debit Card
* Teachers Have It Easy
* California Healthy Kids Survey
* The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
* The City & The City by China Miéville
If you love the work we do on Mother Of It All, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscribers get access to everything behind the paywall, like subscriber-only episodes, book reviews and more. If you subscribe at the founding member level, we’ll send you one of our awesome tote bags. And it’s always free and helpful to follow, share, rate and review our show here and everywhere else you listen to podcasts you love. Thank you!
Visit our Bookshop storefront to find all the books we’ve mentioned here and in previous episodes. When you shop there, we get a small affiliate fee (yay, thank you!).
Visit motherofitall.com to send us ideas for a future episode or learn more about the show.
Follow the podcast on Instagram (@themotherofitall) or Bluesky (@motherofitallpod.bsky.social)


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit motherofitall.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.com

Happy New Year, sweet paid subscribers! Thanks for making us rich! Just kidding. Thanks for keeping the lights on, though. Your support means a lot, and we’re filled with gratitude as we cruise into 2026.
2025 was quite a year for mom movies AND dad movies and we’ve been dying to talk about it. Sarah saw most of them, and Miranda saw some of them, despi…