Talking About Kids

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This episode is being released on Indigenous Peoples Day or Columbus Day, depending on which you observe. Humans have always migrated. Out of desperation, ambition, and captivity, individuals and groups of individuals have and continue to try to start their lives anew. Sometimes the humans in one location benefit from the newcomers, and sometimes they are irreparably harmed. What is certain is that migration changes the migrants and the residents. I believe that helping kids understand migration and the myriad cultural and historic consequences of it can help future generations realize the advantages and avoid the damages. I encourage you to teach the kids in your life about the people who lived where you live now. Teach them about previous generations and prior civilizations. To help with that, Native Land Digital has an online tool that you can use to explore the peoples that might have lived in your community in the past and the languages they spoke. A link to Native Land Digital is at talkingaboutkids.com. Full-length Talking About Kids episodes will return next week (October 19, 2026).

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My guest for the second part of Talking About Kids’ miniseries on children and plastics is Imogen Napper. Imogen is a Post Doctoral Researcher at The University of Plymouth, where she studies plastic pollution in the environment. Imogen is a National Geographic Explorer and Sky Ocean Rescue Scholar. Her influential research has been reported by news outlets like The Guardian, cited in government testimony, and criticized by Chris DeArmitt (my guest for the first part of this miniseries). Imogen and I discuss her interpretation of the research on plastics in the environment and what that research might mean to kids. More information about Imogen and her research is at talkingaboutkids.com.

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As people who care about kids, we are ripe for exploitation by all sorts of bad actors who use fear to peddle products, sell books, and get clicks. Countering such exploitation with research and science is one of the guiding principles of Taking About Kids, so I listened when Chris DeArmitt – materials scientist; author of Shattering the Plastics Illusion: Exposing Environmental Myths; and Founder of the Plastics Research Council – offered to replace “‘plastic panic’ with evidence-based peace of mind.” I listened, and I read. I read Chris’s research, many of the papers he cites, and the research cited by the scientists and public health officials most worried about plastics. I even interviewed one of the researchers whose work Chris regularly critiques, Imogen Napper. My discussion with Imogen is the second part of this mini-series on plastics. I encourage you to listen to both episodes before drawing any conclusions. I am confident that you will emerge with a healthier understanding of plastics. More information about Chris, his books, and the Plastics Research Council is at talkingaboutkids.com.

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Business taglines featuring phrases like “AI” and “AI powered” are everywhere, as are stories about AI errors, its harmful impact on education, its bad counsel, and the natural resources it consumes. This is why I was excited to talk to Sol Kennedy. The app Sol founded, BestInterest, uses AI to improve communication between co-parents in ways that benefit their children and their own mental health. I am not alone in thinking that BestInterest in amazing. Therapists, mediators, family law attorneys, and judges are recommending it to their clients. Sol and I discuss what BestInterest does and how AI helps make it happen. More information about Sol and the BestInterest app is at talkingaboutkids.com.

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In this episode, Curtis White returns to discuss his latest book, On Resistance: A Manifesto, and to explain why his advice to “make yourself useless,” “take back your emptiness,” and “live better stories” might be the best advice we can give kids today. More information about Curtis and his book is at talkingaboutkids.com.