Ep 102: Melinda Wenner Moyer: Raising kind humans

Host: Cindy Hovington

GUEST: Melinda Wenner MOyer

Melinda Wenner Moyer (woman) sitting at her dining room table filled with art supplies.

Melinda Wenner Moyer is a science journalist based in New York's Hudson Valley. She writes the weekly Well newsletter for The New York Times, is a contributing editor at Scientific American magazine, and is a faculty member in the Science, Health & Environmental Reporting program at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her book, "How To Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes," was published in July 2021 and won a gold medal in the 2022 Living Now Book Awards.

Summary

In today’s episode, we are joined by Melinda Wenner Moyer, award-winning science journalist and author of How to raise kids who aren’t assholes.

Here’s what we talked about:

5:19 - What inspired the book

9:31 - Why is your main message “communication is key?”

12:32 - How can we raise a kind human?

15:48 - How can we foster our child’s emotions if we weren’t raised that way?

21:25 - Should all kids be bullied to become resilient?

27:16 - What are parenting styles and are they really important?

31:36 - What is discipline really?

34:14 - How do you teach your kids compassion and empathy: connecting the dots

38:40 - If I get called into the principal’s office because my child is a bully, what can I do ?

44:18 - How could you talk to your child about racism

46:05 - Melinda’s takeaways

Resources: