Evolutionary Parenting Podcast
The Evolutionary Parenting Podcast with Tracy Cassels, PhD focuses on topics and research relevant to parents today. Using developmental psychology, biology, anthropology, and evolution as a basis for all discussion, the podcast explores parenting issues like sleep (including sleep training, co-sleeping, and bedsharing), breastfeeding and feeding, discipline, and more. Tracy interviews both professionals who are in the parenting world and researchers whose research is relevant to today's parents. For parents who want to understand how our children have evolved to develop, how we as parents can help them thrive, and the role of science in all of this.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 70 minutes
- Episodes
- 66
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Ep. 65: How can nurture transform your parenting and your child?
When we think about raising our children, we often all have ideas of what is best and what we want to do. Not always are we able to achieve those goals – for better or worse. But the early years, e…
01:18:10 |
Tue 04 Feb 2025
Ep. 64: How Is Breastfeeding Portrayed in Literature in Different Cultures?
Normalizing breastfeeding is an ongoing battle in some Western cultures. Even when someone starts out breastfeeding, many report not being able to meet their goals or face various obstacles in tryin…
01:12:11 |
Fri 03 Mar 2023
Ep. 63: How do we reconcile early intervention for Autism with neurodiversity?
Our understanding and acceptance of Autism has evolved over the years towards a greater awareness of what we call neurodiversity - broadly, the idea that each brain is unique and what used to be cons…
00:52:18 |
Wed 21 Dec 2022
Ep. 62: What do we really know about Crying It Out?
As we know, sleep is one of the most talked-about topics for new parents. None of them are getting enough, and everyone is worried about it. In Western cultures, parents are often made to feel that…
01:07:39 |
Thu 01 Dec 2022
Ep. 61: How does parental presence and contact affect children's stress and sleep?
Bedtime. It's one of the biggest struggles parents face. Everyone is tired, we just want our kids to calm and go to sleep. But how does our bedtime affect their sleep? Often we hear that we need …
00:56:32 |
Fri 14 Oct 2022
Ep. 60: How can we raise anti-racist children?
Raising good humans is hard. We all worry about if we're doing best and we don't always know how to do it. This is especially true when we start touching on topics we may not have experience with, …
01:09:22 |
Sat 20 Aug 2022
Ep. 59: Does the Sleep Training Research Apply To All?
External validity. It's a topic that many of us don't really talk about. It's the idea that certain research findings only apply to certain groups. In sleep training, most people assume the resear…
01:13:04 |
Mon 25 Jul 2022
Ep. 58: How can we support LGBTQ+ parents?
When it comes to parenting, there are thousands of books with myriad bits of advice for soon-to-be-parents and those who are already parents and facing some kind of struggle. Sometimes it can feel o…
01:07:59 |
Thu 30 Jun 2022
Ep. 57: What happens to the couple when they become parents?
Welcome back after our break and I hope you enjoyed the last few weeks and maybe even used that time to check out some of our older episodes that always stay relevant for families! This week, we're …
01:16:55 |
Thu 23 Jun 2022
Ep. 56: What are the long-term outcomes associated with a state-run pre-K program?
For ages, policy makers have been pushing earlier education for children. In many previous studies, these have been found to be very helpful for families that are disadvantaged, but yet the research…
01:21:01 |
Fri 13 May 2022
Ep. 55: What do we know about a child's sensitivity to their environment?
Orchid or dandelion? Highly sensitive or relatively robust? These are some of the ways that we have conceptualized the concept of how sensitive a child is to the environment in which they are raise…
01:05:46 |
Fri 06 May 2022
Ep. 54: How can we assess the effects of prenatal stress on child outcomes?
I'll be honest that I don't know of a single pregnancy that didn't involve some level of stress. I think the entire act of carrying a baby and everything that goes along with it is stressful in its …
01:32:25 |
Fri 29 Apr 2022
Ep. 53: Can maternal separation explain postpartum depression?
Postpartum depression is associated with a host of negative outcomes for mothers and babies alike, yet we still have very little understanding of the etiology behind it and what may exacerbate or mit…
01:15:26 |
Thu 21 Apr 2022
Ep. 52: How does media use affect our kids and what can we do about it?
One of the more difficult topics for many families these days has to do with media use. We are a tech-heavy society and that extends downwards to our kids. It's not uncommon to go out and see paren…
01:28:23 |
Fri 15 Apr 2022
Ep. 51: What is 'Uspavani' and how can it help us support our children's sleep?
When you think about your child's sleep, what are the words that often come to mind? I know in Western cultures, we often hear "independence", "self-soothing", "needy", "manipulative" and so on. Th…
01:15:36 |
Tue 05 Apr 2022
Ep. 50: What are the experiences and beliefs of fathers who identify as attachment parents?
In the realm of parenting - especially attachment parenting - the focus has been on mothers. In fact, if you go to any attachment parenting group - online or not - you are far more likely to come ac…
01:12:03 |
Thu 24 Mar 2022
Ep. 49: What do we know about sleep and SIDS?
As we kick off Season 2 of the podcast, we're going to dive into the research on an area that often brings fear to new parents - rightfully - that of SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Most peop…
01:14:43 |
Tue 15 Mar 2022
Ep. 48: Fathering Series: From Mountain Gorillas to Humans, What Matters in Fathering?
I would first like to welcome you to the final episode of this season. I am thankful to all of you who listen and give me hope that there are still those people out there who respect and love scienc…
01:11:20 |
Fri 03 Dec 2021
Ep. 47: Fathering Series: What does systemic racism look like when researching families of colour?
When we look at research, especially in the realm of development, we tend to focus on things like resilience, struggles families face, and so on. This is particularly true when we look at the resear…
01:01:05 |
Fri 19 Nov 2021
Ep. 46: Fathering Series: What Makes Good Fathers? (Part 2)
This week we continue our conversation with Dr. Lee Gettler, discussing his research which has advanced our knowledge on fathering across cultures and from different lenses. Here is for all the fath…
00:59:57 |
Thu 11 Nov 2021
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