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C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

Released Monday, 12th February 2024
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C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

C&F After Dark: Sex and Parenting

Monday, 12th February 2024
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0:00

In an election year guaranteed to divide

0:02

us. This is a debacle. Finally, a

0:04

second term we can all agree on.

0:06

Yes! Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Mondays

0:09

with Jon Stewart. Tonight at 11, 10

0:11

Central on Comedy Central. A next day

0:13

on Paramount+. This

0:15

episode is brought to you by Bumble. Who

0:18

says Valentine's Day is just for couples? Just

0:20

because you're not in a relationship doesn't mean

0:22

you can't get out there and live your

0:24

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0:27

This February 14th, you can flip

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the script and give those relationshipers

0:31

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no to staying in this Valentine's

0:35

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dates, more first kisses, more gossip

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for the group chat, girlies. Do

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Valentine's your way. Date now on

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Bumble. This episode may contain

0:46

explicit language and we're definitely talking about sex

0:48

in this one. Welcome

0:58

to Karen Feeding After Dark.

1:00

Where we remember that parents deserve a little

1:02

romance too. I'm Zach Rosen. I make another

1:05

podcast. It's called The Best at Fice Show. And I'm

1:07

dad to Noah who's six, Ami who's three, and

1:12

I'm husband to Shira who's 37. We

1:15

live in Detroit. I'm Jamila Amu,

1:17

a writer, contributor to Slaice Karen Feeding

1:19

Parents in column, and

1:21

mom to Naima who's 10, and I live in Los

1:23

Angeles. I'm

1:25

Elizabeth Newkamp. I write the family travel

1:27

blog Dutch Dutch Goose, and I'm the mom

1:29

of three littles, Henry who's 11, Oliver who's nine,

1:33

Teddy who's seven, and the wife to

1:35

one big, who is Jeff, who is

1:37

42. We live in Tokyo,

1:39

Japan. For

1:42

this Valentine's week, we're so excited to

1:44

bring you two very special episodes where

1:46

we focus on ourselves instead of the

1:48

kids. Whether you're co-parenting with a

1:50

spouse or you're a single parent navigating the dating scene,

1:52

sex and love are a big part of being alive,

1:55

and that doesn't stop when you have kids. So today

1:57

we're diving into the world of dating. world

2:00

of sex and romance while parenting. Two

2:02

of us are married and Jamila is a single

2:05

mom, but regardless of your relationship status, these topics

2:07

are important, and parents don't get to talk about

2:09

them a lot, so now is our time. Later

2:12

on we're also going to recommend some things we're loving right now,

2:14

and think you might too. Then, if you're

2:16

sticking around for a Slate Plus, we're channeling

2:19

Cupid and shooting down the idea that Valentine's

2:21

Day is really all that. Baham

2:23

bug? Baham love bug? Anyways,

2:27

here's what you'll hear if you have Slate Plus. Elizabeth,

2:30

do you and Jeff do Valentine's Day? We

2:32

do not. I think

2:35

it's stupid. Everything

2:42

is more expensive. Everything is more crowded. You

2:44

know, to make it all a big

2:46

to-do, and it's like, because

2:48

of one stupid day,

2:50

silly. If

2:54

you're a Slate Plus member, thank you. We're so happy

2:56

to have your support, and we'll catch you later on

2:58

in the show for this bonus segment. If

3:00

you're not a Slate Plus member, we're still

3:02

happy you're here, of course, but you should

3:05

know it's very easy to join, and you'll

3:07

get a ton of benefits, a weekly bonus

3:09

segment from us, and all your beloved Slate

3:11

podcasts without any ads. You can join Slate

3:14

Plus today by visiting slate.com/Care Plus. Alright,

3:17

we're going to take a quick break, but we'll see you back

3:19

here in a minute to talk dating and parenting. Care

3:26

and Feeding is sponsored by BetterHelp. A

3:28

common misconception about relationships is that they have

3:30

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be a place to work through the challenges you face in

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all your relationships, whether with friends, work,

3:42

your significant other, or anyone. If

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you listen to Care and Feeding a

3:46

lot, you know that we almost always

3:48

recommend therapy. It is probably our most

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commonly dispensed piece of advice, go

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to therapy. I have been to therapy.

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Therapy has saved me in so many different

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how you buy. We're back and

5:46

it's time to have some grown-up conversations about

5:48

sex and dating. So if you've gotten this

5:50

far with some little ears listening too, you

5:53

might want to come back to us later. But

5:55

if you're a grown-up who's sticking around, let's talk

5:57

about sex. We've talked on the show about keeping

5:59

the spark. feeling touched out, and scheduling

6:01

intimacy, but since it's romance week, we thought

6:03

it would be a good time to dive

6:05

into sex stuff even more. So

6:08

we have a great listener question to start off with.

6:10

This was emailed to us by a listener named Veronica.

6:13

I'm not sure if this question is for

6:15

all couple types or not, that

6:17

how do parents with different levels of

6:19

sex drive negotiate that minefield? Honestly,

6:22

I really don't have the physical or mental

6:24

bandwidth for more than once a week, but

6:27

my husband wants it three to four times

6:29

a week at least. Then

6:31

there's the timing issue. I get cranky when I'm sleep

6:33

deprived and her kids wake up early, so it's like

6:35

I either have to wake up at 5.30 or

6:38

find the energy at night when I'm touched

6:40

out from a three-year-old and emotionally spent from

6:42

work. Double ugh. Our

6:45

oldest sleeps like the dead, but our three-year-old

6:47

is such a light sleeper, our footsteps sometimes

6:50

waker. I work from home

6:52

so I'm actually okay with 4 p.m. before we go

6:54

get the kids if he skips going to the gym

6:57

on the way home, but that's not always practical.

6:59

I can't be the only person in this situation.

7:02

No, Veronica, you are not. What do

7:04

you say, Elizabeth? Gosh. So

7:07

I feel like this is so hard because

7:09

there's something about sex that makes us so,

7:12

like we don't wanna talk about it. We feel

7:14

like if we talk about it in our relationship

7:17

that somehow we're like hurting someone's feelings or it's

7:19

gonna cause all of this big stuff, but one

7:21

I wanna say, I feel like this is very

7:24

normal. In terms

7:26

of what Jeff and I have experienced

7:28

over the length of having these children,

7:30

I feel like there are just times when

7:33

the ability to have a bunch

7:35

of sex has not happened

7:37

because I just can't be there

7:40

mentally, physically, right? In the same

7:42

way that when one partner is

7:44

feeling sick or when one partner

7:47

has a lot going on in

7:49

work that maybe these are things that are not

7:51

happening. And I think that the

7:53

bottom line is you have

7:55

to be able to talk about it,

7:57

figure out what you can manage. and

8:01

how we're gonna get through this. I think

8:03

if it's three to four times a week, that

8:05

may just be a lot with these children. And

8:07

I know we're gonna talk about like,

8:10

is it my sex drive and you're gonna feel

8:12

like I need to fix this, but it also

8:14

may just be that life at this moment is

8:17

really tough. If you

8:19

are the default parent, there is a

8:21

lot of caring and intimacy that is

8:23

happening with the little humans in your

8:25

house. And it is very hard then

8:27

to be able

8:30

to switch over to this other kind

8:32

of intimacy. So I think my

8:34

advice is gonna be, of course, can

8:37

you find a time to schedule something? And

8:39

then before you schedule that, what do you

8:41

need to be in that place? So if

8:43

your husband wants to have, or your partner

8:46

wants to have sex three to four times

8:48

a week, what space do you need to

8:50

get there? Because what you might wanna say

8:53

is, look, I can totally, this can work

8:55

for me, but

8:57

I need an hour before each of those times to

8:59

like take a shower or

9:01

I don't know, read a spicy

9:04

book or whatever it is to

9:06

get yourself mentally, physically

9:08

there. And I think if

9:10

you frame it that way, there's

9:13

some understanding of like, you're gonna have

9:15

to do some of the stuff

9:19

that takes my attention away from

9:21

being able to be in the

9:23

mood and be there. And

9:26

maybe that's this idea that you need to

9:29

have the lists done or have the

9:31

things done before you can sit down

9:33

and be present. I

9:36

just think for women, so much of

9:38

the being in the

9:40

mood for sex is mental. And

9:42

if you don't have that

9:45

space or you haven't then had this space

9:47

away from being touched by these children and

9:49

making that switch from mom

9:52

to partner can be

9:54

really hard. I also wanna say like, this

9:56

is not forever. As the kids

9:58

have gotten older, as life

10:00

has kind of changed. This

10:03

has changed too. When I

10:05

was here, I also felt like, well,

10:07

this is forever now, but it is

10:09

not forever. And I think the thing

10:11

is to have really open communication with

10:13

your partner, but also really thinking about

10:16

what do you actually need knowing that

10:18

you can't just like walk in, turn

10:20

off everything else from the day and

10:22

be present in that way. So how are you gonna be present?

10:24

And then how can the two of you work together to

10:28

get that time and space? Yeah.

10:31

I don't know, Zach, what do you think? First of all, you're

10:33

up for once a week. I think it's

10:36

good. I mean, once a week is

10:38

a pretty good rate. And

10:40

I think a couple of things. If

10:43

your husband wants it three to four times a

10:45

week, I think you should like give him your

10:48

blessing, even

10:51

like some excitement for him to

10:53

masturbate. Like maybe when you're around,

10:55

if that's something that he's into. Don't

10:57

shame him for being so horny. Three to four

10:59

times a week is good

11:02

for that dude. I don't have that

11:04

kind of energy either, but I think there's

11:06

always going to be a mismatch.

11:08

I mean, the last time I feel like Sheer and I were

11:10

kind of like wanted it like the same amount was when we

11:12

were like 20, do you know what I mean? So

11:16

I think that mismatch is incredibly

11:19

understandable. And I would

11:21

also prioritize not just like a date

11:24

night, but like plan yourselves a weekend

11:26

away and you can like make up

11:28

for lost time. Get the

11:30

kids out of the

11:33

same zip code. This is worth spending

11:35

money on. It's worth flying

11:37

a grandparent out. This is going

11:40

to be really a great thing

11:43

for you and your partner, especially if

11:45

you plan it. Like, hey, I

11:47

know that I haven't been wanting it as

11:50

much as you, but like I would love to

11:52

get away and just

11:54

like reconnect emotionally, physically,

11:57

psychically. So we're going

11:59

to go. and have some sex in

12:01

wherever. I don't know where you

12:03

live Veronica. So I would recommend

12:06

that and just really prioritize that.

12:08

But once a

12:10

week I think you're doing great. Jamila,

12:14

we also solicited some

12:16

questions from listeners and from your

12:19

social media followers about sex as a

12:21

single parent. Specifically since Zach and I

12:23

haven't done that. So are you game

12:25

to answer a few of those? I

12:28

am. Okay I thought this

12:30

one was interesting. If

12:32

both parents are single with kids

12:34

whose residence do you go for for sex?

12:39

This is tricky. In my

12:41

experience having dated guys

12:43

who also had children

12:46

we would go to the house

12:48

of the person who did not

12:50

have their kids. You know so

12:52

ideally the children are out of

12:54

the house and you know you

12:56

don't have to worry about that.

13:00

But you know if

13:03

you have older children I would imagine and

13:05

Naima you know there was a time

13:07

where I had a boyfriend and he spent

13:10

he was long distance but he did spend

13:12

the night at our house when he

13:14

was visiting sometimes you know and so I'm

13:17

assuming there were some times that we did have

13:19

sex while Naima was home and she was pretty

13:21

young. So you know

13:23

they were very lucky that she never woke

13:25

up you know and knocked on the door

13:27

during intimate

13:30

time. Yeah. But

13:32

I think ideally the person who

13:34

has children that will stay asleep

13:38

you know if you have

13:40

to be at a house where children are present you

13:43

know because you don't want to be

13:45

interrupted and you also have to have

13:48

your children. I would imagine comfortable with

13:50

this other person being in your home.

13:52

You know like I've never you know since

13:55

that relationship Naima hasn't met any men

13:57

that I've been dating. They're happy. I

14:00

haven't been men in the house. I've never

14:02

tried to say like, okay, once you

14:04

sleep, I can sneak somebody in, you

14:06

know? Ironically enough,

14:08

more than she did when she was younger, she

14:10

gets up, you know, in the middle of the

14:13

night and comes looking for me. So I

14:16

would just say, try to do it

14:18

when there are no kids home, but if you

14:21

can't make that happen, make

14:23

sure that the kids are going to

14:25

stay asleep. I actually

14:27

think this is good advice too for this question,

14:30

this listener, like if, and actually

14:32

in general, if you can figure out a

14:35

time to have sex when the kids are not home, that

14:37

is, it is better. Like just to me,

14:39

like the idea that I have heard the

14:42

children or that I think that they're

14:44

pitter-pattering around the house, the

14:46

thing that takes me the quickest, like

14:48

out of the mood. I'm just like,

14:50

and I understand for you it's a

14:52

whole different level, like, you know, at

14:55

least they know both parties, but

14:59

I think that's great advice. Yeah. Can

15:02

single parents make booty calls? Yes,

15:06

again, you should make them.

15:09

They should. And they should,

15:12

you know, but you should make them

15:14

when your children aren't home. If

15:17

you're dating somebody who has older children,

15:19

like teens, that's a little bit different

15:22

because the parent of

15:24

a teenager can have a different conversation, you

15:26

know, with their kids about like, I'm going

15:28

to have company tonight. So would appreciate if

15:30

you stay in your room and they know

15:33

what time it is, you know, it

15:35

may be a little bit awkward, but

15:38

I think that's really the only way to make that

15:40

work, either do it when you don't have the kids

15:44

or, you know, when there are older

15:46

kids. Do you feel like

15:48

you have to make the switch between

15:50

like mom mode? This is like booty

15:52

call, Jameela, or do they exist? Cause

15:55

that's, I have a hard time with that. So

15:57

like, like I truly feel like it's like two

15:59

roles. I can't quite figure out

16:02

how to exist in both of them at the same time.

16:06

I am in a really privileged situation

16:08

for a single parent, so much so,

16:11

just an aside. I had a debate

16:13

with one of my good girlfriends after

16:16

I made the Instagram post

16:19

asking for questions from single

16:21

parents about dating and sex.

16:24

And she says, you shouldn't call yourself a

16:26

single parent, you're a co-parenting parent. And

16:30

I disagree with that because I

16:33

am a single, I still consider

16:35

myself a single parent when I'm

16:37

parenting Naima, when she's in my

16:39

care, she's in my care alone.

16:43

On a Wednesday, if she's home, yeah,

16:47

I'm taking care of her,

16:49

but this person doesn't have

16:51

an active co-parent. And

16:53

she's like, it's just so completely different. There are people

16:55

that are doing this all by

16:58

themselves and the topic of dating

17:00

in particular is so fraught, because

17:03

I have the time to do it because

17:05

my ex and I divide Naima's time

17:07

pretty evenly. So I have

17:10

a few days to myself every week

17:12

to date, and I've pretty much had

17:14

that arrangement her entire life. So

17:16

I am sensitive to the fact that

17:18

as far as single parents go, I

17:20

am really privileged. And so I had

17:23

Naima this morning, I don't have her

17:26

tonight. So my morning was hectic and

17:29

filled with rushing to get out the door

17:31

and make lunch, make breakfast. And

17:34

the rest of my day is gonna move a little

17:36

bit smoother because I don't have to pick her

17:38

up later. I have work

17:40

to do, I have the podcast to record,

17:42

I have dance classes tonight, but when I

17:44

come home, I'll be coming home by myself.

17:47

And so it's

17:49

not that mom mode completely turns off because

17:52

there are things that I'm still, I have

17:54

to make Naima and I appointment today. If

17:59

she leaves, something here, it may not be my

18:01

night to pick her up, but I still may have

18:03

to go to school in the middle of the day

18:05

and drop it off. Yeah. You

18:08

know, if she calls you, you're not like, sorry,

18:10

it's not my day. Right. Right.

18:13

Talk to your dad. Yes. But

18:15

I do have the time and space, you

18:17

know, to be on Jameelah Mo to be

18:19

focused on a date, on a partner, on

18:22

sex, you know, without worrying

18:25

that it's not

18:27

that motherhood has never interrupted that because,

18:29

you know, I had a date

18:32

scheduled one day last week and I was

18:34

like, I really want to come to your house, you

18:36

know, and I thought about it and I was like,

18:39

okay. And I, I, my, I wrung my hands

18:41

over it all day long, you know, it wasn't

18:43

until about four o'clock that I made my decision,

18:45

but I was like, my baby needs me. I'm

18:47

going to be with my baby. For

18:50

someone like if you're dating

18:52

someone who doesn't have

18:54

kids, so they're less familiar

18:56

with the parenting terrain,

19:00

but they are kind of peripherally seeing

19:03

you parent. What's something that

19:05

that person should know about dating a

19:07

parent that they might not know because they're

19:10

not a parent themselves? Just

19:12

that parenting is a full time job,

19:14

you know, so there is a possibility that

19:17

something with my child will come up and

19:19

it'll interrupt our time. But

19:21

in Naima's life, I think I've canceled

19:23

two dates for, you

19:26

know, reasons related to her

19:28

and I've been on a lot of

19:30

dates the past 10 years. But,

19:34

you know, the parenting

19:36

is something that you're always doing. So I

19:38

always, you know, I can't put my phone

19:40

away at dinner. Right. You know, it's

19:42

always going to be on the table because there's

19:44

that possibility that she or her father calls me

19:46

and needs me. You

19:49

know, she's never distant from my mind. You

19:52

know, just the parenting or something that you're always

19:54

doing. So just being respectful of that.

19:56

Yeah. Do you feel like it's

19:58

getting easier? to

20:00

do the dating now that

20:02

she's getting older? Or is it hard,

20:05

like, harder? Because she's

20:07

more like, what are you doing with your

20:09

time when I'm not here? Um,

20:12

you know, I think in the way that

20:14

a lot of single parents, you know,

20:16

particularly single moms of girls do are

20:18

probably over share with Naima a little bit.

20:20

So we do talk a little bit about

20:22

when I'm dating somebody or went on a

20:24

really good date, I had fun. And

20:27

I think it's important that she sees that

20:29

side of me too, though, you know what

20:31

I mean? Like, to understand that

20:33

her mom is an object of desire,

20:35

that I do have a life outside

20:37

of her, that romance is something that

20:39

still matters to me, even though I'm

20:41

not in a relationship with her father.

20:45

So I say, I wouldn't

20:47

say it's gotten easier or harder, you know,

20:49

it has not been

20:51

hard for me. I'm

20:53

very fortunate. It hasn't been hard for me. But I

20:56

think part of the reason it hasn't been hard is

20:58

because one, I've always had at

21:00

least two days out of the week to myself,

21:02

you know, and with most

21:04

busy people, you're not seeing each other more than two days a

21:06

week, you know what I mean? Like,

21:09

we're not 20. So we're not together

21:11

six days out of seven, and I've

21:14

made dating a priority, you know, like,

21:16

that's just, I want to be

21:18

partnered. So I date aggressively, you know, I'm

21:20

active on the dating apps, I go on

21:22

a lot of dates, you know, I'm intentional

21:25

about trying to meet somebody. So, you know,

21:27

I think for a parent who may have

21:29

taken some time off, and that's natural and

21:31

normal, like a lot of parents, you

21:34

know, once they become single parents, take a significant

21:36

amount of time away from dating, they don't feel

21:39

like they can, they don't feel like they should,

21:41

they don't want to anymore, for whatever reason, you

21:43

know, perhaps they're traumatized from the breakup, you know,

21:45

and so you go a few years without doing

21:47

that, you don't know how to flex that muscle.

21:50

But you know, I've been flexing that muscle since

21:52

Naima was about nine months old. Yeah. How

21:55

do you manage like the

21:58

apps and the, with her, like, with her

22:00

around. Like I think that's the thing, cause I think,

22:03

see that sort of as like switching

22:06

that brain. Like are you stepping away

22:08

to devise some time you're

22:10

doing that while she's at school or it's the

22:12

apps, I mean, I have not been on a

22:14

dating app, but like, is it just so easy that

22:17

you can just do it very quickly?

22:20

Yeah, you can do it quickly and discreetly. And Naima's

22:22

caught me on the apps before and there've been

22:24

a few times that I've let her swiped her

22:26

and looked like whatever, you know, like there's nothing

22:29

explicit on there. But

22:31

I usually, when

22:34

I do my swiping, I try to do it

22:36

during the day while she's at school, just so

22:38

I have a little time to focus on it

22:40

without, you know, her thing. Let me see, let

22:42

me see. But like, if

22:44

I get a message and she's with me, I

22:46

can stop and respond to it without it being

22:49

a big deal. Yeah. What's your app

22:51

of choice now? Bumble. Okay.

22:55

I like Bumble. I use Bumble and

22:57

Hinge and I like Hinge better in

22:59

New York, but in LA I found

23:02

Bumble to be more fruitful. Okay.

23:05

All right, listeners, we wanna know

23:07

how you've navigated sex and love while

23:09

also being a parent. Funny

23:11

stories are always welcome. And

23:13

if you're coupled up, good news. Our

23:15

episode this Thursday is all about co-parenting

23:17

and navigating relationship troubles when it feels

23:19

like your whole life is cleaning up

23:21

puke. So if you have questions, stories, or

23:24

comments about all that, we wanna hear those too. Send

23:26

it in to us at careandfeedingpodatslate.com or

23:28

come chat with us in the Slate

23:30

Parenting Facebook group. Or if you really

23:32

wanna be our Valentine, we would love

23:34

to hear your voice. You can leave

23:36

us a voicemail at 646-357-9318. It's

23:42

easy, it's quick, and it makes us happy and you'll

23:44

be like a co-star on our show for that week.

23:46

So give it a try. We're gonna

23:49

take one more break and see you back here for recommendations. This

23:51

episode is brought to you by Bumble. Who

24:00

says Valentine's Day is just for couples? Just

24:03

because you're not in a relationship doesn't

24:05

mean you can't get out there and

24:07

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24:09

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your way. Date now on Bumble.

24:29

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So sign up now at slate.com/podcast

25:28

plus. Let's

25:32

move on to recommendations. Elizabeth, what have you got

25:34

this week? I didn't mean for this to

25:36

be so topical, but it

25:38

sort of is. We're very

25:41

into visual encyclopedias here. I was a

25:43

little worried it was something we were like leaving

25:46

behind when we stopped homeschooling

25:48

because we spent a lot of time with them,

25:50

but we've gotten a new one that the kids

25:52

are completely obsessed with. It's called

25:55

Super Simple Biology, the ultimate

25:57

bite size study guide. It's from DK. And

26:00

this is like those, do you remember

26:02

coloring in like the cell and the

26:04

things like that in school? This

26:07

is like that in these

26:09

beautiful, just

26:12

dimensional colorful renderings.

26:15

The kids love them. I'm learning all kinds

26:17

of stuff. They have this for everything. We

26:19

happen to be very into the biology

26:21

book. They have ones for the human

26:23

body. They have ones for physics and

26:25

chemistry. But we just have been

26:27

like opening it. The kids have been bringing it

26:29

to us to like

26:32

ask us questions about it. I

26:34

feel like this is an area where I know

26:36

I studied it in school, but I don't know

26:39

very much. And that makes it really fun to

26:41

look at as a family because you as the

26:43

adults are like, oh my gosh. And also they

26:45

have learned a lot about these things since

26:47

I took biology. Like they're a whole,

26:50

you know, I'm like, I don't remember this. And then

26:52

we googled, it's like, oh, we didn't know this till

26:54

like three years ago. So I

26:56

really think that you should, you know,

26:58

spend some time with a visual encyclopedia, get

27:01

one from your library, but we really like

27:03

this one. The ultimate bite-sized

27:05

study guide is super simple biology. Great.

27:09

What do you got, Jamila? I am

27:11

recommending grilling your peanut

27:13

butter and jelly sandwiches.

27:15

Whoa. There is nothing

27:17

like a grilled peanut butter and

27:19

jelly sandwich. You just butter that

27:21

thing up, put it in the

27:24

pan. And it is

27:26

absolute heaven. I've never, have you been

27:28

doing this for your whole life? I haven't.

27:31

Never even considered this. It's

27:33

so good. I don't remember when I started doing it

27:35

and I don't do it with every PB&J, but

27:38

when I do it, it's such a

27:40

treat. Ooh. So it's yum. What happens

27:42

to the peanut butter? Does it get? It

27:45

melts a little bit, yeah. Yeah. Oh

27:47

baby. Warm, there's something

27:49

about warm jelly too. Like it's yum. Yeah,

27:52

right. It feels like extra. Does it bring out

27:54

the sugar or something? Yes.

27:56

What's your jelly of choice for PB&J?

27:59

Strawberry. Yeah, me too. Classic. Zach,

28:02

are you a strawberry also? We're

28:04

a mixed berry family. I

28:07

like a mixed berry, but yeah, strawberry is great. Zach,

28:10

what are you recommending this week?

28:12

I am recommending taking out the

28:14

Voice Memo app or whatever is comparable if

28:16

you don't have an iPhone and

28:19

recording your kids next time they're

28:21

having a laughing fit and beginning

28:23

to keep like an archive of

28:25

your kid's laughter because

28:27

nothing is sweeter than the sound of our kids laughing.

28:30

And I'm just realizing that like, you

28:32

know, the sound of Ami laughing as

28:36

like a six month old is very different than how he

28:38

sounds at age three.

28:41

And so just like record laughs over the

28:43

years and be sure to date them and

28:45

you'll have like this jar of

28:47

laughter, like a laugh museum of your family. It's

28:50

going to sound like this. We

28:52

need your help. There's a building on top of

28:54

our head. We need you to help build

28:57

it on the homies. He said, beep, bop,

28:59

bop, and now. Look

29:04

at him. Dad, can I make Ami

29:06

laugh? Can anybody make me

29:08

laugh for an Ami? I

29:11

don't think so. I

29:14

don't think so. Car-Mar- So. Hi, Marshall.

29:17

We have fire on our car. We

29:20

need your help. Fire

29:22

blast. So what could be better than that,

29:24

right? That

29:29

is so sweet. You

29:31

know what you need to do after you get a

29:33

couple of these? Do you know the little,

29:35

like what is the line called where you can

29:37

like see the audio? Like

29:40

the, like the wave sign or the wave

29:42

line or something? The wave? Yeah. I

29:45

feel like that would be a really lovely like print. Ooh,

29:47

yes. Yes. One

29:50

time way back during

29:52

COVID. Way for

29:54

way for Mara's coming in second. Yeah. Thank

29:57

you, producer Mara. It's on the way for. Way for

29:59

ma- I think we did. Tamila, do

30:01

you remember this? We guessed each other's laughs

30:03

based on waveforms. Aww. That's

30:07

like we were all logged in. Rosie

30:10

sent us each and we had to guess. And it

30:12

was actually, I feel like it was very cool to

30:14

see our voice in this

30:16

form. And so how cool

30:18

would it be when you got three from

30:21

three different agents to make a print of

30:23

the three waveforms? I really

30:25

like that. That's the long game? That's

30:27

the long game. Or like on a mug or something?

30:29

I was like, what a great gift would that be for Shira?

30:32

This could be someone's business. Or Shira, if you're

30:34

listening, this would be a great gift for Zach. Yes,

30:36

it would. Yes, this is right up

30:38

my alley. Like

30:41

as you're sitting, doing your

30:43

podcasting and then on your mug,

30:45

there are your kids' waveforms with

30:47

their laughs. I love that.

30:49

I love that. Great idea. Or

30:52

just record them and listen to them. That's a bunch

30:54

of them. All of the above. And it was so

30:56

lovely. We always

30:58

want to hear what you're loving, listeners. So

31:01

seriously, be sure to reach out and keep

31:03

the conversation going. You know the deal. Email

31:05

us at KarenFeedingPod at slate.com or

31:07

call us so we can hear your Maliff Lewis

31:10

voices. 646-357-9318. And that's

31:12

our show. Please

31:15

subscribe, leave a rating, and review, and

31:17

tell your friends. This episode of Karen

31:20

Feeding is produced by the incomparable

31:22

Maura Curry with special thanks to Rosemary

31:24

Belsen. Shasha Leonard is the voice of

31:26

our listeners. Alicia Montgomery is the VP

31:28

of Slate Audio. For a list

31:30

of new camp and Jamila Lemieux, I'm Zach Rosen.

31:32

Thanks for listening.

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