This week on Spawned, I have the honor of welcoming back the wonderful Anya Kamenetz, NPR Education reporter and author, to talk about her new book, The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Kids’ Lives…and Where We Go Now. I will tell you this: From the title alone, this is not the book you may think it is. Anya traces the history of our country’s failure to support children and families — especially mothers — and how the crisis that came about in 2020 was actually decades in the making.
Wow.
Note: I mentioned at the top of the show that I thought my daughter and I had Covid — irony! Also, false alarm! But I did have a cold when we spoke, so if it sounds like I’m saying “Adya” instead of “Anya,” now you know why. (D’oh.)
Take a listen right now. And see if you can catch our engineer John Bowen’s subversive dig at Twitter in the outro. Ha.
This week’s episode, graciously sponsored by Dell.
The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Kids’ Lives…and Where We Go Now available at Amazon, and your local independent bookseller
Related Episodes and Other Reading:
– Spawned Ep 213: Katherine Goldstein of the Double Shift on how the Covid pandemic is screwing working moms.
– Spawned Ep 136: Rene Syler on speaking up and speaking out about racism and racial injustice
– Spawned Ep 210: Kids and birthdays in the age of Covid: The loss is real.
– Spawned Ep 262: Pandemic fails, data-driven parenting, and how to make better decisions for your family, with author Emily Oster
– NPR: 6 new findings on learning loss from Covid
– These articles explain how the pandemic is impacting mothers
– Maternal mental health: What we can do to spread the word
– 10 books to help kids and teens cope with anxiety during Covid 19.
And ifyou like this interview with Anya, be sure to check out our interview with her on The Great Screen-Time Debate.
Be sure to subscribe to Spawned wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks to our sponsor Dell!
From November 15 to November 27, Dell.com is giving our readers and listeners access to early Black Friday tech deals. Click over and you’ll head right to some amazing discounts. Whether you need a new XPS laptop for the family, an Inspiron 15 for the kids’ schoolwork, or some of the hottest gaming monitors and accessories to gift wrap for the holidays, Dell has you covered from now until November 27. Hurry though — some of those limited-quantity doorbuster won’t last long.
Anya’s Cool Picks of the Week: Follow her on Mastodon — @Anyaanya@journa.host — where she’s looking for a Twitter alternative. (Psst… I’m on there too! mastodon.com/@mom101)
Liz’s Cool Pick of the Week: The gender expression affirming Fluide Beauty is closing shop and I’m so sad — shop now for 60% off as the close out. Related: Our new Ultimate Gift Guide for Kids is live! I have a heart for the Best Gifts for Teens right now and discuss a new favorite that Christina found as a replacement for Fluid.
Hey, you can also subscribe to our Cool Picks of the Week newsletter to find exclusive favorites each week in your inbox that you won’t find here or on Spawned. Thanks for listening!
Products linked here may generate a small commission that helps support our work at no additional cost to you. It never impacts our recommendations, as you all know! You can also find these books at your library or support your local independent bookstore.
