In the future, historians studying parenting trends might break down the 21st century into before and after Dr. Becky. The Instagram-famous child psychologist Becky Kennedy manages to somehow reduce parenting’s most fraught situations (sibling fights, tantrums, bedtime wars) into actionable, accessible scripts that, for many parents, actually work. But her rise also brings up a lot of thorny questions, among them why American parents are so anxious and in need of advice to begin with. Kathryn Jezer-Morton, who writesour indispensable newsletter on family life,Brooding,and earned a Ph.D. studying online parenting, set out to answer them. Starting last summer, she had several long conversations with Kennedy, unpacking the doctor’s personal story, her parenting philosophies, and the cultural undercurrents that have made her so deeply influential.
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