How Do We Raise Hopeful Kids with Anya Kamenetz
We hear a lot about what screens are doing to our kids, but what about the world we’re raising them in?
Climate change, the cost of living, political division, AI and an uncertain future are pressures that a screen time limit alone can’t solve. In this episode of Parents Uncharted, Sarah Adams, also known as Mom.Uncharted, sits down with journalist, author and former NPR education reporter Anya Kamenetz to explore parenting through the “polycrisis”: the overlapping crises shaping our families’ lives.
Sarah shares her own climate fears and a question from her child that stopped her in her tracks: “Will the world be okay when I grow up?” Anya offers practical ways to approach those conversations, beginning with finding support for our own feelings, listening to what our children are really asking and taking action together.
They also discuss AI in schools, children’s emotional attachment to chatbots, the environmental tensions of AI-assisted parenting and the lasting effects of COVID on education. Drawing on her podcast, Zero Reject: The Uncertain Future of Special Education, Anya explores the challenges families face in getting their children the support they need.
This is a conversation about being honest with our kids, finding hope amid uncertainty and remembering that families shouldn’t have to carry these challenges alone.
Chapters
(00:00) Parenting beyond screen time: Meet Anya Kamenetz
(02:17) What is the polycrisis—and how does it affect families?
(07:39) Why parents can’t carry all the responsibility
(10:30) AI in schools, chatbots and children’s learning
(14:13) AI’s environmental cost and the mental load of motherhood
(17:33) Talking to kids about climate change and our own fears
(20:38) “Will the world be okay when I grow up?”
(24:05) Revisiting The Art of Screen Time
(26:40) COVID’s lasting effects and special education support
(30:44) AI, careers and young people’s uncertain future
(32:33) Building resilience through community and shared action
More About Anya
Anya Kamenetz speaks, writes, and thinks about thriving and caring for others on a rapidly changing planet. Her newsletter on these topics is The Golden Hour. She covered education for many years including for NPR, where she co-created the podcast Life Kit: Parenting. Her last book was The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, And Where We Go Now. Kamenetz is currently an advisor to the Aspen Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network, working on new initiatives at the intersection of children, well-being, education, and climate change. Her next book, forthcoming from Bloomsbury, is about how to cope with the world right now.
Connect with Anya
Website- https://www.anyakamenetz.net/
Substack- https://thegoldenhour.substack.com/
Zero Reject Podcast- https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/zero-reject
Connect w/ Sarah
https://momuncharted.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mom.uncharted/
https://www.tiktok.com/@mom.uncharted
http://parentsuncharted.com/
https://www.instagram.com/parents.uncharted/
https://www.tiktok.com/@parents.uncharted
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