Raising Us: A Parenting Podcast

Youth sports can shape our kids in powerful ways on and off the field. In this episode of Raising Us, Elise Hu sits down with Managing Director of Olympics and Action Sports at Octagon Peter Carlisle to explore how early experiences in sports can build confidence, character, and lifelong resilience. Peter unpacks the hidden pressures young athletes face today, practical ways parents can nurture a positive sports environment, and how to keep the joy in the game—whether your child dreams of the pros or simply wants to play with friends.

As we get deeper into the holiday season and winter holidays, many parents start to wonder — how do we keep holiday magic alive while helping our kids understand what’s real? Jacqueline Woolley, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, studies how kids understand fantasy, reality, and belief itself. She joins us to explore and support curiosity, belief, and cultural traditions with grace by sharing her own stories and tactile advice to answering one of parents’ biggest questions around the holiday season — should we tell our kids about Santa?

As the season of holiday gifting approaches, kids and parents alike may notice new toys, new desires, and the effects of a tight budget. Here to build confidence in starting conversations about money with your kids is bestselling author, journalist, and host of the Her Money podcast, Jean Chatzky. Jean breaks down how to ease kids into the concept of money, what conversations about wealth can look like, and more from her decades of insights on talking with kids about money, status and self-worth.

When sharing life lessons with our kids, parents can often only hope that these lessons stick. Comedian, actor, and dad Roy Wood Jr. joins Elise Hu to talk about how humor, humility, and honesty has helped navigate parenting and giving his son the tools to thrive in a world without him. Roy shares the most impactful lessons he’s learned, the ones he hopes to teach, and what makes life lessons truly meaningful for families.

Open conversations about gender and identity are more pervasive than ever. Policies impacting gender identity and transgender youth dominate the headlines and ballots. How can parents really guide our kids through big questions about who they are and who others are, with openness instead of fear?