Articles

These books will teach children of all ages about Juneteenth and help dismantle the structures and systems that have continued after emancipation. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring freedom for all enslaved people in the Confederate states. However, enslavers in the state of Texas did not comply with the […]

Preserving our Planet - A Legacy Continues; A conversation with Philippe Cousteau Jr. and Ashlan Gorse-Cousteau Philippe Cousteau Jr. and his wife, Ashlan Gorse-Cousteau, are parents to one wonderful daughter and are expecting a second. Phillipe is the grandson of renowned French explorer, conservationist inventor, and oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, and is himself an environmentalist. Ashlan [...]

We have recently witnessed more abhorrent acts of hate and violence against members of our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities; acts that horrify us, anger us and underscore the centuries-long impact of the lie of White Supremacy on all of our lives. A few days ago, as I was playing a game with my […]

Take a look a Petal’s most recent article on Parents.com. Here she highlights and recommends 12 powerful anti-racism books for kids, all broken down by different age groups. You’ll be able to find the right book to share with your child about being anti-racist. Read the article here.

Following the deadly storming of the US Capitol last week, parents and teachers sought guidance and resources to help them support their children, many of whom were at home and could see the events unfold on their television and smart phone screens. By the next morning, several education non-profits, media houses and city and state […]

“It’s easy to get dizzy from all this pivoting! Petal Modeste is an accomplished lawyer, blogger and podcaster who has some pro tips as we head into a new year.” -FOX 24 News Now

The holiday season is nearly officially over but as we continue to social distance to keep our loved ones safe, PFTF host Petal Modeste shares some of the movies, documentaries and TV shows her family most enjoyed this past holiday season and will keep enjoying in the year ahead. They will surely make you laugh, [...]

Having trouble maintaining a work/life balance? In our latest feature, with Medium.com, Petal reveals how she maintains her position at work, spending time time with family, and finding time for herself. Take a look at her recent interview, and see what she had to say about how a busy exec can make time to be […]

Petal Modeste, a parenting expert and host of Parenting for the Future, discusses multicultural toys and books available for the holidays on Good Day Chicago. Watch as she shares her recommendations for this holiday season. Remember, raising accepting children, starts at home and what better way than to make it educational and playful. Take a […]

Recently we were featured in “What You Need To Consider If You’re Planning A Family Road Trip Home For The Holidays” on Madamenoire.com. Take a look to see what our very own Petal Modeste had to say if you plan on traveling this holiday season with your family. Full article: What You Need To Consider If […]

WOW. These kids were asked what they would do if they were president, and what our new president should focus on...their answers will inspire you. Our kids are our future—but we should listen to them today. Head over to our Youtube channel for more content.

This week we had the honor of being mentioned in Good Housekeeping’s, “The 15 Best Parenting Podcasts for Busy Moms and Dads to Follow Right Now”. If you’re looking to add new podcasts to your rotation, we highly recommend to check out their article.

With a week remaining to vote in the 2020 Election, there is no issue more important to parents than climate change. In this episode Petal Modeste shares facts parents should consider before heading to the polls to cast their vote.

Climate Change. Racism. The Coronavirus Pandemic. There is so much at stake in the 2020 election—for parents and for all of us. In Season 3 of Parenting for the Future, we examine what these issues will mean for the world that our children will live in today, after November 3, and beyond.

On this episode, we discuss what steps we can take as parents when deciding whether to send our kids back to school, and how we should be preparing for a possible second lockdown.    

Dear PFTF Friends, Season 2 of Parenting for the Future comes to an end today. And what a season! This podcast was launched to help parents understand two things - the phenomena that have and will shape the world in which their children will come of age and the science and strategies for raising their [...]

Pride Month is in full swing. It is a time for the world’s LGBTQ+ communities and their allies to come together to celebrate the many battles they have won to be accepted for who they are and to be treated equally under the law. But pride month is also a time to reflect upon, a […]

I have spent many hours over the past few days in tears, holding my children, grappling with feelings of utter despair and wondering if the well of optimism, having sustained black people for hundreds of years through the most vile and unfathomable evils, is finally not deep enough or wide enough to sustain another generation. [...]

Beginning in the 17th century and continuing for the next 200 years, untold millions of Africans were kidnapped, shipped across the Atlantic under abominable conditions, violently tortured, brutally dehumanized and enslaved. Slavery created extraordinary wealth and prosperity for America so it was imperative for those who benefited to legitimize and defend this vile institution. To [...]

As Coronavirus infections and deaths continue to mount around the globe, so do our feelings of anxiety, worry and the sense that we have lost control of our lives in fundamental ways. Yet, my conversation this week with mom and Yale- and Harvard-trained ER physician, Dr. Darria Long- Gillespie assures us that we can control [...]

As the Coronavirus sweeps the globe, it is having a microscopic effect—revealing for many the challenges we face as a human family; the very challenges we dissect and discuss on each episode of Parenting for the Future. The systemic racism in our societies. The stark disparities in the delivery of health care. The digital divide [...]

Wherever you are in the world, you, like us at Parenting For The Future, are undoubtedly adjusting to the new normal. You may be working from home, helping your children go to school or keep up with their studies digitally, recalibrating your finances, strategizing to ensure food and essentials are available for the long haul [...]

I hope you are doing well and staying healthy. I am writing to let you know that Parenting for the Future will now release episodes every other Tuesday. This will allow us to share more tools, resources and guidance that are responsive to the current events and phenomena shaping the future for our children. We [...]

Activities: Take the Implicit Bias Test  Visit Equal Justice Work’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture Visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Ted Talks My road trip through the whitest towns of America —Rich Benjamin How to Overcome your Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them — Vrenã  Myers  We need to Talk about an Injustice — Bryan Stevenson  The Little Problem I Had Renting a House – James A. White Sr. Movies & Documentaries  Netflix 13th  42 KKK: […]

For Parents and Educators Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor  by Layla F. Saad  Out of the House of Bondage: The […]

Suggestions for things to read, see and do to help us continue to focus on the parts of our history that have so profoundly shaped our present and that we will need to reshape if all our children are to have a real future.

A few favorite stories of the children who are shaping the future.

Welcome to the new decade! All of us at Parenting for the Future hope that this year is one in which your joy increases exponentially, your work deeply satisfies you, your relationships strengthen and sustain you and your unique and positive impact is amplified! Season 2 starts January 28! Between now and then, we will […]

A Conversation with Luke Bolton on the Bahá’í Faith’s Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program Luke Bolton grew up in Durango Colorado but left home to go to Bard College in upstate New York. He graduated from college with a degree in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, initially intending to work in diplomacy abroad. This [...]

The 74th UN General Assembly is in Session. More than 90 heads of state have descended at the UN's New York headquarters to discuss and debate the world's most pressing issues. As a lead in to the Climate Action Youth Summit and Climate Action Summit, millions of people (from toddlers to great-grandparents) took to the [...]

This week I am sharing three thought-provoking questions with respect to our children and their well-being, including whether some of us should be allowed to have children. I also read a series of articles that focus on some of the phenomena that impact childhood learning and development and the policies and advances in science and […]

This week, my thoughts are divided among many important parenting issues that impact all of our children, from toddlers to school-age kids all the way to collegiates. For starters — the safety and security of our kids can never be far from our minds and when we can’t trust Disney to have kid-appropriate digital content, […]

With summer officially over and kids back to school this week, my thoughts turn to the promise of a new academic year and all that the future holds. With so much tech news filling my feed, I have spent much of my time this week reading about companies that are changing the world through innovation, […]

With each passing day, climate change becomes more of a threat to our planet and to humanity. This week, I am taking a closer look at the direct impact this global issue is having on our children. To begin, I read a study by the National Academy of Sciences which shows that droughts and rainfall […]

Many Parents would argue that keeping track of teens and their tech use is the greatest challenge of parenting this generation — and they wouldn’t be wrong. For starters, many of us spend a lot of time negotiating (Read: arguing) screen time with our kids, and we often find ourselves walking the fine line of […]

This week, I read a cross section of parenting articles that brought to mind how we, as parents, are responsible for creating balance in our kids’ lives. In today’s world, that can be very difficult with so much scary news from mass shootings to the threat of war. So, how can we as parents create […]

As climate change becomes more dire with each passing year, we are forced to look at its far reaching effects beyond those that are most obvious. This week, I learned how a growing movement of people are choosing not to have children in an effort to reduce their impact on our declining environment. In a […]

As parents, we are constantly questioning whether we are doing enough for our children to ensure their success in the future. We worry about whether we are instilling in them core values such as a strong work ethic, or empathy. And with so much information coming at us, it’s hard to know sometimes where to […]

The old saying “Man plans and God laughs” seems to ring eerily true these days as we — and most notably our children — face many unknowns for the future. As parents , we can’t help but imagine our children’s futures once they leave our nests.  Now, more than ever, the future seems more difficult […]

We are inundated daily by news of crises the world over — the perils of climate change, war and genocide, political corruption — just to name a few. For this reason, it’s not unusual to be anxious about the world our children stand to inherit, and what we can do to help create a more […]

As parents, we are charged with navigating our children through this tricky world, responsible for helping them develop the resilience to rise to life’s many challenges, and also to provide a safe harbor for them so they know we always have their backs. This is the journey of parenthood — the good, the bad and […]

As summer gets into full swing and the streets, pools and beaches fill with kids, my thoughts turn to youngsters effecting big changes all over the world and in all areas of life. Frustrated by what many of them deem inaction by older generations, they have decided to use their little voices to speak loudly […]

This Father’s Day, I couldn’t help but think of how much the definition of a good dad has changed over time. Nowadays, dads are doing more hands-on parenting than ever before and have emerged as critical supports in their kids healthy development — a far cry from the past when they were seen as the […]

As the school year closes and kids head outdoors to take advantage of more screen-free activities, I can’t help but think about  how much our lives, young and old, are dominated by technology. Several articles this week address how automation and artificial intelligence will continue to shape our future. One author suggested we must be […]

Summer fever is spreading like wildfire as the weather becomes warmer and the days become longer. With school about to let out, I am looking forward slowing down and escaping and I was happy to find wonderful articles on everything from poolside safety  to a magical formula for keeping our kids reading through the summer, […]

The link between social media and mental health continues to dominate headlines across the media landscape as we learn more about its impact on all of us, especially our kids. It seems we cannot escape the gloomy news nor the doomsday forecast for our kids as they age in the era of social first. For […]

Hunger, poverty and inequality continue to afflict the human family and threaten the future of too many of our children. This week, I was inspired by an inventor, a billionaire, a mother, and even a college board, all tackling these scourges through creativity, generosity, sport and fearless determination. Along the way I picked up wonderful […]

There were plenty of stories to inspire me on the Parenting for the Future front this week, including several about Esther Wojcicki, who I met at the NYC launch of her highly anticipated book: “How to Raise Successful People.” A lifelong educator, trailblazer and fearless boundary-pusher, who also happened to raise a doctor and two […]

Parenting in the digital era can cause us a lot of angst as we strive for balance in screen time and social media. But as I work on my podcast Parenting for the Future, I’m keenly aware that digital technology is what has truly allowed us to advance into the Information Age. One of the […]

As I get closer to launching my podcast Parenting for the Future, I think about how much I’ve enjoyed learning more about a wide range of topics through interviewing leading experts and authors on human development. One of the best stories that I came across this week was about how to condition your child to […]

The current state of the environment and the changing climate affects us all, but parents are especially worried about the impact of pollution on their children and what the world will look like when they reach adulthood. As I work on my Parenting for the Future podcast, I too find myself anxious by the news […]

As I get closer to the launch of my podcast Parenting for the Future, I’ve been thinking about how we all have different parenting concerns about the future based upon our own life experiences. For example, an essay in Salon looks at the fear of one mother who came late to cooking and now worries […]

As a parent with the goal of raising two global citizens, I find myself drawn to stories about how parents around the world are preparing their children for the future. This week, as I worked on my podcast Parenting for the Future, I took time to read about early childcare for low-income families in India, […]

I’ve been making exciting progress on my podcast Parenting for the Future and the launch is in sight! When we talk about parenting, we also must talk about educating — both formally and informally. As you know, education has long been a passion of mine. I’ve been sharing articles about education — and other key […]

One of my main motivations behind creating my podcast Parenting for the Future is the desire to address how dramatically the world is changing in the environmental and technological sense. Many older children realize this — and that’s why more than 1 million protested about government inaction about climate change recently. I have been sharing […]

As I prepare to launch my podcast Parenting for the Future, I feel encouraged that so many parents truly want their children to make the world a better place. In this week full of shocking headlines, there are many more stories that bring me hope as a parent and inspire me to do better every […]

I now have two more experts lined up for my podcast Parenting for the Future. Each guest brings something completely different to the conversation about how parents can support and guide our children to thrive in the world of the future. To prepare for these dialogues, I’ve been keeping abreast of the latest parenting news, […]

I’m getting ready to record another podcast episode for Parenting for the Future, so I’m right on track to launch my podcast this spring! I’ve also been immersed in research and I have lots of insightful parenting articles to share with you. I’ll be posting stories nightly on my Facebook page, Twitter feed and Pinterest boards, […]

From research mode to the production process, I’ve been relishing the learning curve as I work on my first Parenting for the Future podcasts. I have read several inspirational and informative articles and I feel fortunate to have these platforms to share them regularly with you. I’ll be posting stories nightly on my Facebook page, Twitter […]

This has been a wonderful week! I am so grateful for the outpouring of support from friends after sharing the news that I am launching my podcast Parenting for the Future. I am thrilled that so many of us are excited to learn together about how to prepare our children to thrive in a changing […]

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been engaging in conversations with friends, colleagues and experts about how we can prepare today’s kids to thrive in tomorrow’s world. As I prepare to launch my podcast, Parenting for the Future, I feel inspired knowing that many of us share the same concerns and aspirations for this generation […]

As I’m getting ready to launch my podcast, Parenting for the Future, I am meeting remarkable potential interviewees. This week, I had the opportunity to meet a leading figure in early childhood education. I look forward to sharing more with you after we tape our session. I’m also reading lots of great parenting articles, and […]

I am excited to announce that I am gearing up to launch my podcast, Parenting for the Future! Every week, I’ll be sharing my picks of the most interesting and timely parenting articles on my Facebook page, Twitter feed and Pinterest boards, and on my blog. Here are my picks for the top parenting stories […]