Introducing No More Sidewalks: Parenting Today with Abby McCloskey, a podcast about the major structural changes impacting childrearing in America

In No More Sidewalks: Parenting Today, a new podcast from the Brookings Institution, host Abby McCloskey and her guests catalog major structural changes that have impacted childrearing in America in the 21st century: family structure, children’s health, technology, public schools, fertility, neighborhoods, and more. Things that most people took for granted in previous generations can no longer be counted on, but it isn’t yet clear what will emerge in their place. McCloskey, a nonresident fellow with the Center for Economic Security and Opportunity at Brookings and columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and the Dallas Morning News, explores these issues and offers fresh policy ideas to address the challenges.

Stay tuned for new episodes soon.

No More Sidewalks is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

MCCLOSKEY: Think about the neighborhood you grew up in. The screen door slamming, bikes in the driveway, the constant chaotic noise of kids.

Now, step outside today. It’s quiet. We’re living through the most rapid rewiring of childhood in history. Everything about raising children has changed in a single generation. An inflection point has been the rapid advances in technology. Smartphones, social media, and now AI have completely changed childhood, impacting kids’ learning, attention, relationships, mental and physical health. It all feels beyond any parent’s ability to control.

EXTERNAL MEDIA

But screens are just part of the problem. The very structures that have supported child-rearing, for centuries, have given way. Family, fertility, community, work, worship, even democracy has changed. Things parents took for granted a generation ago, healthier food, good public schools, trusted vaccine schedules, kids playing outside with friends, have given way in this one. Increasingly Americans are opting out of having children entirely. By 2031, deaths will eclipse births in America.

EXTERNAL MEDIA

Yet those of us with kids will tell you, I’ll tell you, that it’s the greatest thing we’ve ever done. So where are we headed? A future where fewer kids receive a greater share of investment and opportunity, where babies are, quote-unquote, “designed,” and helicopter parenting intensifies? Or are we headed to a future where child-rearing is seen more as a burden, where kids are just another resource for big tech and social media to exploit? A world where children are so disconnected from physical realities or so few in number that we don’t even need sidewalks. In Washington, leaders on both sides of the political aisle are offering their visions for the American family.

EXTERNAL MEDIA

But what does that mean for us in the thick of parenting today? What is it actually like to raise children? And what kind of nation do we want them to inherit? I’m Abby McClosky. I’m a policy researcher at the Brookings Institution and a mother of three. In our new podcast, No More Sidewalks, we’ll dig into how we got here and what societal structures would better support us. We are in uncharted territory, but we can navigate it together. Subscribe to No More Sidewalks wherever you get your podcasts

• Listen to No More Sidewalks on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you like to get podcasts.
• Learn about other Brookings podcasts from the Brookings Podcast Network.
• Sign up for the podcasts newsletter for occasional updates on featured episodes and new shows.
• Send feedback email to [email protected].