The Family Skeptical

We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people.

The Wicked Of It All 01/07/2026

2025 Review (Heads Up - More Santa Talk) 12/17/2025

Talking Atheist Christmas with Betsy DeVille 11/26/2025

Forgive Us 11/05/2025

Weirdos! 10/15/2025

All. The. Updates. 09/24/2025

Camp Quest Was Awesome and How Did We Teach the Kids About Religion? 09/03/2025

We Saw Superman 08/13/2025

Let's Overanalyze Everything! 07/23/2025

Let's Have Fun Being Wrong 07/02/2025

2.5 Takes On The Manosphere 06/11/2025

Defining Christian Nationalism 05/27/2025

Stand Up…If You Love Trees (Not God) 04/30/2025

To Sleepover Or Not To Sleepover 04/16/2025

To Sleepover Or Not To Sleepover ***First things first, join Pops on CAN’s first fundraiser! April 25th at 7pm ET. *** We start the episode talking about our Spring Break at Colonial Williamsburg. And then we hear a bit more from Alastair Lichten, a humanist activist and community organiser. He writes about political and social issues, parenting, family, relationships and life from the perspective of a progressive humanist parent, on his blog: A Humanist Dad. Alongside various voluntary roles, Alastair has led on education campaigns for the UK's National Secular Society, and local groups for Humanists UK, and in this discussion, I ask more about what he’s learned about the effects of religious education. We finish up talking about two episodes of Dear Old Dads and how we feel about sleepovers and trusting other people with our kids. And the answer is…. I know this is going to be shocking… Complex. Now the links: A Humanist Dad on Search Engine’s episode on AI: Dear Old Dads’ episode: Dear Old Dads’ episode: The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (11) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/36105845

Talking Progressive Humanist Parenting with Alastair Lichten (A Humanist Dad) 03/26/2025

What’s a Real Dinner Anyway? 03/04/2025

Talking Camp Quest with Katie 02/06/2025

New Year's... Well, Not Resolutions 01/15/2025

New Year's... Well, Not Resolutions ***Heads up - This was recorded before the LA fires. Pops and I lived in LA longer than anywhere else and we’ve been watching friends evacuate and places we loved destroyed. We’ll be posting where we’re donating soon, and we’ll share if we have anything useful to say other than that this is horrible in ways we truly couldn’t imagine. We started the episode talking about a bit of our holiday travels. Then we discussed New Year’s Resolutions - how they don’t work, how we still aren’t consistent, and how we might plan better and with a little more wiggle room for the weirdness life can bring. And finally we ran through some things that are on our minds for 2025. Now the links (we were reasonable for once): We’ve Got Issues - The Episode Care and Feeding - The Episode Laura Simms - The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (11) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and We were included on a list of the . Check it out to find other great creators. Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/34824590

Your Secular Christmas, Judaism, Life, Whatnot, Is Enough! 12/25/2024

Your Secular Christmas, Judaism, Life, Whatnot, Is Enough! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Good job making it through the end of 2024! We began talking about the kids’ adventures in basketball and swimming. And then we spoke a little more with Paul Golin, Executive Director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism about my secular Judaism crisis. And finally, we discussed our interview on One Bad Mother, Biz asking if we have any fun, and all the things we think are super enjoyable about skeptical parenting - including storytelling, and how this all relates to Christmas and The Christmas Carol…and snails. I swear it hangs together a bit more than it seems in the description. And did you catch the Scrooged quote at the end? I swear I did not manufacture that moment. We quote that film all the time, all year long. Now the links: Care and Feeding Podcast - Our on One Bad Mother The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (11!) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/34540240

Talking Humanistic Judaism with Paul Golin 12/12/2024

Should We Teach Our Kids to Lie About Our Atheist Family if Being Honest Could Bring Discrimination? 11/20/2024

Should We Teach Our Kids to Lie About Our Atheist Family if Being Honest Could Bring Discrimination? Heads up - this was recorded before the election, but we only discuss it very briefly at the end in a way that hopefully won’t make you feel more awful than you already do. That being said, we began with a story about watching Tig Notaro specials with the boys and what an amazing role model she is. Then Moms explains how she thinks the atheist community could have done better. We went after the wrong Christian mom influencer. (Another heads-up that this involves discussion of miscarriage.) Finally, we think about how we’d talk to our kids if we lived in a community where our non-belief might bring discrimination. Lie altogether about our atheism? Teach them to lie? Do something else? It’s so hard this even needs to be a discussion and our hearts go out to all the families in this position. Now the links (buckle up): Tig Notaro’s Special Tig Notaro’s Tig Notaro’s The Podcast Good One’s Tig Notaro on Instagram on Instagram on Instagram to American Atheists! Or ! The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (10) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/33963557

Indoctrination Station 11/12/2024

Indoctrination Station We started out talking about our visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - the big feelings it created in us as parents about the hopes and dreams we have for our kids and ourselves. And what does success really mean anyway? Then I included a bit more of our interview with Betsy Deville about her book, Grief for Atheists: A Compassionate Guide with Evidence-Based Strategies to Navigate Your Loss. Pops and Betsy got into a super interesting discussion on video games in times of grief. And we finish out discussing something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time: indoctrination. Just how worried do we need to be about indoctrinating our kids to be atheists? And if you’d like to respond to Betsy’s survey from our last episode and be entered to win a prize, go here: Now to links: Betsy Deville () Betsy Deville on Etsy () Betsy’s Survey () The Article in Free Inquiry by Robert F. Allen: Seth Andrews on - I respond to too many of his questions with overly long answers The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (10) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/33871022

Talking Grief with Betsy DeVille 10/22/2024

Therefore Science No 09/27/2024

Therefore Science No Do one topic I thought. Make it short and easy I thought. Annnndddd… cue the Divine Mocker (who definitely doesn’t exist, but when things go off the rails it makes me happy to think about someone getting joy from my situation). We started out talking about how our move has shown us just how adaptable the kids can be while at the same time being perfectly themselves. And then we discuss an episode of the Truth. Love. Parent. Podcast that talks about the “lies” of the developmental stages. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so long editing a segment. But there was a lot to discuss. And I had to phone a friend just to get a good read on why someone deeply religious would even care about the developmental stages one way or another. Now to links: Truth. Love. Parent. - And I think these are the two The Thinking Atheist episodes that discuss if the human eye is actually well designed - I Was the Intelligent Designer: and . (And if they aren’t - it’s Seth Andrews and it’s going to be great regardless.) Here is Dan McClellan’s on the study about how much people read the bible. Here’s on Erikson’s theory of development. The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (10) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/33224992

I’ll Take My Coping Mechanisms From Skepticism, Not Religion, Thank You Very Much 08/28/2024

I’ll Take My Coping Mechanisms From Skepticism, Not Religion, Thank You Very Much We have been in the thick of moving, and it has been… at time. We didn’t even think to mention the weird AirBnBs and hotels we had to stay at. (If you’re going to categorize something as a bedroom, it should have a door, right?) But we’ve been coping, and we discuss how much skepticism has played into handling these kinds of situations better. We also talk about working to be credentialed by the Creator Accountability Network. Now to links: This is the Dad Tired podcast’s episode . And I was really off, because the podcast that did the episode about critical thinking is Truth. Love. Parent. And we are going to be talking about them more because they have gotten confusing in a way that I think religion can sometimes cause. But I think the episode I was talking about was Though it also could have been . And if you want to hear the sad meow that Clea does when she’s about to york up a hairball, go to 37:20. The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (10) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at . See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/32778537

Battle of the O States 07/31/2024

Battle of the O States We’re back - again with questionable audio issues. If my computer noises are too much for you, skip to the 31:00 mark because they basically resolve in the last topic. We begin by talking about how we choose movies for the boys and use Common Sense Media - probably not as it’s intended. Then we briefly return to the topic of posting the 10 Commandments in public schools. And we finish up discussing Oklahoma and Ohio who are both trying to get in on the “let’s-shoehorn-religion-into-the-public-schools” bandwagon. Guess what - it’s all gross. Now to links: . is the John Hughes movie that you probably haven’t seen but should. Two words: Elias Koteas. And if you haven’t dug into ’s back catalog - what are you doing with your life? . Oklahoma’s to make all schools teach the bible might not be working out as planned actually. And here’s the that Ohio is trying to pass to allow children to leave school for religious education during the school day. And to end on something happy: . The Family Skeptical: We’re a married atheist couple raising two wonderful, strange children. We ask big questions, dissect weird parenting moments, and examine how society ignores or misrepresents families like ours. If you’re any stripe of non-believer who’s involved in raising children, welcome! You are our people. Our kids are Reader (10) and Go (8), and if you want to find out how we arrived at these peculiar pseudonyms, go back to Episode 1. Please reach out to us at and tell us everything we got wrong. See a list of our episodes . Follow us on Instagram for more weird stories that Moms can’t figure out how to fit into episodes. The Family Skeptical Cover Photo is by Our theme music is by Jonathan Zalben and Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, subscribe and tell a friend to check us out. /episode/index/show/d08c6fbb-a61d-4f97-a138-9fe4bbca550b/id/32331292

The Ten Commandments Shouldn’t Be In Public Schools 07/10/2024

Rough Picnic: Beyond the Trump of It All and Books Bans 06/19/2024

Heads-Up: Trigger Warnings 05/29/2024

Interfaith Couples And Should Your Kid Be Able To Pick Jesus Out Of A Lineup? 05/08/2024

The Family Skeptical

TOPICS