Good Inside with Dr. Becky

Latest Episodes:

Sex? After Kids? Tell Me More, Esther Perel - Revisit Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

What happens when two become three, or four, or five? Who is responsible for the needs and wants of a couple when days are filled with playdates, pick-ups, and meal preps? Nights lack the erotic energy that couples need not only to survive but to thrive. This week, Dr. Becky consults with the renowned couples therapist, Esther Perel, to talk about what parents can do to rekindle their desires.

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Belle Burden: The Burden of Being the "Good Girl" Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

Belle Burden was, by her own account, the good girl. Quiet, compliant, the kid who wrote her own book report and did her homework on Friday afternoons. Then one night in the second week of the 2020 lockdown, a stranger left a voicemail: your husband is having an affair with my wife. By 6 a.m. her 20-year marriage was over, and the life she thought she could count on stopped making sense.

In her memoir of the event and its aftermath, Strangers, Belle traces how she got to this place - and how she found her way back.

They get into the stuff we all carry: why "being good" can quietly cost you yourself, how kids notice far more than we give them credit for, and why it's never too late to tell them the truth.

Dr. Becky wrote up her thoughts on how to get the "good girl" tendency out of your own emotional driver seat.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
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You Are the Technology That Builds Your Child's Brain Jul 14, 2026

Show notes

There's a lot of noise about what AI will do to jobs. What will it do to one of the most important jobs in the world: parenting?

Dr. Dana Suskind is a pediatric cochlear implant surgeon and neuroscientist who has spent her career on how young brains get built. In this conversation, she and Dr. Becky start with a piece of bait — can a parent be replaced by a machine? — and spend the next half hour on the science of why the answer is no.

They get into attachment and why the messy, inconvenient, friction-filled version of connection is the version that actually wires a child's brain. Why a frictionless AI that always agrees with you might be the real risk. A rubric (DETECT) for judging any piece of kid-facing tech before it comes in the house. And the idea Dana calls the most freeing thing she learned writing her new book: good-enough parenting isn't a nice thing to say, it's a biological necessity.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Ole Henriksen: Use the code DRBECKY30 for 30% off the Banana Bright+ Eye Crème
Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb
SmartyPants: Shop SmartyPants Vitamins at Target, Walmart, or Amazon today
Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED

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Great Dads Are Made, Not Born: The Neuroscience of Fatherhood Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

When a woman becomes a mother, her brain physically reorganizes around the baby. We've known this for a while. What we didn't know (until recently) is that the same thing happens to dads.

Dr. Darby Saxbe is a neuroscientist and psychologist at USC, and one of the only researchers in the world scanning fathers' brains before and after they have kids. What she found: the same regions that change and streamline in new mothers change in new fathers. The more hands-on a dad is, the more pronounced those changes are.

Dr. Becky and Dr. Darby get into what "losing gray matter" actually means (it's not what it sounds like), how paternal postpartum depression shows up differently than maternal (and why it almost always goes unrecognized), and why the awkwardness of new fatherhood isn't a signal that you're wrong for the role.

Dr. Saxbe's new book is Dad Brain.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky
LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Little Spoon: Get 50% off your first order at littlespoon.com/rattled with code RATTLED

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are You Pushing Your Kid or Managing Your Fear? Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

“If I don’t push my kid, they’ll waste their potential.” A lot of us believe this. But is it true?

Myleik Teele joins Dr. Becky to work through a question that haunts every ambitious parent. What unfolds is an honest look at whose anxiety is actually running the show — and whether the drive we're trying to install in our kids is something we need to figure out for ourselves first.

They get into: what ability vs. effort actually predicts about your kid's future, the moment Myleik saw a straight-A report card and felt something twist inside her, and the specific pressure Black parents carry into every one of these conversations.

Dr. Becky wrote up some conversation starters that might help if you're worried your kid isn't reaching their full potential.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Ole Henriksen: Use the code DRBECKY30 for 30% off the Banana Bright+ Eye Crème
LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more.

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Never Off Duty: Perfectionism and Motherhood Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Cassidy Freitas grew up watching her mom — a Hispanic judge who fought her way into white male spaces with no margin for error — come home carrying that same no-error version of herself. Her dad pushed straight A's as the path to financial safety. She absorbed all of it.

And then she became a mom.

She had a plan. A written, formatted, shared-with-her-doctor birth plan. When it fell apart in the operating room — her daughter already here, her husband saying "look at her," and Cassidy turning her face away — the drive that had gotten her through everything else had nothing to offer her.

Dr. Cassidy is a therapist and the author of Mom Needs a Moment. In this conversation with Dr. Becky, she traces how perfectionism forms in childhood as a survival strategy, why it works right up until you have a baby, and what it actually looks like to loosen the grip without losing your edge.

There's a phrase she comes back to: context is the bridge to compassion. You can't have compassion for the way perfectionism shows up in you as a mom if you don't understand where it came from.

Looking for more support navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and life with a new baby? Good Inside Baby gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming in early parenthood.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Ole Henriksen: Use the code DRBECKY30 for 30% off the Banana Bright+ Eye Crème
Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb
Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20

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Stop Trying to Make Your Kids Creative Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

Parents are being sold creativity like it's a subscription box. Workshops, kits, frameworks, scripts: the message being that your kid needs more imagination and it's your job to install it. Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Don't Call It Art, has a different take: your kid already has it. The imagination, the playfulness, the willingness to not-know — it's all there. The question isn't how to give it to them. It's how to stop blocking it. And maybe, while we're here, how to get a little of it back ourselves.

Dr. Becky and Austin talk about what creativity actually needs to thrive (not a workshop), what so-called "problem kids" and great artists have in common, why your kid's obsession with garage doors is not a problem, the link between play and depression, the game that got Austin through the pandemic, and the teeth-brushing song Becky invented entirely by accident.

Read Dr. Becky’s ideas for how to be a playful parent when you don’t feel like playing.

From the newborn days to the teen years, Good Inside now supports parents through every stage of childhood — with practical guidance for the moments that matter most.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Play-Doh: Shop Play-Doh at Walmart for a summer of imaginative play
Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky
LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two Parenting Styles, One Family, and Conflicting Boundaries - Revisit Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

You and your partner love your kids. So why does it sometimes feel like you're parenting in completely different worlds?

In this listener-favorite episode from the Good Inside archives, Dr. Becky talks with a mom named Carmella who feels stuck between two parenting styles: she's the one holding the routines and boundaries, while her husband tends to be more flexible in the moment. The result? More conflict, more emotional labor, and a growing sense that she's carrying the weight of consistency alone.

Together, they unpack what kids actually need when parents approach things differently, how to talk about parenting without turning your partner into the enemy, and why being "on the same page" doesn't mean becoming the same parent.

Because parenting was never meant to be carried by one person.

With Family Plans, annual Good Inside members can now invite a coparent or caregiver into their account - so you’re building from the same foundation, sharing the same language, and supporting your family together. Click the link to learn more.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Play-Doh: Shop Play-Doh at Walmart for a summer of imaginative play
Airbnb: Host your home or book your next stay on Airbnb
Oso & Me: Use the code OSOGOOD15 for 15% off clothes newborn through age ten

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What AI Could Be Doing to Our Kids Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

AI is getting better at sounding human. Better at conversation. Better at reassurance. Better at knowing exactly what we want to hear.

So what happens when our kids start building relationships with machines designed to remove friction?

In this conversation, Dr. Becky talks with former Wall Street Journal tech columnist Joanna Stern about AI toys, chatbot companions, creativity, learning, and the surprising role frustration plays in healthy human development.

Together, they explore why “helpful” technology can potentially short-circuit the skills kids most need to build: patience, resilience, independent thinking, and real connection.

Joanna also shares what happened when she spent time building a relationship with an AI chatbot herself... and why it left her more concerned about kids and companion bots than ever before.

From the newborn days to the teen years, Good Inside now supports parents through every stage of childhood — with practical guidance for the moments that matter most.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Play-Doh: Shop Play-Doh at Walmart for a summer of imaginative play
Coterie: Get 20% off with the code GOODINSIDEBABY20
LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside
Oso & Me: Use the code OSOGOOD15 for 15% off clothes newborn through age ten

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why Some Couples Have Better Sex After Kids May 26, 2026

Show notes

After kids, a lot of couples assume intimacy is supposed to disappear. You’re exhausted, touched-out, overwhelmed by logistics, carrying invisible mental load — and somewhere along the way, sex can start to feel complicated, distant, or impossible to even talk about.

But what if the story is more nuanced than that?

In this episode, Dr. Becky talks with board-certified OB/GYN, sexual wellness expert, and Chief Medical Officer at Hers, Dr. Jessica Shepherd, about new survey data exploring what actually happens to intimacy in long-term relationships and parenthood.

They discuss:

why some married couples report better sex after kids
how vulnerability changes intimacy
the connection between mental load and desire
hormones, perimenopause, and libido
why “whose fault is this?” is often the wrong question
what it means to approach intimacy from a same-team perspective

This conversation is honest, practical, funny at times — and ultimately hopeful. Because intimacy is about feeling seen, understood, connected, and able to locate yourself inside your relationship again.

Dr. Becky wrote up a few tips for talking to your partner about intimacy after kids. You can read those here.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky
LMNT: Get a free 8-count sample pack with your purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/goodinside
Oso & Me: Use the code OSOGOOD15 for 15% off clothes newborn through age ten

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.