Joanna's Substack

February 2026

Partner dancing is a practice of boundaries and connection

When a partner leads you in dancing, can you let go of the draw to anticipate what they want?

Feb 10 • Joanna Bregan

3

January 2026

Microplastics and shame in parenting

My daughter was about 12 months old when I asked a new physician at my doctor’s office whether she had any concerns about bubbly water for my bone…

Jan 19 • Joanna Bregan

7

1

Can we do some due process please?

I generally try to avoid thinking about politics because I don’t think I can have much impact on it.

Jan 12 • Joanna Bregan

7

Minivans are precise tools for parenting

Before I had kids I thought minivans were low status.

Jan 5 • Joanna Bregan

6

2

December 2025

Imperfect self-expression, not self-sacrifice

Six years ago, I became wary of the ambition in San Francisco.

Dec 29, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

3

Training my kid to not bump into people at the airport using a clicker

One stressful thing about traveling with my kids is how often they bump into people.

Dec 27, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

4

Maybe I shouldn't be validating my kids so much

I became a parent wanting to do things differently than how I was raised, but something isn’t working about my approach.

Dec 22, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

26

4

2

Toys with the highest play-time and lowest clean-up-time

The worst toy is one with many pieces that my kids dump on the ground and then play with for only 2 minutes.

Dec 13, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

99

4

4

A review of the Secular Solstice 2025

Around 500 people gathered in Berkeley last night for the Secular Solstice, a ritual event founded by Ray Arnold because he cared about his rationalist…

Dec 8, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

13

3

2

I spared my 3-year-old trauma with a technique my CEO taught me

A few days ago, my son fell on his front tooth, and the dentist told us that it was so damaged that we needed to extract it as soon as possible.

Dec 8, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

21

5

OCD only impacts the things you love most

How OCD showed up for me during Inkhaven and what helped

Dec 1, 2025 • Joanna Bregan

11