Catherine and Terri overcame killer deadlines and risky audio problems (which drove Terri away from her microphone and onto the phone) to bring you our weekly entertainment-themed mini-podcast. We started with Catherine’s violent book-group pick, Karin Slaughter’s Criminal, which she wouldn’t have traumatized herself with if she’d had a choice but was interested to discuss with other readers. She mentions another group pick, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade, and the value of talking about books with other people with other life experiences, even if they do occasionally peer-pressure you into something icky. If there's not a book group available to you but you like the idea, Terri again recommends the book-and-a-movie discussion podcast Try It, You’ll Like it. (The latest episode is on the Jhumpa Lahiri novel The Namesake and Amanda's favorite '80s movie, Sixteen Candles.)

On the TV side, Terri chats about last night’s elimination on Dancing With the Stars, and the fact that it’s not just kids in the schoolyard and trolls online that bully; reality shows and institutions can bully quite well through misrepresentation and selective editing and outright mean talk and even just putting someone in a position to fail without appropriate support. Terri also checked in on the newest late-night host, James Corden of CBS’s Late Late Show, and had a favorable first impression, though she’ll likely be sleeping through it from now on. (You can watch the Tom Hanks clip Catherine mentioned on YouTube.)

Tell us about the pop culture you've been taking in this week in the comments, and if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Our group chat this week got off to a bit of a punchy start, with an exchange about the glamorous and cutthroat world of freelance writing and Terri's story of being taken to task on Twitter. Once we got past the laughter and awkward pauses to our topic, it was this: Would you use an app that directed you to restaurants that suited the needs of your quirky kid and family? The dad of a child with autism has a Kickstarter up to do just that, and we chatted about the relative value of online reviews (Catherine recommends a roundup of satirical reviews on Rage Against the Minivan for your review-dissing pleasure) and what things we'd really like to see rated and flagged (we'd pay good money to be warned away from establishments with self-flushing toilets, for example). We also thought back to last week's pre-emptive apology discussion in case we didn't get alerted to the presence of disapproving patrons.

Of course, the alternative to dining out is dining in, and it turns out we have problems with that, too; 75 percent of our podcasting crew hates cooking, which means that Amanda has to cook for everybody now. We discussed the stress of cooking with kids who are mostly interested in making a mess; of introducing new foods to picky eaters; of being tasked to bake dough that we don't understand; and of having a double oven when we don't even want to use one.

Our recommendations this week were also kitchen-related. Terri likes the cookbook A Man, a Can, a Plan; Amanda thinks we should all try the Fix-It and Forget-It cookbook; Catherine has articles on her site about easy dinners and easy breakfasts; and Nicole has a cheat for sneaking vegetables into your kid's food without actually having to, you know, handle vegetables.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Remember our group chat from early in February where we asked, "How Free Should We Be to Let Our Kids Be Free"? (It was Episode 55, if you want to go back and listen and refresh your memory.) Terri, Catherine, Amanda, and Nicole were somewhat taken aback by a free-range-war-inciting article on the topic in Slate and wondered whether the parents could have handled this a different way. Our friend Kathy Ceceri, who writes about homeschooling on the All About Homeschooling Facebook page and her site Crafts for Learning, listened in and had some different opinions, so we thought we'd take some Round 3 time for a responsible opposing viewpoint. We talked about how parents can broaden the standards of their community, be leaders rather than reactors, and engage in civil disobedience in a way that upholds our values but doesn't cause trauma to our kids. For some additional thoughts on the subject, Kathy recommends a recent New York Times article that makes "The Case for Free-Range Parenting." 

Where do you stand on free-range parenting? Add your opinion in the comments. And if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, please come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Catherine caught up with the new version of Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh (see trailer at left), and we started the conversation with a tip of the hat to NPR's Linda Holmes for the exhaustively researched Cinderella treatise on her blog Monkey See, which will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about this storied lass and a few things you didn't. Catherine found the latest incarnation to be entertaining but not as appropriate for the preschool set as you might expect from the subject matter and the Frozen short preceding it (maybe the director and Downton Abbey cast members are a hint that this is Cinderella for moms). She also has an early opinion on Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, though she didn't binge-watch it like all the cool kids are doing.

Terri is still in mourning for Parks and Recreation and hasn't moved on to finding a new show to love. With Cougar Town's departure next week, Mom will be her last watch-every-week comedy standing, and although she'd like to add The Odd Couple to that list, it's not quite there yet. This week she's mostly ticked at ABC's Secret and Lies, a show she doesn't watch and is glad of it after hearing of a lie it told about hemophilia — because hey, when you're looking to make a cheap shot on your unpleasant TV show, why not make life a little more difficult for people with a serious medical condition? You can read why folks are protesting and how you can join them on the blog Comfort in the Midst of Chaos.

Tell us about the pop culture you've been taking in this week in the comments, and if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Our group chat got started with a little Grinch-iness over the very sweet and inspirational story of a cheerleader with Down syndrome who was defended from bullies by some middle-school basketball players. We applaud those players, we're delighted that this girl is cheerleading and accepted by her schoolmates ... but the viral hoopla that surrounded the circulation of the story and mushroomed into escalating efforts by the school leave us a bit unsettled. We look forward to a day when standing up for people with disabilities will be standard operating procedure, not medal-worthy; wonder why inspiring stories about people with disabilities so often star people without; worry about what happens when all the attention dies down; and hope folks realize that just hitting "share" on that heartwarming post doesn't mean you're off the hook for the things you do that are less than inclusive and accepting.

Next, we looked at the way some parents have sought to get themselves off the hook with fellow airline passengers by distributing apology goodie-bags before their baby even starts wailing in midair. We talked about the need for people to get over being angry about crying babies already; the much-worse people that try our patience in flight; the impossibility of actually getting it together to do such a Pinterest-y thing; and the appeal of doing things to make people feel like heels for complaining about you.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine liked a post on Parent Hacks about getting older kids to do chores; Amanda mentioned an article she wrote about "8 Steps for Helping Third and Fourth Graders Become Self-Advocates"; Nicole again invited listeners to join her and Terri for the Inclusive Class podcast; and Terri had a suggestion for a more useful thing to share on Facebook if you want to support kids with special needs, and some real-world things to follow up with.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

What kind of entertainment do you enjoy with your kids? For Catherine, it's audiobooks, chosen to fill long car trips with something more appropriate and adult-friendly than Top 40 radio. Among those she and her kids have listened to and enjoyed are the Harry Potter series; the Origami Yoda series and Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger; the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo; The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (kind of a Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for younger readers); and Every Day by David Levithan.

Terri wishes she had something similarly noble and educational to talk about, but getting kids to read or even listen to books has always been more struggle than sharing in her house. The entertainment she and her daughter have been enjoying together is Dancing With the Stars, ABC's sparkly and silly "dance competition" featuring "celebrities" and a vast array of sequins and tiny outfits. She gives her thoughts on the current lineup of alleged stars, names her early favorites, commisserates with good dad Bruce Willis, considers Julianne's violation of the 10-Point Comfort Scale, and gives everybody a good excuse for watching: It's really about inclusion, y'all!

Share your favorite audiobooks, DWTS contestants, or other kid-parent entertainment choices in the comments. And if you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

For this week's podcast, our friend Kathy Ceceri subbed in for Amanda, who was busy at SXSWedu, for a chat on standardized testing, pushing your kid, and all those things schools and parents are doing wrong. And since it's Friday the 13th, our recording was unluckily haunted by a variety of unwanted sounds, including answering-machine messages and my son talking to his computer. But no dogs barking! Catherine's dogs outsourced the disturbances.

As for the part of the podcast we really do want you to listen to, we discussed those all-too-frequent standardized tests, the anxiety they cause for kids, the complications of opting out, and what value standardized evaluations have for non-standardized kids. Next, we chatted about the various ways parents try to motivate kids to do well, if not on standardized tests then on report cards and in college and in life. We considered the merits of bribing, rewarding, pushing, and letting kids set their own goals and hoping for the best. Of course, if your child's future path isn't clear to you, it's not so easy to know which way to push or pull.

Finally, we made our recommendations for the week: Catherine shared a post on Alphamom about the difference between rewards and bribes and her own post on helping kids compete to excel rather than compete to beat; Kathy mentioned a Cognoscenti post on why it might not really matter what college your child goes to that got some attention on her All About Homeschooling Facebook page; Nicole said you really should be listening to the Inclusive Class podcast, which has enough episodes waiting in the archives to last you quite a while; and Terri suggested some questions to ask about standardized tests, an article that takes Dancing With the Stars way too seriously, and an interview with a regular watch by Linda Holmes on NPR's Monkey See blog.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Ellen Seidman, who blogs about parenting children with special needs at Love That Max, joined Terri for a chat about the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign from Special Olympics and the reasons we really really wish folks would stop using the R-word. We talked about our amazement that this is a word people want so badly to hang onto; recalled Ellen's articles on confronting people on Twitter, asking people you know to stop, and finding the word in current kid's literature; and referred listeners to Terri's list of 225 alternatives to the word (because we're not asking you to be a nicer human being, we're just asking you to use a different word when you're slinging insults).

If you're unfamiliar with the R-word campaign, do visit the website R-word.org, look through their materials and videos, and take the pledge. If you have, please help us spread the word (maybe make it your next social-media campaign.)

(If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Serial seems to have made podcasts popular in a whole new way, but some of us have been listening to them all along. Catherine and Terri discuss their favorites, particulary Pop Culture Happy Hour, which is the model for our Parenting Roundabout group chats and the mutually loved podcast that got Catherine and Terri talking about pop culture for these Round 2 eps in the first place. They chatted about their PCHH fandom; Catherine talked about the aforementioned Serial (as well as the SNL spoof of it embedded at left and an article about celebrities sharing their theories); and Terri went on a bit about the many podcasts she listens to and enjoys, even if she never actually gets a chance to take in all the pop culture they're talking about, including Firewall and Iceberg, Extra Hot Great, the Nerdist Writer's Panel, WTF with Marc Maron, By the Way with Jeff Garlin, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Ask Me Another, and Try It, You'll Like It. What podcasts are you loving these days? Share in the comments, and be sure that you've subscribed to ours so that you'll get all of our group chats and additional mini-podcasts.

(If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Getting organized seems to be tougher and tougher these days, with our schedules getting busier and busier, and more and more tech tools to help out in ways that require full days of programming and entering info. We discussed the allure of collecting pretty datebooks, the tech we've tried and adapted to our own needs (including Day One, Wunderlist, SimpleNote, iCal, and Evernote, which we don't quite know what to do with), our favorite low-tech tricks, and the proper orientation of days on a wall calendar.

Then we moved on to the current trend of formally announcing things like births, deaths, engagements, weddings, and other major life milestones online, rather than the old-fashioned phone chain or snail-mail. We shared our love of e-vites, our concerns about Facebook death notices, and our feeling that folks who miss things because they're not connected should go ahead and join us in the 21st century.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week. Amanda was too swamped by the events she has to organize for this week to come up with something, but Catherine recommended an upcoming documentary on obesity as well as the film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day; Nicole shared her organization-apropos article on "10 Simple Tools to Help with Executive Functioning in the Classroom"; and Terri really thinks you should go right now and download NPR's Austin 100, which did indeed come out the day after we recorded and is available through April 2. (Did she mention that it's 100 free songs?)

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Parting from your TV friends at the end of a season is never easy, but when you'll have to wait a long year to see them again, as with Catherine's favorite Downton Abbey, or there'll never be another new episode, as with Terri's favorite Parks and Recreation, it's especially hard to say goodbye. For this week's Round 2, we chatted about those season and series endings. Catherine celebrated some plot developments in this Downton season while wondering why others are still, still, still going on, and looked forward to following promising developments waaaay down the road in January. Terri bravely held back tears while talking about the super-sweet, upbeat, hopeful, and time-hopping Parks final episode and season, and the value of finding your team of pop-culture soulmates with whom you can celebrate shows that the wider world ignores.

If you just can't get enough of these series, Catherine recommends the recaps of Downton Abbey at Go Fug Yourself, and Terri recommends HitFix's huge batch of articles to see off Parks and Rec, as well as the epic YouTube/Twitter battle between Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) and Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), with the great Rob Lowe line from "Flu Season" as the equivalent of crying uncle.

(If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)