How Humans Raised Children 1000 Years Ago - Dr Paul Turke

Dr Paul Turke is a pediatrician, evolutionary anthropologist, and an author. How did humans raise kids 1,000 years ago? Today’s parenting is all routines, data driven insights and what the latest research says. But what can ancient wisdom teach us about parenting, and where might it call our modern methods into question? Expect to learn how child rearing might look different if parents were educated in evolutionary theory, what the evolutionary role of grandparents are, and why it matters for raising kids today, Where babies would have slept ancestrally, why toddlers wake up at night, throw food, or act out and why might those be smart behaviors, what parents should know about “normal” child development from an evolutionary view, what we can we learn from cultures that co-sleep, breastfeed longer, and parent together and much more… - 00:00 Evolutionary Parenting 05:40 The Evolutionary Role of Grandparents 13:33 Why Menopause Occurs 18:22 How Modern Parenting is Encouraging Anxiety 24:56 Is Leaving Kids at Daycare Beneficial? 29:39 Sleeping Habits of Ancient Children 33:47 The Evolutionary Reason for Why Kids Act Out 37:01 Advantages of Breastfeeding 42:30 The Medicalisation of Childbirth & Childcare 51:23 How Society Could Have Avoided a Rise in Food Allergies 59:50 The Growth of Obesity in Kids 1:03:32 Are We Overusing Medication? 1:06:48 What an Evolution-Focused NICU Would Look Like 1:11:20 Risks in Misapplying Evolutionary 1:14:58 Where to Find Paul - Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://gym.sh/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM10) Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular Flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period from Shopify at https://shopify.com/modernwisdom - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Chris WilliamsonhostDr Paul Turkeguest

May 8, 20251h 17mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: May 8, 2025
Duration: 1h 17m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Dr Paul Turke is a pediatrician, evolutionary anthropologist, and an author. How did humans raise kids 1,000 years ago? Today’s parenting is all routines, data driven insights and what the latest research says. But what can ancient wisdom teach us about parenting, and where might it call our modern methods into question? Expect to learn how child rearing might look different if parents were educated in evolutionary theory, what the evolutionary role of grandparents are, and why it matters for raising kids today, Where babies would have slept ancestrally, why toddlers wake up at night, throw food, or act out and why might those be smart behaviors, what parents should know about “normal” child development from an evolutionary view, what we can we learn from cultures that co-sleep, breastfeed longer, and parent together and much more… - 00:00 Evolutionary Parenting 05:40 The Evolutionary Role of Grandparents 13:33 Why Menopause Occurs 18:22 How Modern Parenting is Encouraging Anxiety 24:56 Is Leaving Kids at Daycare Beneficial? 29:39 Sleeping Habits of Ancient Children 33:47 The Evolutionary Reason for Why Kids Act Out 37:01 Advantages of Breastfeeding 42:30 The Medicalisation of Childbirth & Childcare 51:23 How Society Could Have Avoided a Rise in Food Allergies 59:50 The Growth of Obesity in Kids 1:03:32 Are We Overusing Medication? 1:06:48 What an Evolution-Focused NICU Would Look Like 1:11:20 Risks in Misapplying Evolutionary 1:14:58 Where to Find Paul - Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://gym.sh/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM10) Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular Flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period from Shopify at https://shopify.com/modernwisdom - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Chris Williamson
host
Dr Paul Turke
guest
Narrator
other

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Dr Paul Turke, How Humans Raised Children 1000 Years Ago - Dr Paul Turke explores evolutionary roots reveal how modern parenting mismatches children’s real needs Dr. Paul Turke explains how human child-rearing evolved in dense kinship networks with alloparents, mixed-age play, close physical contact, breastfeeding, and grandparental support—and how today’s isolated nuclear families are a deep mismatch.

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