TED Talks – Pregnancy and Parenting Resources to Share

By Sharon Muza, BS, CD(DONA), BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE

The tagline for the overall theme of any TED Talk is “Ideas worth spreading.” Many of you may be already familiar with TED and TED Talks. TED is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1984 that is committed to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). The first TED Talks were at a conference designed to cover the topics of Technology, Entertainment, and Design but now encompasses a vast collection of topics from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. On the local level, independently run TEDx events help share ideas locally in communities around the world.

Doulas share information

One of the responsibilities that doulas have is to provide information and resources to our clients when asked. Doulas may also blog or send out regular e-newsletters to potential, current and past clients on their mailing list filled with nuggets of general information. Maybe you are a doula who has a monthly informational newsletter that you send to clients based on their due date?  If you are looking for information to share in any of these formats or on social media, consider using the TED Talks “playlist” feature. This is a great way to share curated material with your clients.

Playlists to know about

TED Talks are collated into playlists on the TED website. By searching the topic you are interested in, you can find a specific collection. They have playlists for pregnancy and parenting. Searching for English language only, I found the content to be interesting and covering a wide spectrum of topics.

Talks for when you’re expecting a child  – this playlist contains 12 talks that may be relevant to your clients. My favorite on this list is “How racism harms pregnant women – and what can help” by Miriam Zoila Pérez but there are much more that are simply fascinating as well.

By searching specifically on pregnancy, there is another list with 12 videos, with very little overlap with the list above. Searching parenting and family bring even more options.

• Talks that celebrate sweet dads (9 talks)
• Family playlists (55 talks)
• Letters to our daughters (8 talks)
• Short talks for parents who are short on time but starved for intellectual stimulation (10 talks)
• Advice to help you be a great parent (13 talks)
• General parenting (52 talks)

Position yourself as a great resource

Ted Talks pack a punch and for a short investment of time, there is usually a powerful statement delivered by experts in their field in a dynamic and captivating format. As a doula, you can use these lists to share with your birth or postpartum clients, to include in a general post or newsletter or even to watch yourself if there is something that piques your interest.

“Ideas worth spreading” is exactly right!  The collections listed above are valuable and relevant to doulas and their clients. Considering sharing a playlist or even a select video or two with those you think will appreciate them. Do you have a favorite TED Talk on the topic of pregnancy, birth, babies or parenting?  Share with us in the comments below.