Why can't a country just print more money and hand it out, so that everybody has enough? It sounds like an obvious fix to poverty, and most adults cannot explain what is actually wrong with it.

This family-friendly show for kids answers it without economics jargon. It is about the difference between money and the things money is for. Money is a promise that you get a turn at something real: an apple, a seat, a place on a team, a house. Promises can be printed in an afternoon. The real things take a season, or a year, or a decade. Two kids work that gap out for themselves, testing it against places they already know and arguing with their dad about whether it is fair, and end up with the question worth asking any time someone says more money will fix a problem. Is there more stuff? And if there is not, how long would it take to make some? It closes with a country that printed anyway, and what its money was worth by the end.

Best for ages 7 to 12.

Passports explained for kids: what a passport actually is, why every country issues its own, and why officers at the border ask the questions they ask. Raina (age 10) and Devin (age 8) find out what is printed inside a passport, why only your own country's government can issue you one, why even a baby traveling on a parent's lap needs one, and why there is no single passport for the whole planet.

Then they take on passport control itself: why a country wants to know where you are staying and how long you plan to be there, how those questions differ from the ones you get coming home, why fruit, plants and soil cannot cross a border while a souvenir rock can, and what the face-scanning machines at the airport are comparing your face to. A kid-friendly guide to passports, citizenship, borders and customs, recorded after the family's trip to Costa Rica.

In this episode of The Junior Boardroom, the kids take a trip around the globe, touring eight currencies tied to their own classmates' home countries: the US dollar, Japanese yen, Brazilian real, South Korean won, the euro, Indian rupee, Turkish lira, British pound, and the Costa Rican colón. They crack the secret that a big number on a price tag doesn't mean something is expensive (that same Pokémon pack costs about four dollars almost everywhere, once you do the exchange-rate math), and find out why France has no "French dollar."

With the family's August trip to Costa Rica weeks away, it's live math on air: converting colones, won, and pounds in their heads, plus how a kid's debit card does the currency conversion automatically the moment you travel. A warm, kid-friendly guide to currencies, exchange rates, and money around the world.

What does it really mean to be responsible when something goes wrong? This episode of The Junior Boardroom opens with a real one: Raina reads the actual waiver from her horse riding camp out loud, the one that makes you accept "any and all risks of injury... or death." From there the kids crack open one big grown-up word, liability, and suddenly start spotting it everywhere: the "No running" sign at the pool, the waiver at the ski resort, the "no riding in the cart" sign at the grocery store, even a locked-up tennis court.

They play a "Whose Fault Is It?" game full of curveballs (a golf ball through a window, a dog bite on a dog-sitting job, a stadium pretzel that makes you sick, an ice cream that sends the blame climbing all the way up the supply chain from the shop to the store to the farm, and a tennis match that shows why a waiver protects you for accidents but never for hurting someone on purpose). They take it to the jungle with a Costa Rica ziplining trip and a very bitey sloth that teaches what happens when you ignore a warning sign, wrestle with who's to blame when a self-driving Waymo crashes, and hear the true story behind the famous "hot coffee" lawsuit that sounds silly until you hear the whole thing.

Raina has been campaigning for a dog for TWO YEARS. So this week, the Junior Boardroom puts pets on trial. Is owning a dog actually a good deal? We dig into the $150 billion U.S. pet industry (yes, that's bigger than the entire NBA), and we teach two business concepts every kid — and grown-up — should know: recurring costs and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

In this episode:

• Why companies LOVE pet owners (hint: you keep coming back every week)
• Live math on air: $100/month × 12 months × 12 years = the real price of a dog
• The jobs built on top of dogs — dog walkers ($600/week!), trainers (six figures), and vets
• Service dogs and how a K-9's nose is 10,000× more powerful than ours (300 million smell cells vs. our 6 million)
• Famous movie dogs that out-earned their human co-stars — Toto from The Wizard of Oz, Air Bud, Marley & Me, and the cautionary tale of 101 Dalmatians

After all the math, does Raina still want a dog? You'll have to listen to find out.

The Junior Boardroom is a family-built podcast where kids break down business, money, and how the real world works. Hosted by Raina (10), Devin (8), and their dad Mel.

Subscribe, share with a friend or a teacher, and send us topic ideas at JuniorBoardroom.com.

Game, set, money! With the French Open just around the corner, Raina (age 10) and Devin (age 8) break down the business behind professional tennis. We take a quick tour of all four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland-Garros), Wimbledon, and the US Open. Then we tackle the big questions:

How much does the US Open champion really take home? Why did it take until 2007 for women to earn equal prize money? Why is Roland-Garros the only Grand Slam still using human line judges? And how did 204 Hawk-Eye cameras change tennis forever? A fun, stat-packed episode for young athletes, tennis fans, and curious kids, perfect for the car ride to practice.

It's Tax Day season! In this episode of The Junior Boardroom, Raina (age 10) and Devin (age 8) learn what taxes are, how income tax works, who the IRS is, and what happens if you just... don't pay. Plus — why does the government take money out of your paycheck before you even see it? A fun, kid-friendly breakdown of taxes perfect for the car ride to school.

Hey Steph Curry fans! Ever wonder how the NBA makes billions of dollars every year? In this episode, join 8 and 10-year old siblings, Devin and Raina in the boardroom to learn about the massive business behind your favorite dunks and three-pointers.

We dive into billion dollar TV deals, explain why a tiny patch on a Golden State Warriors jersey is worth $20 million, and figure out why an All-Star seat costs more than a car.