What have I done? I forced my kid to listen to Usha Vance's podcast - now she's a fan | Arwa Mahdawi

The second lady has launched a serviceable children’s podcast. That seems strategic given JD Vance’s potential presidential run I know that child labour is generally frowned upon but, in this economy, sometimes you’ve got to put your kid to work. Last week I gave my four-year-old an important assignment: she had to watch all four episodes of Usha Vance’s new video podcast and provide a detailed review. Forty minutes later, her verdict was in: “I love it, mama.” To be fair, my kid loves pretty much anything on a screen. Still, I didn’t hate Usha’s new children’s podcast either. Launched a couple of weeks ago, Storytime With the Second Lady is aimed at promoting literacy. In the first instalment, Usha reads The Tale of Peter Rabbit; in subsequent episodes, a celebrity guest reads their favourite book. Usha isn’t a born entertainer – she sounds scripted and her delivery is a little wooden – but she has a calming voice. If you can ignore the rank hypocrisy of the second lady talking about the joys of kids reading while the Trump administration bombs schoolchildren abroad, slashes education funding at home and tries to cut library funding, the podcast is pretty w