Adult Conversation Parenting Podcast

You don’t want to miss this episode where I share some BIG news, and my close friend and guest, Britta Bushnell, helps me process it all, as she talks about the Apollo and Artemis myth and the mind-blowing way it applies to my news, and also to motherhood. Britta and I discuss phases and seasons of life, why one part of ourselves is always starved in this culture, how to transition into beginnings and endings more intentionally, and more.   

My guest, Emily, and I talk about parenting a special needs child - the real deal of it, not just the saintly “special needs mother” archetype that can only be endlessly patient. Emily shares about her early motherhood journey and how she knew something was different with her daughter, the endless searching for answers, the lifelong theme of “othering” she’s felt, and the elevated expectations, stress, and beauty that parents of special needs kids live with. We also discuss recurrent grief when milestones aren’t being hit, how she broke apart while trying to hold it all together, and she explains what “heterospect” is.   

There are lots of stats about pandemic divorce, but few personal stories because of the sensitivity of this topic. Lucky for us, fellow writer, Tara, opens up about her story and how it went down, the agreements she had about romance and soulmates, her insecurities about being a single mom, what’s getting her through it, other people’s opinions about her choice to write through her wounds, and more. 

My favorite medium of over 20 years, Tim Braun, shares how his gift felt like a curse as a child, a dream that changed his path, and responds to my question about if we can contact my favorite dead famous people! He also answers the very light question of what happens when we die (and he has specifics!), shares what happens when he watches Forensic Files, and divulges his most memorable sittings of the past 23 years (PG and R-rated). This episode is beyond interesting!

Working mom advocate and researcher, Leslie Forde, and I talk about moms’ needs, the destabilizing effect of motherhood, the positive shifts she’s seeing in workplaces, the three things moms reported wanting most in the pandemic, and the “grabbing the crappy potato” theory, which you’ve likely experienced too. 

Mom coach, Graeme Seabrook, and I discuss what I call “The Great Reckoning” that’s coming for us parents after the pandemic. We talk about what moms have lost most during the pandemic, unexpected side effects of returning to some normalcy, the summer ahead, and what Graeme sees coming up for moms after this wild year of emotional and logistical scrambling. And I also share a maddeningly relatable story about my teen and the violence that is wearing a belt. 

Writer and feminist, Zawn Villines, drops lots of (uncomfortable) truth about gender inequality bullshit in marriage and parenting. We discuss the thing she heard in a mom’s group that shocked her, the kind of man who cannot be “fixed,” an equitable solution that isn’t just leaving your marriage, and innovative ideas about what we do about these inequalities for ourselves and our children. 

Join me for this remarkable episode where a dude, author Jordan Shapiro, is doing the important work of fighting the patriarchy! Feminism is funny, apparently, because we laugh a lot as we talk about what he learned in the locker room that stayed with him as he grew into a man, the problematic narrative of men thinking they’re the hero of everyone’s story, subtle anti-feminist sentiments dads don’t realize they have, how they can shift their thinking which benefits everyone around them, and more.

Join me as my guest, Meredith of “Perfection Pending,” and I de-stigmatize mental illness, anxiety, depression, and taking medication for relief. We both share our very personal stories and also discuss the surprising ways anxiety shows up for each of us (which I didn’t even know until I was on the other side of things), along with the most successful ways we’ve gotten help. Meredith opens up about how her anxiety directly affected her mothering, and I offer my newfound mid-life hack that’s a game changer. 

This interview might be one of my all time favorites as Braunwyn so openly shares her misgivings about being on the Real Housewives, along with the parts she absolutely loves. She also divulges her rock bottom moments and the hardest part of getting sober on TV, why coming out as a lesbian happened sooner than she’d wanted it to, how she’s co-creating an out-of-the-box partnership with her husband, Sean, and how kissing a costar cost her tens of thousands of dollars. This episode is full of realness you haven’t heard before.

If you like using data to make your job as a parent easier, your brain will love today’s guest, Sandra, who is a Myers-Briggs expert and counselor who helps families figure out their personality types. She breaks things down in such a simple way, and you will witness me processing my own personality in real time. We discuss how personality typing can help you help your kids, which personality types have a harder time with motherhood (and the pandemic), and how to fill your kids’ specific buckets so they can stretch out of their comfort zone. Of course, we also talk about the fact that our parents’ generation would never contemplate any of these things!

Gabrielle Blair (aka “Design Mom,” and the person behind the viral Twitter thread about the actual root cause of abortions) talks with me about how we prioritize male pleasure even at an extreme risk to women, men’s aversions to vasectomies, easy ways to make our houses more functional and enjoyable during a pandemic, and more in this whiplashy episode.

Join me for this delightfully unexpected conversation that feels more like stand-up comedy than parenting advice. I had no idea what I was in for when I asked my guest, parenting coach and Washington Post columnist, Meghan Leahy, to come chat with me. She’s like the anti-parenting-expert expert, if that’s a thing. I don’t even know, but her words will be the balm you need as we talk about why the one-size-fits-all Super Nanny approach doesn’t work, the pitfalls of rigid parenting philosophies (attachment parenting cough cough), pandemic regressions in kids, our “North Star” as parents, and why she punched someone in the face as a kid. She’s hard AF and I had no idea! So. Much. Laughing.

Author, Lyz Lenz, talks about what happened when she realized she was the only one supporting her dream, and how she finally got that equality she was seeking. Lyz also shares the dangers of marrying someone with political differences, how to negotiate the contract of marriage, and why it’s important to show our kids that there is no invisible lunch-making fairy. There are lots of laughs and divorce real talk here as well as a ha moments about our own mothers, and Lyz shows us why when life gives us lemons, we need to throw them at people’s heads.

Ronnie and I continue the real talk about how 2020 changed us, including a surprising insecurity the pandemic brought forth for me. We also discuss the various layers of stuckness many moms feel, the reshuffling of friendships (and how we found our ride or dies), and what small things are giving us hope and bandwidth for 2021.

I’m talking with one of my favorite people about how we’re arriving at 2021 differently after getting pantsed by 2020. We both share the adorable goals we had for 2020 and process our grief and laughter around those specific losses. We also talk candidly about how this year triggered postpartum feelings and what the hell to do with 2021 goals, if anything.

In this episode, I am talking to someone we all need right now - a psychologist! Join me and Dr. Claire Nicogossian as we talk about all things mental health including the difference between responding to the pandemic and actual depression, how to cope with shadow emotions such as anger, what self-care is and isn’t, and the one thing she filed in the back of her brain as a therapist all these years. This is the honest, compassionate pep talk (and therapy) we all need to remind us that we are enough as we finish out one of the hardest years of our lives.

Author, Nefertiti Austin, stops by to discuss Black motherhood, adoption, single parenting, and why white motherhood is the default reflected in the media. We also talk about her book, how she healed her own mother wound, the discrepancy between white and Black adoptions, and how Black women and mothers are dehumanized (which was not on my radar). Lots of important stuff here.

Today’s episode is fun, full of laughs and insight, and dare I say whimsy mixed with swearing? My talented guest lets us into his creative life as a father, while also opening up about marriage, mental health challenges, calisthenics as a parenting tool, his new podcast, how he’s making sure his kids don’t grow up to be “boring” adults, and more.

Emily Calandrelli from Netflix’s “Emily’s Wonder Lab” stops by to talk about her experience as a woman in the STEM world, and how she’s raising her daughter to be science-minded. We also discuss the coronavirus, show business, and just how pregnant she was filming her show! I didn’t think it was possible for her to be more likable than she is on TV, but I was wrong.