Growing Up Raising Us

In this episode, we chat with Jacquie Ward - psychologist, author and mum to three. Jacquie speaks about temperament in our kids, with a focus on supporting highly sensitive kids (and highly sensitive parents!).  We chat: What temperament is and why temperament differences exist in humans  The difference between neurodivergence and temperament High sensitivity as a temperament type, considering st...

In this episode, Em speaks with Senior Clinical Psychologist and mum to two, Louise Thorpe. Louise specialises in family, relationships, and child and adolescent psychology and came on the podcast to answer some of your listener questions on raising our beautiful boys.  We discuss how we, as parents, can start to navigate toxic stereotypes and limiting narratives of masculinity with our little peo...

In this episode, Chels is joined by Liv – a mother to two-year-old twins and a newborn, who they recently welcomed to the world. Liv shares her motherhood journey on the podcast: looking back at her experience becoming a new mum to twin babies, and looking forward as she was getting ready to welcome her third beautiful baby.  Liv spoke about the surprise of finding out she was having twins, her bi...

In this episode, we speak with Jodi Wilson ( @practisingsimplicity ) - mother of four, health journalist and bestselling author of three books. Our chat with Jodi was ultimately a chat on becoming, on the daily learning journey that is parenting and motherhood, and the importance of being more compassionate and soft with ourselves while also lowering our demands and expectations. There are some te...

In this episode, Chels talks to Alexis and Lilian ( @one99four & @lilianbrilliant_ ) who have recently welcomed their baby daughter into the world. Alexis and Lilian share their love story and journey to parenthood - from navigating reciprocal IVF to their birth story and a NICU stay, and finding their rhythm in postpartum and shared motherhood.  Alexis and Lilian also touch on the stigmas or...

In this amazing episode, Chels is joined by Tash ( @tashdelrosario ) - a mother to two girls, Ava and Aliyah, who are both autistic with additional support needs. Tash uses her social media platform to share insights into her family’s everyday life - including joyful moments and happy stims, sound fixations and sensory challenges, outings with support workers, morning GRWMs for school, and afterno...

This week we are joined by Ellen ( ellen.tuzi ) - a body image and intuitive eating counsellor - to chat all things food relationships and our children.  We chat about: Avoiding food hierarchies and the impact of diet culture on us, as parents.  How to use neutral language around food and food choices to reduce the morality or emotions associated with some foods.  Navigating dietary differences or...

Hello! We are back from our winter break with an incredible episode with Emily, founder of the @emily.the.meal.dealer , and a queer, single parent. Emily (they/them) has done something pretty amazing - they have built a business grounded in community and care while navigating a marriage separation, figuring out co-parenting, and getting to know themselves as a queer person. We got the opportunity...

In this episode, I chatted to Alka to talk about her journey into parenthood. Originally from India, Alka grew up in New Zealand before moving to Australia in her mid twenties. Alka shared her story of early motherhood — from a breech pregnancy and c-section birth, to triple feeding and breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and the very sad loss of her mum when her daughter was 10 months old. We also talk a...

Hello, we have some updates in today’s episode! Raising two children stretches you in every way, and in Chels’ experience is not ‘getting easier’ as they get older. We also touch on our hormones and cycles post kids, with a shout out to a free, online Hormone masterclass happening tomorrow night (details below!). Finally, we share what’s helping us find some pockets of peace in this season.  Thing...

In this episode, we are joined by Lily from Leid by Design ⁠@leidbydesign⁠ (previously known as Launch Mama). Lily is a mother to two, and a certified Career and Corporate Psychology Practitioner. Lily joins us on the podcast to answer the question of how we can better align our careers with our motherhood identities and demands. The intersection between career and motherhood is such a complex, mu...

How long do you have? In all seriousness, we love dads, and millennial dads are absolutely raising the bar on what it looks like to be a father.  This chat is about society, and why dads seem to get praised for their parenting while mums are just… plain old parenting (and complaining about it on their hot mum walks, IYKYK). Our listeners had a lot to say on this one when we opened the polls up – 9...

Wow, this episode is so powerful and so precious. Hayley joins us on the podcast to share her story with Harry, her beautiful son who is now 4 years old and absolutely thriving. Hayley and her partner, Jordan, welcomed their boy into the world at just 24 weeks old, weighing a tiny 700 grams. Harry spent the first 16 weeks of his life in the NICU after being born so prematurely, miraculously coming...

Ideally, we’d be raising our children in community – with others from different generations, backgrounds and skill-sets. Somebody to entertain the older kids, somebody to focus on feeding, to plan the day, to tend to the mothers in early postpartum, to hold sleeping babies, to help with laundry. In reality, most of us are doing all of this tending by ourselves, and mostly in isolation.  In this ep...

Today’s episode is a playback episode from the early days of the podcast – when it was run solely by Chelsea. In this important conversation, Chels was joined by Cleo (she/her), who is now a mother to two beautiful boys.  Cleo spoke with Chels back in 2023, just after her first son had turned one. Before becoming parents, Cleo and her husband lived busy lives socialising, DJing, and wining and din...

In today’s episode we are joined by the incredible Zoe , who shares her experience with egg freezing here in Naarm/Melbourne. Zoe shares her experience from the perspective of a single woman in her 30s living with PCOS. She talks us through the decision to undertake egg retrieval, the process itself, practicalities of the procedure and how she was feeling along the way. Zoe also discusses her expe...

We are so excited to bring you this episode with Mikaela Ladocki . We had a beautiful chat with Mikaela all about her motherhood story. She speaks on her births and postpartum experiences with her two children, postpartum during covid, navigating breastfeeding challenges and choosing to formula feed, navigating the return to work after parental leave, showing up authentically on social media, and...

In today’s snappy ep we are discussing the “7 types of rest” through the lens of motherhood. Have you heard of them? This is such an important conversation for mothers and new parents, when our most obvious form of rest (AKA sleep) goes out the window. We chat through the 7 types and how they can show up in motherhood. The 7 types of rest were identified by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a US physician...

Today's ep is with Jane of @doingmotherhood . Jane is a mother of two and a mental health occupational therapist specialising in matrescence and the perinatal period, currently working at @themindfulbirthmovement .  Jane joins us to discuss: Matrescence from an occupational therapist’s POV and why it can be such a challenging time for our sense of self, confidence and functioning  What a menta...

Welcome to the first episode of our new segment – How Do I – a series where we unpack questions that have been on our minds – sometimes with wonderful experts, sometimes between us, your co-hosts, and often with experiences shared by you, our beautiful listeners. This series has been designed to answer your targeted questions, and leave you with practical takeaways.  In our first How Do I , we are...

In this week's ep, we have Part 2 of our conversation with Amy Pearson of @sunmotheramy. This chat focuses on neurodiversity - on Amy's experience raising a child who is neurodivergent and how that journey impacted her understanding and learning of her own ADHD.  We chose to split this interview into two parts because Amy speaks openly and honestly on the experience of having a highly sensitive ba...

In today's ep we bring you a conversation with Amy Pearson, aka the brains, beauty and impact behind Sun Mother ( @sunmotheramy ). Amy is a mother to two, and a Brand and Marketing Strategist + Coach. She joins us on the podcast to chat all things motherhood, identity and career.  She reflects on her matrescence journeys, building a business while raising a family, and some musings on motherhood n...

How did you know you were done having kids, if you ever had that feeling at all?  It’s something that is shaped by so many factors—practical, emotional, and unexpected. Fertility and financial pressures, not seeing eye to eye with your partner, feeling completely ‘done’ or maybe not at all. We wanted to explore what really influences this decision, and we asked our listeners. The response was huge...

Hello hello! We are finally back for the year and so excited to be in your ears. We are back with a chatty welcome back - Chels walks us through the experience of her second daughter self-weaning (a very different experience from her first) and Em recaps how much the movie, Nightbitch, resonated with her.  You can expect 3 episodes a month from us this season, with a highly requested In Your Words...

Thank you so much for joining us for our first year of Growing Up Raising Us . We wouldn’t have been able to do it without your messages of support, listens, shares, words of wisdom, and contribution to our growing community. We are so grateful to you all. This year we had:  ✨Thirty-six incredible guests ✨Twenty-nine podcast eps ✨So many beautiful DMS and messages of impact ✨One billion voice-...