The Mama Circle

Today, I’m talking about something that feels deeply uncomfortable for a lot of us, needing help when the numbers stop adding up. Through the lens of motherhood, separation, and navigating finances, I share what it’s been like to realise that I can’t actually do this alone. Not because I’ve done something wrong, but because the reality of modern motherhood often doesn’t add up financially. I talk...

In this episode, I’m sharing the idea that sits underneath so much of this podcast: the motherhood debt. It’s the hidden cost of becoming a mother, not just financially, but emotionally, relationally, mentally and practically too. I talk about the moment I realised I felt like I was drowning, why so many mums end up blaming themselves, and what I started to notice in conversations with other women...

In this episode, Natalie reflects on how expectations around Mother’s Day can quietly shift after children arrive. What was once about celebrating your own mum can suddenly become multi-generational, bringing different traditions, assumptions, and sometimes tension about how the day should be spent. Natalie also explores a deeper question: do mothers actually need one day of appreciation, or somet...

You’re told to stay calm. Keep explaining. Offer choices. Negotiate gently. But what happens when you’ve repeated yourself ten times and nothing changes? In this episode of The Mama Circle Podcast , Nat shares a shift she’s been experimenting with during the toddler years: stepping away from endless negotiation and allowing safe, natural consequences to do the teaching instead with FAFO (F*ck Arou...

When we fall in love, we don’t sit down and map out how we’d separate. We assume love will carry us. But love is not a custody plan. In this episode, I talk about something that might feel uncomfortable at first: what if we treated parenting like the structural commitment it is? What if we had the hard conversations about childcare, money, mobility and decision-making before resentment, betrayal o...

This week, I’m recording from my bed, feeling that familiar end-of-day heaviness where you’ve done a lot but couldn’t neatly list what it was. Life doesn’t feel chaotic. It just doesn’t feel spacious either. In this episode, I talk about what a maintenance season actually looks like in motherhood, especially after separation, when logistics increase and capacity doesn’t. Waking at 5am when it work...

This week I’m responding to a Reddit thread titled: “How the heck are we all okay with this scam?” The post describes what so many families are living: • Dual income just to stay afloat • Hyper-scheduled days • Childcare costs exploding • Zero margin • No real time with your own children And the question underneath it all: Is this just what family life is now? In this episode, I’m not fixing it. I...

Why does one parent end up carrying the routines, the logistics, the emotional regulation, while the other gets to be the fun one? In this episode, I’m talking about the dynamic so many families fall into quietly, the default parent and the fun parent. It’s not usually chosen. It forms over time, shaped by outdated structures that no longer fit modern motherhood. Often, one parent holds the weekda...

This episode explores why so many mothers feel like they’re parenting without a village, even when they’re surrounded by people who care. I break down the five different kinds of support mothers actually need, and why expecting them all from the same people creates disappointment, resentment, and exhaustion. When we understand that the village isn’t one thing, it becomes easier to stop blaming our...

One year into The Mama Circle Podcast, I’m revisiting one of the most listened-to episodes and checking in with myself. In episode two, I shared what I wanted my motherhood to feel like. Ease. Fun. Flow. A sense that my child would naturally fit into my life. A year later, a lot has changed. My son is older. I’m working. My relationship has ended. And my assumptions about how motherhood would feel...

Motherhood doesn’t exist in isolation. Two women can love their children just as deeply, want motherhood just as much, and still have completely different experiences of it. In this episode, I talk about one of the most overlooked and rarely named factors shaping motherhood: the person you have children with, or raise children with. This is not about blame, judgement, or “choosing wrong”. It’s abo...

In the first episode of 2026, Nat reflects on finishing This Is Us and why the show stayed with her long after the final episode. This isn’t a recap or a spoiler-filled review. It’s a conversation about motherhood, family, and the quiet expectations we absorb from TV. Nat explores: Why This Is Us feels both comforting and unrealistic How motherhood and family life are idealised on screen The invis...

New Year can feel like magic or heaviness or absolutely nothing at all. In this short New Year’s Eve episode Nat invites you to pause, breathe and gently acknowledge the year you just walked through. No resolutions. No reinvention. No new-year-new-you. This conversation is a soft reflection space where you’ll explore three grounding questions: • What surprised you this year • What challenged you m...

Christmas Eve is here and if you are listening as this episode lands, you are probably juggling excitement, pressure and a to do list too long for one day. This is a short and gentle episode to simply ask how you are, really. Not the polite answer, not the performance, but the truth. We look at how Christmas amplifies everything. The magic and the mess. The joy and the grief. The overwhelm and the...

n this week’s episode I share something I hadn’t planned to, but it felt right in the moment. Motherhood has a way of piling a lot onto our minds and our hearts, and sometimes the most supportive thing we can do is speak the truth we’re carrying. This episode is a very real, present-moment reflection on: • the end of a ten-year relationship • why the decision took months • the complexity of co-par...

Motherhood is full of love and magic, but it also comes with expectations none of us signed up for. In this episode Nat breaks down seven common myths that keep mothers overwhelmed, burnt out, resentful and doubting themselves. These myths are everywhere in our culture and in the conversations we inherit from generations before us. When we believe them, we push ourselves past capacity. When we que...

In this episode, I am finally sharing the full story of how my little boy came into the world. I have hinted at it so many times and mums often ask for it, partly because we do not get many chances to tell our birth stories in full. As I share in this episode, birth is one of the biggest experiences we ever go through, no matter how it unfolds. I talk about: • How my pregnancy actually felt behind...

Christmas can feel joyful, cosy and full of magic, especially when you have little ones. It can also feel busy and full of expectations. This week I am sharing how to have a Christmas that feels fabulous for you and your family. One that feels warm, fun and enjoyable rather than something you push yourself through. Inside the episode I talk about choosing the Christmas energy that feels good for y...

Childcare guilt shows up for so many mums, even when childcare is the thing that keeps the whole family afloat. One comment at a playgroup or one post on social media can send us into a spiral of “am I doing the right thing” and it needs to stop. In this episode I talk about the real roots of childcare guilt. We look at cultural conditioning, gender expectations, financial realities, and the total...

What does real postpartum support look like? In this episode, I’m joined by Geri Spicer and Hannah Warnes, founders of The 4th, a new London-based service redefining how we care for mothers after birth. We talk about: • The gap between birth prep and postpartum reality • Why “you’ll be fine” isn’t enough for new mums • How proper rest, nourishment and connection change everything • What inspired t...

This week we’re diving into the mother-in-law problem : when support turns to control, and when well-meaning advice becomes a slow erosion of your confidence. We’ll talk about: Why mother-in-laws often overstep after a baby arrives The emotional undercurrent of fear, loss of relevance, and control Why “you’re too sensitive” is code for I don’t want to take responsibility How to hold boundaries wit...

Food prices keep climbing — but what does it actually cost to feed a family right now? In this episode, Nat takes you through her real grocery numbers (around €550–€600 a month for two adults and a toddler) and the small, realistic shifts she’s making to spend less without losing the joy of a full fridge . You’ll hear: What a €600 monthly grocery shop looks like for her family Why constant “top-up...

In today’s episode, I’m taking a step back to reflect on the gifts motherhood has given me through my son, Jackson. This is the softer side of the story... the one where motherhood gives more than it takes. From clarity and courage to the kind of love that remakes you from the inside out, these are the lessons that changed me. It’s not a sugarcoated list, either. Some of these “gifts” came wrapped...

You know that feeling when you’re wiped out but can’t explain why ? You’ve been running on autopilot, juggling birthday gifts, nap schedules and meal plans, but it’s not just the doing that’s exhausting. It’s the thinking about everything. In this episode, Nat dives into the real reason mums are exhausted: the mental load. She unpacks how it quietly drains mothers, how gender roles and social cond...

So many of us feel blindsided by how much motherhood changes our relationships. Nobody warns you how having a baby can completely rewrite the dynamics between you and your partner...the exhaustion, the resentment, the unspoken mental load. In this episode, Nat reads two Reddit posts from mums whose marriages started crumbling after having kids and reflects on why it really happens . From the invis...