Between the Chaos and Calm: In the Middle of Motherhood

Ahh, sibling dynamics. Adjusting to life with multiple children can be both challenging and deeply rewarding. In this episode, we sit down to talk about our children's age gaps, the lessons we've learned along the way, and how we navigate conflicts in ways aimed at reducing rivalry and tattling while fostering conflict resolution skills for life. Whether you're preparing to welcome ano...

*We want to note that this episode includes brief mention of the loss of a father at a young age, which may be triggering for some listeners. Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads and father figures out there! While our show is dedicated to all things motherhood, we wanted to broaden the conversation and share our gratitude for the dads in our lives whose fatherhood also deserves space for refl...

Why is summer parenting burnout so common, and why does more free time for children sometimes backfire? Shouldn't summer be an easy season? Often, summer brings a lot with it: changes in routine, shifting expectations, and new demands that can be challenging for a child's still-developing executive function skills—and, at times, for our own as well. It is sometimes dubbed a season of &quot...

In the past decade, "Independent Play" has become a buzzword on social media, where parents of young children can't scroll their feeds for more than a few minutes without being hit by tips, downloads, and toy recommendations promising to help their littles finally play more without so much parent involvement . After years working as a writer, editor and content creator on parenting a...

In this episode, we zoom out to look at the state of modern-day mommin’. As millennial moms, we are showing up , but we’re also notoriously stretched thin to the point that the U.S. Surgeon General issued a warning in 2024 about record levels of burnout. Whew! Get ready for a candid, deeply relatable conversation with Allison (Allie) McQuaid, a Maryland-based therapist and perinatal mental health...

Parents today face conflicting pressures around early literacy for their children. On one side is the “just let them play until age seven” perspective; on the other, the push to “download this app to teach your two-year-old to read quickly.” Between these extremes, there’s far more to consider and thoughtfully discuss. One universal truth: there are foundational literacy skills that are important...

“Just toss ’em in the water; they’ll figure it out!” This approach doesn’t work for every child, and it can create a panic response—a precursor to drowning. On the other end of the spectrum, habitually putting your little ones in a life jacket or arm floaties when visiting pools builds muscle memory around a vertical position, which is the drowning position. In this episode, we shed light on how d...

In this episode, we normalize the worries and bloopers that can weigh on our minds as parents when we transition from “sittervising” our children’s playdates to that first drop-off. It’s a milestone that’s rarely talked about, yet can feel surprisingly big those first few times—whether you’re the hosting home or the one entrusting your child to someone else for a few hours. We candidly chat throug...

“Play is purposeful, but play alone is not an equalizer. Equity requires intentional access to language and math experiences,” writes educator Melanny Dominguez in a recent post that went viral on her mentorship page, @MelsMontessori. Melanny is a Montessori homeschool educator, a former traditional classroom teacher, and a bilingual mother of two. After a decade in conventional education, she shi...

In this episode, we share our honest motherhood reflections on mealtime wins and woes with our children over the years. We talk about the challenges and highlights while sharing in laughter and reprieve as our kids move more into middle childhood. We’re starting to see little wins come through: stronger tolerance for waiting at a restaurant more confidence ordering independently efficiency around...

This episode is a sanity-saving conversation about all things “big kid” parenting —one that will have you nodding along, feeling understood, and ultimately walking away with greater confidence to navigate classics like the “stage of rudeness,” chore resistance, and those first friendship woes. We sat down with a true pro: Gabby Felman, MS.Ed., LCSW, PMH-C, founder of Community of Play (located in...

One day, the stroller or baby carrier that tucked away our sweet little babies during grocery hauls stops feeling effective. We blink, and we have very mobile toddlers who can't seem to sit still. Nonetheless, it's 2026, and it's pretty normalized around us to see fellow parents picking up their toddlers, placing them in the seat of a cart, and handing over a planned activity – either...

Don’t sleep on block play! Whether you have a toddler, a big kid, or a tween, this episode with guest expert Sami Krasny will inspire you to make more time and space for open-ended play—especially with her number-one recommended material: standard unit blocks. This century-old material has deep roots in play-based learning and is purposefully designed to do less, so your child can do more. Not sur...

As we prepare to welcome the New Year, we are taking a fresh look at our own self-care practices–something that can feel like an uphill battle during postpartum seasons. In this episode, you'll hear us chat about how there are so many different types of self-care (which explains why the mom next to you may find something else cup-filling in a way that you don't). Self care is personal, var...

It’s cold-weather season here, and we’re seeing a familiar phrase echoed throughout digital motherhood: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” In this episode, we explore the nuance behind that idea—the good within it, and the importance of understanding the benefits of prioritizing unstructured time in nature for children, while also honoring the constraints and privileges tha...

In Episode 3, we get into some real talk about holiday gifting with young children. We share our own experiences trying to use the ever-popular "wish list" system, reflect on how gratitude for gifts can co-exist with boundaries on what enters our home, and we also share how we ultimately use this time of year to double down on modeling and explicitly teaching an "attitude of gratitude" with our ki...

Welcome! In this first episode, we’re sharing a bit about our backgrounds, how this all began, and what inspired us to create—yes— another motherhood podcast. Show Notes We are two moms who met on Instagram years ago and quickly bonded over our love of the Montessori philosophy applied to parenting and over nerdy child development research. We decided to take the leap by finally taking our chats o...

In Episode Two, we chat about the shift that happens when our kids move into the 'big kid' stage. We’re starting to feel a bit more 'busy,' and we’re wondering—is this a good thing, a challenge, or maybe a little of both? Show Notes We are two moms who met on Instagram years ago and quickly bonded over our love of the Montessori philosophy applied to parenting and over nerdy child development rese...