Parents We've Met

This week we’re joined by special guest Matt Brown (MNZM) - pāpā, husband, co-founder of She is not your rehab, author, communicator and internationally acclaimed barber (yes, really!) - for a powerful conversation about parenting, trauma and healing.  Listener note: In this episode we touch on some sensitive topics including domestic abuse, suicide and sexual abuse. If you or someone you know is...

Dayna and Jenny are joined by Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone for a deep dive into what teens really need from us during this important developmental stage. They chat about the importance of helping teens build a sense of competence, autonomy and connection - finding what lights them up and creating space for them to lean into their passions (yes, even if they seem a little quirky!). Alongside this,...

Are mornings tricky or stressful? Need to get to work on time and your kid’s distracted by carpet fluff? Parent coach Kristin Ward joins us on the coaches’ couch this week with some hot tips and tools to help you leave the house without completely losing it!  Together with Jenny and Dayna, Kristin shares strategies for calmer mornings including building in simple systems and time buffers, guarding...

This week we're honoured to have one of our sporting and dad heroes, DJ Forbes, on the Parents We’ve Met couch. A husband, super proud dad to two teens and a legend of the game, DJ was captain of the All Blacks Sevens for nearly a decade, earning more titles, honours and accolades than we can squeeze into this podcast intro.    In this honest chat, DJ shares with Jenny and Dayna some of the lesson...

How do you get your kids to do things around the house without nagging or bribing - and does pocket money help or hinder your efforts? Parent coach Kristin Ward joins Jenny and Dayna to talk through the whys and hows of chores and pocket money.  Kristin shares research that suggests there’s a correlation between involving kids in housework and kids completing their education, getting on a career p...

Parent Coach Kristin Ward is back on the couch this week chatting about building independence in kids - without pushing them too far, too soon.  Kristin shares research that suggests there’s less ‘roaming’ in kids these days compared to previous decades, meaning the distance that parents allow their kids to move around, especially from their home, has reduced - while other skills that boost indepe...

Listener note: In this episode we briefly reference eating disorders. We approach this topic gently, but if this is a topic that is sensitive for you, please take care while listening. Jenny and Dayna are joined this week by one of New Zealand's leading child nutrition experts, Rachael Wilson, for a jam-packed chat on raising kids with healthy, positive relationships with food and their bodies.  ...

When their feelings are in the drivers’ seat, family life can feel tough! Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone joins us on the couch this week to unpack high sensitivity in kids and offer some hot tips and encouragement for parents on that journey.  Together with Jenny and Dayna, she explores what’s going on for sensitive kids and why a simple reframe can turn sensitivity into a gift - a trait to work wi...

This week we're joined by Helen Manson – a mum-of-four, humanitarian photographer and storyteller, whose work has taken her into some of the most vulnerable communities in the world.   Together with her husband Tim, Helen has created a beautiful ‘stretchy' family made up of adopted, biological and fostered kids and a picture of life that’s curious, outward-focused and ‘bigger than their own backya...

Parent Coach Kristin Ward is back on the Coaches’ Couch with Jenny and Dayna this week to chat about the vast benefits of emotion coaching - teaching kids to understand and manage their emotions (both the tiny and the mighty ones!) well. Together, they explore why allowing and validating big emotions matters, how your choice of words can dismiss or override emotions (usually unintentionally!), and...

Dave Mackay is the founder of Sideline Advisor, a counselling and mentoring service for young athletes. In this episode he chats with Dayna and Jenny about how parents can help kids to thrive in, and enjoy sports, navigate performance-related anxiety and achieve long-term success in their chosen sports. Dave shares why effort matters more than outcomes, why he doesn’t believe in ‘player of the day...

We're back for 2026 and leaning straight into the good stuff! Dayna and Jenny are joined by Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone for a timely chat on the (often) tricky transition from summer holidays to the start of the school year.  We tackle back-to-school anxiety, big feelings, friendships, after-school meltdowns and the bevy of emotions around school and pre-school. Sheridan shares handy tips for pa...

Dayna and Jenny are joined this week by a very special guest, Vasa Fia Collins. Fia is the wife of the late Fa'anānā Efeso Collins - a deeply respected Samoan community leader, Auckland politician, educator and advocate - whose sudden passing in February 2024 had a profound impact on his family and the communities he served. Fia shares what it’s been like to walk through deep loss and grief, suppo...

Is a new phone or gaming console topping your kid’s Christmas wish list? Or is tech already a part of daily life? Either way, this chat’s for you.  Jenny and Dayna are joined by Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone for a deep dive into navigating screens and the digital world without meltdowns, battles or bribery.  In this episode, we cover everything from setting kids up for safety before they hop onlin...

If you’re feeling defeated by sleep, or lack thereof, this episode is for you. Sleep psychologist Dan Ford, founder of The Better Sleep Clinic, joins Dayna for a straight-up chat on sleep, stress, melatonin and magnesium, and how genetics might have a role to play in your bedtime struggles. From snoring to nightmares, insomnia to 3am wakeups, Dan unpacks some common sleep challenges and sheds ligh...

This episode is a reassuring reminder that anger isn’t a parenting failure - it’s a message! In this coaches’ couch episode, Jenny and Dayna sit down with Parent Coach Kristin Ward to unpack what might be going on beneath those fiery ‘red-brain’ moments that sometimes sneak up on us parents. We talk about why anger shows up, why some of us meet it with shame or self-condemnation, and how understan...

Neuroscience educator ⁠Kathryn Berkett⁠ joins Jenny and Dayna for a deep dive into our kids’ brain development, with tips on how we can support them through every leap, wobble and wild moment that these changes bring. In the first three years of life, babies’ brains form an astonishing thousand trillion connections - and then, just when we’ve caught our breath, the second massive brain upgrade arr...

In our first-ever coaches’ couch episode, Jenny and Dayna pick the brains of parenting expert Sheridan Eketone to find out how we can maintain a united front in parenting – even when we disagree with our partner.   From balancing differences in parenting styles and upbringings, managing fallout and disagreements, to finding common ground and consistency between households in co-parenting situation...

Jenny and Dayna are joined by the inimitable Jack Tame, a dad, stepdad, journo and familiar voice of New Zealand media, for an honest kōrero about the ups, downs, joys and ‘marrow-deep’ exhaustion that make up modern dad-hood.  Jack shares about the wave of love that struck the moment his newborn entered the world - the kind that gets you in the guts as well as the heart. He shares the challenges...

Kicking off on Tuesday 4th November, Season 3 of Parents We've Met brings new goodness to your listening ears. This season, we’re shaking things up a little! We have new episode formats 'From the coaches' couch' where our Parent Coaches unpack your real-world parenting challenges and offer hot tips and tools to try at home. Alongside seasoned experts, Jenny and Dayna will take a dive deep into som...

“Rowing is my job; my autopilot. Being a mum is the hard part,” says gold-medal-winning Olympic rower, mum and newlywed Lucy Spoors.  Rowing legend Lucy Spoors joins Dayna and Jenny for an inspiring and honest chat about what it takes to be a new parent in high-performance sport.   Not long after giving birth to her son Rupert – and after a nine-month battle with hyperemesis gravidarum – the ever-...

Today on the couch we’re joined by Dayna’s friend Clint Randell. He’s one-third of The Edge breakfast show team, a content creator, devoted husband and dad to two—who somehow manages to juggle it all while finding time for fun. (Could be thanks to the great advice he got from Dayna when she was his peer support leader in high school 😉)  In this funny, honest and thoughtful conversation Clint open...

If you're in the thick of parenting and want to protect and strengthen your relationships – and improve intimacy with your partner – this one is for you! Sex and relationship therapist Jo Robertson (recently an expert on Married at First Sight New Zealand) is back on the Parents We’ve Met couch to answer some questions from our podcast community (and a few from us) around sex, communication, blend...

Join Jenny and Dayna for a heartwarming conversation with New Zealand entertainer, funny guy, dad, entrepreneur and the man behind the perfect Wakachangi beer and chip combo, Leigh Hart.  In this episode, we dive into Leigh’s journey as a dad to two kids, the lessons he’s carried through from his intrepid childhood and how he’s created his own unique, inimitable role of ‘dad’ in his youngsters’ li...

We're into a new year and to start things off on a high, we're chatting with Dr. Jin Russell - a consultant developmental paediatrician at Auckland's Starship Children’s Health, a Growing Up in New Zealand researcher and tireless champion of better health and developmental outcomes for New Zealand kids.  In this episode Jin touches on some of the findings of her PhD thesis into the effects of heal...