The Good Enough Mother

Today’s episode is with author and child activist Zoe Haack. We discuss Zoe’s work supporting parents to navigate the critical period of birth to 5 years, as they learn what it means to become parents. Zoe’s approach is to look at the intergenerational patterns of parenting we inherent, and how to bring awareness to the ways in which we would like to parent our children going forward, and to see t...

What does it actually mean to say that motherhood is 'social' or 'constructed' through our culture? Why should we care about motherhood-culture and how does it impact and influence individual mothers, and our children? What is the perfect mother myth, how does it show up in our lives, and what can we do about shifting how we feel about ourselves as mothers? What's the alternative? These are some o...

Redefining our careers and purpose as mothers with Amy Taylor-Kabbaz In this episode I speak with best-Selling author, speaker, journalist, Matrescence Activist and Mama of three, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz. We examine the individual and social costs, consequences and challenges of mothers navigating and engaging in paid work and building/maintaining careers in a system that isn’t set up for mothers. Amy s...

In today’s conversation I talk with perinatal clinical psychologist Dr Caroline Boyd, discussing the topics in her recent book ‘Mindful New Mum: A Mind-Body Approach to the Highs and Lows of Motherhood’. We explore the pressures of modern motherhood and the impossible expectations mothers face. In doing so, we consider how we can reevaluate some of the patterns and beliefs that we have internalise...

In this episode I’m speaking with matrescence educator Nikki McCahon about her work, journey into motherhood, and framework for understanding and navigating matrescence. Nikki shares about her postpartum and her experience of an ‘identity death’, and how she made sense of her transformation through the framework of the four seasons. As part of our conversation Nikki speaks to how a seasonal and cy...

In today’s podcast conversation with Kat River, we explore the question of ‘how can we disrupt our ideas of what motherhood means, to redefine it for ourselves, through our creativity?’ Kat is a retreat facilitator, former couples coach, and speaker who talks about her transition from maiden to mother, drawing on tools of creativity to honour and traverse self transformation through becoming a mot...

This podcast episode is an unpacking and discussion of the recent Netflix production The Lost Daughter, based on the novel of the same name by the pseudonymous Italian novelist Elena Ferrante and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film explores the textured, complex, nuanced, challenging parts of the mothering experience and positioning of motherhood culturally. The themes explored shine a light o...

This episode is designed to be a little tonic; a moment of presence and space to breathe. I am talking with Sophie Burch (aka The Mamma Coach). Sophie is a mother, an author, founder and leader of the Beyond Birth Collective, an executive director and trainer for Perinatal Mental Health Training CIC, hypnobirthing practitioner, baby massage teacher, holistic and pregnancy massage therapist, and mo...

In this episode I share 5 different ways that my understanding of the social construction of motherhood helped me to step into my power as a single mother. I wanted to share this episode as a lived-reality example of how theory, concepts, and understandings can come to unveil new possibilities for how we lead and live our lives as mothers. I talk about the nuclear family and how it is held up as a...

A behind the scenes insight into my creation of The Motherhood Studies course, and an insight into the 2022 round of the program. Program starts June 20th, enrolment closes June 16th. If you'd like to talk through any questions you have before joining, book a discovery call here - https://calendly.com/motherhoodstudies/certification-consult-calls If there are no times left please feel free to emai...

In this conversation with Fiona you’ll hear us both talk about our personal experiences of mothering our children and some of the challenges we’ve experienced (and continue to experience). Fiona shares how understanding information about temperament, sensory preferences, and connection-based, relationship-building parenting ‘tools’, can transform how we see our children - and ourselves. You’ll hea...

I'm often asked this question and in the spirit of relaunching the podcast felt it might be helpful to share the path I've taken to becoming a Motherhood Studies Sociologist - essentially a social scientist whose focus is Mothers and Motherhood. This episode is another personal share where I talk about: - how I first discovered Motherhood Studies - what it was like researching this area before I w...

Hello and welcome back, or welcome for the first time! In this episode I share: - where things have been for me as a mother, creator and business owner over the last 6 months or so - why I took a step back from podcast recording - what my purpose is in relaunching the podcast All of my work is focused on examining the social structures and cultural narratives of Motherhood that individual mothers...

What have we been led to believe about the ‘mummy wars’ and how do they relate to patriarchal motherhood and ‘the perfect mother myth’? These are the questions I address in this episode of the podcast, where I offer a new lens through which to understand ‘mummy wars’. This is with an intention of helping you develop an ‘antenna’ as a cultural assessor, where you can pick up, observe, get curious a...

Anyone who has had children or cared for children knows that they contribute to the creation of housework! But the work that goes into the domestic sphere of housework, is different from the work that goes into care-giving and mothering. The two are connected, but conflating them as meaning the same thing, leads to huge pressures and ‘shoulds’ in Motherhood. This leads to feelings of guilt, compar...

What remains ‘under the surface’ in Motherhood and still so taboo to talk about directly? ‘Mom-rage’. Minna Dubin published two articles in The New York Times on maternal rage. In this conversation we reflect on Minna’s experience of publishing on this taboo topic, as well as her journey in writing a book about ‘mom rage’ due out in 2023 (available for pre-order in 2022 through her website below)....

In this solo episode I reflect on my own journey of coming to Motherhood Studies and what is has meant to study Motherhood before coming a Mother myself. I share important distinctions between Motherhood the structure, Mothering the practice, and Mother the identity, and ponder on the ways our socialisation has set us up for a particular perspective on what it means to be a Mother and how this is...

We may recognise, acknowledge, and seek to explore biological, psychological, and sociological dimensions that are involved in the transition to motherhood and experience of being a mother – but what about the ‘environmental’? Our environment and our relationship to the natural world is a critical lens through which we can interpret, explore, and understand our experience of Motherhood. This conve...

In this episode I share my reflections on how the ‘perfect mother myth’ is linked to notions of productivity and worth, and add some nuance to the conversation about self-sacrifice in Motherhood. Sometimes, it can feel like there is a competition for busy-ness to try and prove how hard we are trying and how much it is we are carrying. At the same time though, there are tangible ways that make it f...

In this episode, Maha Al Musa, founder and creator of BellydanceBirth® and EmbodyBirthᵀᴹ shares her passion and advocacy for an expansion and reclaiming of what birth can mean, and how we as mothers experience and make meaning of our births. Maha is of Palestinian/Lebanese origin and draws on her cultural, ancestral, and mothering wisdom to teach her signature childbirth education and preparation...

“I know that women can remember the wholehearted ways of knowing carried deep in our bones to heal their own their own lives, and this work is the medicine needed to reweave the world.” Kamya O'Keeffe. This podcast episode traverses the the transitions we experience through motherhood, and their power and potential. While an emphasis on that initial transition into motherhood is so important, moth...

How do the pressures we experience both individually and contextually, shape the relationships we have with our partners, children, and ourselves, and what can we do to deepen our sense of connection? . . . This episode is with Michaela Thomas, an experienced Clinical Psychologist, Couples Therapist and founder of The Thomas Connection. She is also a speaker and author of The Lasting Connection, a...

“We become mothers in the womb of society. A mother’s relationship with sex can’t be disentangled from how she feels about herself, how she feels about her partner, as well as how society impacts and constructs her worldview.” Sarah Forbes. This episode is with Sarah Forbes, a curator, sexual culturalist and author who has been dubbed a ‘sexpert supreme’ by Cosmopolitan Magazine. Sarah is trained...

Our ongoing journey through Motherhood can involve a process of letting go as much as of new learning and growth. In this episode I reflect on the process of what it means to go on the journey of unpacking how we have internalised the ‘perfect mother myth’ and have been socialized into the expectations of what it means to be a ‘Mother’. The birth of a new awareness, and (re)creation of a new ident...

Maternal knowledge and the expertise we develop through the practice of mothering our children is often defined as being in the ‘private’ realm, while professionals are regarded as experts in the ‘public’ realm. When the two are brought together, there can be collision and challenge, and/or there can be the meeting of experience and expertise in a way that is powerful, transformative, and enrichin...