Gaining Mom-entum

Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! Abi & Meghan are back with part 2 of their conversation with Chaw-win-is, Indigenous Educator, member of the Cheklesaht and Tla-o-qui-aht nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, and all-around amazing storyteller. The conversation picks back up with how Chaw-win-is got started as an educator. They discuss the importance of storytelling, processing our feelings, and bearing witness to each others’ emotions. Chaw-win-is shares her podcast idea that will form her PhD dissertation. This leads to discussion of pushing back on educational institutions and how parenting gives us the power to re-examine history in different contexts. Chaw-win-is generously shares with Meghan & Abi some ideas for how we can all better understand and talk with our children about decolonization.They talk about bystander intervention and finish out their conversation talking about how the stories of our histories can provide the keys to unlocking change.

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

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Email: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

A few resources for reading, listening, and learning:

For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook (Chapter 13- Remaking Balance: Decolonizing Gender Relations in Indigenous Communities by Chaw-win-is)

Colonization and Decolonization Resources (Victoria Sexual Assault Centre)

Faces of UVic Research: Pia Russell (video)

Having the Difficult (and Necessary) Conversations: Talking to Kids about Colonization, Colonialism, and Decolonization (as a White Settler Parent) (Anti-Violence Project)

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, by Bob Joseph 

How We’re Teaching Indigenous History To Our Kids (CBC)

Cheekbone Beauty (Indigenous-owned & founded cosmetics company)

Coffee With My Ma Podcast 

Unreserved with Falen Johnson 

All of My Relations Podcast 

It's not an April Fool's joke, Abi & Meghan really are back with another minisode! In this week’s minisode, Meghan & Abi check in with each other on how parenting has been going lately. They’re both feeling a little drained by the pandemic of it all. They also dig into listener feedback on the first half of their conversation with Chaw-win-is. They go over what the GM community shared regarding what role family history/stories plays in their lives and ask some follow-up questions that they’d love to hear your opinions on.They also discuss how their interest in their own family histories has increased as they get older. Abi & Meghan round out the minisode by each sharing a family story about one of their great-grandparents that they are excited to pass onto their own kids.

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow/subscribe to Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Follow us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

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Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! This week, Meghan & Abi keep the preamble short so they can get right into their sit down with their guest, Chaw-win-is Ogilvie. Chaw-win-is, an Indigenous Educator, is a member of the Cheklesaht and Tla-o-qui-aht nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth people on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. She was kind enough to share her time with us to talk about her own family histories. The conversation covered a wide range of topics from the '60s scoop and finding home to learning about our histories, the importance of listening, decolonization, and deciding for yourself who you are in the world. They also talk about the power of learning about family history and teaching it to our children as a way to break the cycle of assimilation. Chaw-win-is is a gifted storyteller and educator which allowed the conversation to flow freely and widely. Abi & Meghan feel incredibly lucky to have spent the time with her and to be sharing part 1 of their 2-part conversation with the Gaining Mom-entum community.

We’re excited for you to hear part 2 in two weeks!

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Follow us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Follow us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

A few resources:

For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook (Chapter 13- Remaking Balance: Decolonizing Gender Relations in Indigenous Communities by Chaw-win-is)

Working for change: Nuu-chah-nulth struggles against sexual violence

I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle

Breath Tracks by Jeannette Armstrong 

Savage Family (Hip-Hop Group)

In this week’s minisode, Abi & Meghan catch up on what they’ve been cooking with their kids since their conversation with Heather Staller (last episode’s guest, founder of Happy Kids Kitchen). They talk about what it’s like cooking with their own kids and then get right into discussing feedback from the Gaining Mom-entum community on their experiences with cooking as kids and with their own kids now. Meghan & Abi also talk about the baggage and the celebration around food that we carry into adulthood from our childhoods. They round the minisode out by getting excited about Michelle Obama’s new Netflix children’s show, Waffles + Mochi, a show about discovering, eating, and celebrating food.

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow/subscribe to Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Follow us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Follow us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! This week, Abi & Meghan are talking to the talented and insightful trained culinary professional and cooking with kids expert, Heather Wish Staller. As that description suggests, this episode is all about cooking and cooking with kids. Join Meghan & Abi as they get to know Heather from how her upbringing steered her towards a career in food to how she ended up focusing on cooking with kids. Heather tells us all about starting her business, Happy Kids Kitchen, and how she created her cookbook, Little Helpers Toddler Cookbook. She also expresses gratitude for the community who supports her through her Instagram work (@heather.happykidskitchen). Heather shares about her kids’ favourite things to cook with her and how she involves them in her work. She provides a lot of wonderful advice for how to cook for picky eaters, suggestions for nut-free and dairy-free cooking, and how to make the process of making kids lunches fun instead of tedious. Throughout the episode, Heather shares tons of gems that both Abi & Meghan will be using with their kids in the kitchen.

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow/subscribe to Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Follow us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Follow us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

A few resources:

Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! Before diving back into the second half of their conversation on aging and mortality, Meghan & Abi have a bit of a longer check-in than usual, starting with going down a Cameo-filled rabbit hole. (If you don’t know about Cameo, Google it! Also, you’re welcome!) They talk about how they’re connecting to Black History Month and why they think it’s important to do so. They also check in with each other about how the intentions they set for 2021 have been playing out so far. Then it’s time to get back into part 2 of their conversation with Femi and Susa!. They pick things right back up with a question about how this current social justice movement might impact how people think about death and dying. They continue on to discuss facing their mortality for the first time and how becoming a parent played into that. Susan & Femi talk about the difference in how they approached play as parents versus how they approach it now as grandparents. Also, Abi & Meghan learn that Susan is a pearls of wisdom machine, so if anyone is interested in creating some GM merch, feel free to get in touch about turning Susan’s pearls into t-shirts! The group also spends a chunk of the convo sharing anecdotes and digging into suggestions for talking to children about death and dying. As always, thanks for listening!

Join us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Join us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

Some Resources for Reading, Listening, & Learning:

Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved

Be Honest And Concrete: Tips For Talking To Kids About Death (npr)

Talking about dying and death (kidsgrief.ca)

What should you tell children about death? (Dying Matters leaflet)

Death: Talking With Kids About The End (npr Life Kit: Parenting podcast)

How to Talk to Children About Dying: The Right Words to Say (Fatherly)

Helping Your Child Deal With Death (KidsHealth)

The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers 

The Goodbye Book by Todd Parr

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

In this first minisode of Season 2, Meghan & Abi reflect on the first half of the aging and mortality conversation they had with Abi’s dad and his partner, Susan. They discuss GM community responses to their IG poll questions, including differing levels of comfort/discomfort with facing one’s own mortality vs. reckoning with the mortality of an older loved one. They also leave a couple of breadcrumbs for the discussion on talking to kids about mortality that comes up in next week’s episode. In attempting to normalize the conversation around death and dying in their lives, Abi & Meghan dig into Susan’s idea of death and dying dinners. Which celebrities/famous people would YOU want to share dinner with while having a conversation about death and dying? They round out the minisode by determining their death and dying dinner guest lists.

As always, thanks for listening! Please spread the love by sharing Gaining Mom-entum with the people in your life!

Follow/subscribe to Gaining Mom-entum wherever you listen to your pods & please feel free to leave a comment/review. (Be sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss an episode!)

Follow us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Follow us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! Abi & Meghan are so excited to be back for season 2. They begin the season by catching up with each other about what they did during the Gaining Mom-entum hiatus. It should come as no surprise that they both listened to a lot of podcasts and watched a lot of movies and TV shows. As they wrap up their catch up, they also discuss this week’s topic- aging and mortality. Meghan & Abi are so happy to welcome their first guests on Gaining Mom-entum! This week, they sit down with Abi’s dad, Femi, and his partner, Susan, kicking things off with a discussion of time, kind of, but really, what is time? They get into aging and mortality, both from Femi & Susan’s professional perspectives, as well as from a personal viewpoint. Unsurprisingly, things take a bit of an existential turn, which leads to self-care. There are some emotional moments that provide Abi & Meghan with generational wisdom that they hope to embrace in their lives on their own aging journeys. This episode, part 1 their 2-part conversation, ends on a hopeful note as Femi & Susan discuss the perspectives that aging has given them on being grateful and finding hope in the next generations. As always, thanks for listening!

Join us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Join us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

A Few Resources:

The Coaching Project (Susan’s website)

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker 

Talking about death and dying (dyingmatters.org)

5 Reasons to Get Comfortable With Death (HuffPost)

Feeling Older? Here’s How to Embrace It (New York Times)

5 Strategies for Accepting Your Mortality (Psychology Today)

Miss Tizzy by Libba Moore Gray

When I Am Old With You by Angela Johnson 

Dancing with the Cranes by Jeannette Armstrong

On Thursday, February 11th, Abi & Meghan are back for season 2 of Gaining Mom-entum! Join them as they continue to try their best to parent their kids for the world they want them to grow up in and the world they live in now. They’ll keep chatting about the topics on their minds as parents, the pop culture they’re listening to/reading/watching, and this season, they’ll be talking to several special guests. They can’t wait for you to be a part of the conversations!

Join us on Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

Join us on Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast

Email us: [email protected]

Music by: Evan Dysart (Follow Dysaart on Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork by: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)