Not Another Mummy Podcast

Hands up if you’re missing social interaction right now! (That will probably be all of us, I’m guessing). If you’re anything like me, you’ll be looking forward to being able to hang out with friends and family again – and even craving little things like being able to make small talk with the server at your local coffee shop!

On this episode, my guest is Sunita Harley, who has a lot to say about social interaction and how it’s more important than ever right now. Sunita runs Lucky Things which sees her organising meet-ups and workshops for women. It all started in the most organic way, when five years ago she suggested to five friends she’d met on Instagram that they meet up in real life. What grew from there is a string of hugely popular and well-loved events for women, with networking, sharing and learning at its heart.

Sunita talks to me about taking Lucky Things online during lockdown and why we’re all having what she calls “social connection flashbacks”. We also talk about “Zoom overload” and why it’s important to carve out non Zoom time when you just chat to people on the phone.

Check out Lucky Things here and follow Sunita on Instagram.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's currently six weeks since schools closed in the UK and parents everywhere have been doing a stellar job at keeping their children busy, happy and learning stuff. But it's HARD, right?! Especially - I think - for parents of kids aged 2-5. Older kids can often keep themselves busy (not always though!) but younger ones usually need a bit more one on one attention and time. Which lots of us don't have right now!

So, my guest on this episode, is here to help. Daisy Upton - aka Five Minute Mum - is an author and blogger who specialises in coming up with easy, fun games for little kids that are quick to set up and can give you five minutes to drink that cuppa / hang up the laundry / get some work done.

In our chat, she shares her golden rule of play and tells me the one thing she always turns to when she needs five minutes and hasn't got time to set anything up.

Check out Daisy's blog, order her book Give Me Five and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're currently pregnant or have recently given birth, being in lockdown and dealing with the restrictions put in place by the NHS is very possibly making an already challenging time even harder. 

In this episode, I talk to doula Mars Lord about how the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting pregnancy, birth and the post natal period. Mars has years of experience supporting women through pregnancy and birth and she is passionate about women having and making informed choices. She says she became a doula because she believes that birth is a wonderful thing and can be a wonderful time. As a mother of five (including twins) she says she knows that even when it doesn’t seem to go the way that we want it to, it can still be an incredible experience. 

Mars is still working as a doula, throughout lockdown, with video calls and messages rather than face to face support, so she knows how tricky things feel for many right now. During our chat, she shares lots of advice and helpful information for pregnant women and those who have just given birth, so it's worth a listen!

You can find Mars on Twitter, Instagram and her website. A couple of the websites she mentions on the episode are Birth Rights and RCOG.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I welcome Emma Cantrell onto the podcast - a return guest (you can listen to our conversation about talking to kids about privilege here) Emma is founder and CEO of the charity First Days and a mum of two.

She recently set up - in response to the Coronavirus pandemic - an emergency food hub, working with her local authority, supermarkets and a team of volunteers to feed over 1000 vulnerable people in her local area.

We discuss what it's like to be heading out to work - and working long days - when most people are staying at home. She talks about the risk she is at vs the incredible good she is doing. We also chat about parenting through the pandemic, what she is missing and what's getting her through it all.

You can find out more about First Days and follow Emma on Instagram and Twitter.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second episode of this podcast mini series focusing on how we're navigating the Coronavirus health crisis and lockdown, I chat to Adele Jarrett-Kerr. Adele is a writer, podcaster, breastfeeding counsellor and a home educator to her three children.

At a time when so many of us have been suddenly thrown into home educating our kids, due to the schools closing, Adele is well placed to offer some help and advice based on her experiences.

She chats to me about what an average day in home education looks like, how she decides on topics with her children and how she engages them. Adele also touches upon how much kids are processing at the moment, and says it's understandable if they're not enthusiastic about learning.

It's a reassuring conversation that should leave you feeling a bit better about things! 

You can find out more about Adele and listen to her podcast Revillaging here, and follow her on Instagram here.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast is back but blimey, how are you doing? It's a funny old time, isn't it? We're all navigating this new lockdown life so this mini series will see all of this *gestures around wildly* being discussed in the hope that it brings a bit of support, comfort and insight into the experiences of others. We're all going through the same thing at the moment, yet it's affecting everyone in different ways, so hopefully these episodes will shine a light on some things and provide food for thought.

I'll be chatting to people, covering areas like home education, keeping kids busy and happy at home, key workers providing emergency charity support for the vulnerable, what it's like to be pregnant and give birth right now and more.

But the mini series is kicking off with Anna Mathur - a brilliantly insightful psychotherapist who does great work providing mental health advice on Instagram, told through her own experiences. Anna talks to me about her own experience of lockdown, with three young children, but also shares some great coping mechanisms and reassuring words for anyone who's finding elements of this hard (so that's pretty much all of us then?)

Anna's debut book Mind Over Mother, Every Mum’s Guide to Worry and Anxiety in the First Year is published in May 2020 and can be pre-ordered now. Her popular Reframing Anxiety course can be found here and her podcast The Therapy Edit, which is ten minute snippets of mental health support, is worth a listen.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What could be more Christmassy than ending this series of the podcast chatting to the person who will be keeping the nation company while we open our presents on Christmas Day? Rev Kate Bottley – who will be on Radio 2 from 8am-10am on December 25th – was a total joy to have on as a guest.

The mum of two and Church of England priest entered the public eye when she was a regular on Channel 4’s Gogglebox and has since been seen on Songs Of Praise, Pause For Thought and presenting Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday.

Kate is such a breath of fresh air, when it comes to religion, and we chat about how her faith has influenced her parenting. She talks to me about raising teenagers, preparing her daughter for university and about navigating life with her son who is on the autistic spectrum.

You can listen to Kate on Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday here, follow her on Twitter and follow her on Instagram.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s probably fair to say that most women, when they’re pregnant, are a bit apprehensive about the birth. I know I was! Especially when it’s your first pregnancy, it’s totally normal to feel worried or even a bit scared about what childbirth will be like.

But my guest on this episode – blogger and comedian Jess Jones aka The Fat Funny One – developed such a fear of giving birth, during her first pregnancy, she was diagnosed with Tokophobia.

Tokophobia is an irrational and extreme fear of childbirth, and although it’s a very rare mental health condition, it can leave sufferers reluctant to get pregnant, or if – like Jess – they’re pregnant when it develops, it can result in panic attacks, anxiety and more.

Jess talks to me about what it feels like, how it manifested itself and how she approached subsequent pregnancies in a way that tackled the Tokophobia.

You can find out more about Tokophobia here, follow Jess on Instagram and buy tickets for her comedy tour. We talk about The Positive Birth Company, Milli Hill and Mars Lord in the episode.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Recorded at: Acast Studio, London

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s it like to become a grandparent? My guests on this episode are Jo Middleton – who recently became a grandmother - and Tanya Barrow – who will shortly become a grandmother. Both women have spent the last 25 or so years being a mum, and the last ten years blogging about motherhood. Tanya runs the award-winning blog Mummy Barrow and Jo runs the award-winning blog Slummy Single Mummy.

I chat to them both about what it’s like to have that big shift in identity – mother to grandmother – and how they manage to be supportive, but not over-bearing. So much has changed since they last had babies, so does that present a problem when giving advice to their daughters?

We also talk about sharing the stories of our children (and grandchildren) online – what’s appropriate and fair to them?

You can check out Jo’s blog here, buy her book Playgroups & Prosecco here, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. You can check out T’s blog here, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you have total equality in the home? Do you manage to divide domestic and childcare tasks fairly between you and your partner? If your answers are yes, you get a massive gold star and you don’t need to listen to this episode of the podcast! If, however, you feel like things are a bit imbalanced and one of you does a lot more than your fair share, this episode is for you.

My guest this week is Eve Rodsky, who embarked on a seven year research project after she realised that there is a massive imbalance in most homes, with the woman often bearing the brunt of the domestic tasks and childcare duties, regardless of whether she has a job outside of the home. So Eve created a game which will revolutionise how you allocate these tasks, and in her book Fair Play, she talks through how the game works, and how it will help you.

In this episode – her only podcast interview while visiting the UK - I chat to Eve about why this is such a problem for women and how the Fair Play game works.

Buy Fair Play here, and read more about Eve on her website. You can also download Fair Play cards here.

Not Another Mummy Podcast is brought to you by me, journalist and blogger Alison Perry. I'm a mum of three and I love interviewing people on parenthood on the podcast. Go check out my other episodes and you can come chat to me on Instagram: @iamalisonperry or on Twitter: @iamalisonperry

Music: Epidemic Sound

Artwork: Eleanor Bowmer

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/notanothermummy.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.