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, supporting her two daughters while also finding her own footing. She reflects on the individual ways her girls have navigated grief, the challenge of rebuilding routines and confidence after profound change, and how Samoan culture, faith and community have anchored their whānau through it all. 

She honours the dedicated father that Efeso was to their daughters – his humour, playfulness, strengths and hope for their futures – and shares how she hopes to carry forward the dreams that they had so intentionally built together.  

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

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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 online, to modelling the digital habits we want them to adopt - and resetting boundaries if things have gone too far. 

With Sheridan’s help, we also offer simple tools like drawing up a family tech agreement or first phone agreement together – and getting through the long summer break (school holidays!) without leaning on the screens. 

Looking for support when it comes to screen time, online safety and first devices? Check out: Digital Parenting: Raising kids in an online world. 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. 

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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 light on how our kids' sleep habits might be affecting their brain development and wellbeing. 

Together they also explore some of your burning sleep questions, including: 

Dan also shares plenty of practical, realistic advice for parents, from creating healthy routines, to understanding why wake times matter more than bedtimes. He talks about how to support teens whose body clocks naturally run late and offers gentle strategies for those moments when a child simply can’t fall asleep without you. 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

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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 understanding its purpose can completely change the way we respond. 

Using the ‘anger iceberg’ metaphor as our guide, we look beneath the surface at the unmet needs that often drive big reactions. We also share practical strategies for navigating moments of anger and rage, including: 

Keen for more episodes that touch on the topic of anger in parenting? 

🎧 Kanoa Lloyd: Stretch and grow (your kids and yourself!) 

https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/kanoa-lloyd-stretch-and-grow-your-kids-and-yourself/id1710061323?i=1000674632767 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

Find us on:⁠ YouTube⁠ / ⁠Instagram⁠ / ⁠Facebook⁠ / ⁠Tik Tok ⁠/⁠LinkedIn 

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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 arrives in early adolescence.

In this episode, Kathryn shares more on:

Kathryn Berkett’s new book: ‘What’s going on in there? The Neuroscience of the Adolescent Brain’ is available to purchase from 27 November, 2025.  

Want to learn more about navigating devices and screens with kids? Check out 'Digital Parenting: Raising kids in an online world' - a course by Parenting Place.

Find us on:⁠⁠ YouTube⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠Tik Tok ⁠⁠/⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠ 

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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 situations, Sheridan offers hot tips and takes on how to make communication and collaboration a little smoother. 

Keen for more episodes on relationships? Check out: 

🎧 Jo Robertson: Sex and relationships in tricky seasons 

🎧 Navigating tricky stuff at Christmas with Sheridan Eketone 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

Find us on: YouTube / Instagram / Facebook / Tik Tok /LinkedIn 

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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 of the work/whānau juggle, the secret power to be found in the dependability of routines, and how becoming a parent  has changed the way he sees himself and the world around him.  

Jack also offers his reflections on the daunting task of raising kids in a digital age, and what it looks like to stay as grounded and intentional as possible. 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

Follow us on: YouTube / Instagram / Facebook / Tik Tok

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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 some meaty parenting topics like sleep, adolescent brain development, emotional wellbeing and more.

And of course, there'll be plenty more raw, entertaining and honest chats with well-known New Zealanders - opening up about their experiences as parents, often for the first time.

Join us as we explore the mess and magic of parenthood!

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MoreFM Drive Show host and devoted dad Paul ‘Flynny’ Flynn joins Jenny and Dayna for a heartwarming chat about the highs, lows, and lessons of parenting in a blended family setting. 

With his signature wit and warmth, Flynny opens up about navigating separation with kids in tow, the complexities of blended families and the deep joy that comes with rebuilding relationships after rupture. He shares why ‘making an effort’ with co-parents matters, how playfulness and laughter can be a brilliant circuit-breaker, and the power of simple and heartfelt ‘I love yous’. 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

You can also find Parenting Place on Instagram / Facebook / Tik Tok @parentingplacenz 

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“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-determined athlete was back on the water with rowing partner and fellow mum Brooke Francis, and an Olympic gold medal in their sights. 

Lucy regales Jenny and Dayna with her journey to the Paris Olympics in 2024; the realities of early-morning training sessions after sleepless nights, travelling with toddlers in tow, the power of leaning into the ‘village’ and the moment that stole hearts around the world when the rowing ‘super mums’ were reunited with their kids at the medal ceremony in Paris. 

She also shares about the wonderful relationship her son has with his grandparents and the incredible support they’ve given her and husband Brook (also a rower), enabling them to achieve success in both their work and parenthood. 

Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas HERE. 

You can also find Parenting Place on Instagram / Facebook / Tik Tok @parentingplacenz 

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