Show Notes
Trigger warning: third degree burn.
Novelist and poet Elaine Feeney — Author of the Year at the 2025 Irish Book Awards — shares how her son’s third-degree burn changed her as a parent, making her more protective, but also helping her to listen more deeply and not assume to know how her children are feeling.
A Few Things I've Learnt is a podcast for when parenting gets hard and you're in need of some soothing words. Every guest answers the same three questions:
• What’s been the toughest challenge you’ve faced as a parent? • What did you learn about yourself? • What soothing words do you wish you’d heard at the time?
Across 32 seven-minute episodes, the podcast offers an audio library of wisdom and comfort for parents — no advice, no answers, just lived experience.
LINKS: @ecfeeney11 Elaine Feeney's ‘Let Me Go Mad In My Own Way’ - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451305/let-me-go-mad-in-my-own-way-by-feeney-elaine/9781529967463
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Executive Producers: Sophie Powling and Abby Hollick Music: Joseph Benoliel Artwork: Tania Estevez
Get in touch: [email protected] or [email protected] Follow us on Instagram and Substack: @a_few_things_ive_learnt and afewthingsivelearnt.substack.com
More from a few things i've learnt
New York Times bestselling author Catherine Newman (Wreck, Sandwich) reflects on three questions:
DJ, broadcaster and writer Annie Macmanus, explains why she decided to leave her successful radio show at BBC Radio 1 to focus on family time and how she came to understand that there is something feminist about being able to make choices for yourself.
British comedian Ria Lina (Mock the Week, Pointless) reveals what she has learnt from being an autistic mum raising neurodivergent children. She shares the realisation that standing up for her kids was not always helpful for them.
English poet and author Hollie McNish recalls the difficulty she felt when explaining death to her child as a non-religious parent. From visiting the sick person in hospital, to the death and beyond, there are many stages of questions that are hard to answer.
Playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne (Adolescence, Enola Holmes and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) recalls the pain of leaving his young son at school, when his son would cling to him, upset by the sudden rejection. To navigate those mornings, they invented a secret code, turning the walk to school into a shared adventure that allowing them to cope with the world.