Show Notes
Welcome back to another episode of Gaining Mom-entum! Meghan is fired up this week about a PAC meeting that she Zoomed into at her child’s school. After debriefing, they get into this week’s topic — queer parenthood. This week’s awesome guests are Astri & Ainsley, long-time friends of Meghan’s, who were extremely generous in sharing their time and their experiences as new parents. If you hear some background noise, it’s just the sound of multitasking parents and their infant daughter. After sharing preferred pronouns, Ainsley & Astri share the story of how they welcomed their child into the world and dealing with invasive, inappropriate questions from family members. (Heads up: Please keep in mind that we had this conversation in a safe environment, with it being made very clear that Astri & Ainsley were in the driver’s seat in determining what they felt comfortable sharing with all of us. They were incredibly open and giving in their responses, but they did not owe us any of the stories that they shared.) This conversation covers a lot of ground including pandemic parenting, the harm caused by assigning gender to parenting roles, the need for education and open conversations around gender diversity, how we conceptualize resources for new parents, queer relationships, and the language we use to talk about it all. The conversation wraps up with a reminder that queer kids need to know they are loved, and talking to all kids about gender diversity and diverse families is one way to we can all work together to make sure that happens.
As always, thanks for listening! Please share Gaining Mom-entum and comment/review wherever you listen to your pods.
Instagram: @gainingmom_entum
Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast
Email: [email protected]
Music: Evan Dysart (Spotify and Bandcamp)
Artwork: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)
Resources:
International Family Visibility Day Toolkit
Building Bridges: Queer Families in Early Childhood Education
What Makes a Baby?
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
Baby’s First Words by Stella Blackstone & Sunny Scribens
Cookies and Cake & the Families We Make by Jennifer L. Egan
The Family Book by Todd Parr
Parenting is Political
The Bare Naked Book by Kathy Stinson
From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom
More from Gaining Mom-entum
Welcome to this special episode of Gaining Mom-entum! We’re back to spread some summer fun and add a suggestion for your family’s library. Abi recently published her first children’s picture book, Mobo Saves the Day, illustrated by friend of the pod, Catherine Cachia. Meghan hosts this Q&A with Abi and Catherine to discuss all things Mobo. Abi reads the story and then Meghan asks about their collaboration on this project, what they learned about themselves and their craft, who Mobo Saves the Day is for, how the world of Mobo was created, self-publishing, and their upcoming projects. Whew! They covered a lot of ground during their time back on the mics. We hope you enjoy it and then head over to abiolaregan.com to purchase a copy of Mobo Saves the Day (available in softcover and ebook). As always, thanks for listening! Abi’s website: www.abiolaregan.com Abi’s Instagram: @arwriting Catherine's Instagram: @catherinecachia Instagram: @gainingmom_entum Facebook: Gaining Mom-entum Podcast Email: [email protected] Music: Dysaart (Spotify and Bandcamp; Extended Cut of Podcast Theme for Gaining Mom-entum)
Abi’s poetry e-chapbook, Gaining Mom-entum: Poems, Parenting, and a Podcast is available now! (See below for more info)
Welcome to the penultimate episode of Gaining Mom-entum season 3! Abi & Meghan kick things off with what they’ve been listening to, reading, and watching lately that features Black artists and/or was made by Black creatives. Afterwards, they move into the subject of this episode - entrepreneurship. They are thrilled to welcome their guest, Christine Hardie, to the podcast to talk about starting her business, Riley’s Cidery. Christine shares how the idea for the business came about, familiarizing herself with the unfamiliar, and learning not to expect perfection. She talks about not letting the idea of making mistakes hold her back and that being “perfect in its own way”. She talks about asking for help, marketing, and embracing community by creating a space for people to gather and engage. Christine lets us know how she manages her time with the many hats she wears in her life as well as involving her children in the business in their own way. She shares with Meghan & Abi the challenges of entrepreneurship as well as her favourite parts of owning and operating a business. They round out the episode celebrating the gold medal that Riley’s Cidery’s Sip & Tell won at the International Beer and Cider Awards and with some advice that Christine would give to any parents looking to take the leap into starting a business.
Welcome back to another episode of Gaining Mom-entum! Meghan & Abi catch up on what they’re watching, playing, and listening to with their families these days. (Hint: They do talk about Bruno.)
Welcome back to Gaining Mom-entum! This week, Meghan & Abi start the episode off talking about the recent losses of three celebrities who played formative roles in their upbringings - Betty White, Sidney Poitier, and Bob Saget. Then they segue into this week’s topic - anger and frustration. They start with some definitions clarifying the differences between anger and frustration before exploring their own relationships with both of those feelings and how they’ve been exacerbated by the pandemic. They look back at their childhood expressions of anger and frustration and what those expressions look like for them now as parents. They reframe how we look at healthy expressions of anger but are clear that manifesting anger in a hurtful way is never to be condoned. They talk about burnout, their anger and frustration triggers, recognizing escalating emotions, as well as outdated gender roles in expressions of anger and racist stereotypes that affect how Abi expresses anger and parents about anger. They also discuss how they strive to find positive things to do with their anger so that expressing it can become a point of pride.