6 Top podcasts to listen to on Mother’s Day

It’s the final day of Pod Bible articles highlighting podcasts to listen to beyond International Women’s Day, and today we’re bringing you some top podcasts for Mother’s Day. Rosie Wilby chats to some podcasting mums, and some podcasters who talk about their mums.

Scrummy Mummies

Scummy Mummies is a ‘fun and filthy chat show that is vaguely about parenthood’ according to comedian and co-host Helen Thorn. She and Ellie Gibson started in 2013 as ‘an excuse to drink together on a Friday night’. They now have fans in over 150 countries. Helen says, ‘We love hearing about parenting from all around the world. It is basically all the same – iPads, biscuits and bribery.’

Listen to: ‘Our episode How Not to Get Divorced with the comedian Sam Pamphilon. He and I both talk about getting divorced… which is funnier than it sounds.’ Listen now >>

Funny Mummies

Funny Mummies is hosted by comedian and ‘mum of two wild boys under five’ Hatty Ashdown. She suggests that nobody should follow the advice dished out by her and her rotating outspoken panel of comedy mums. She began podcasting after working at BBC Radio London and Soho Radio: ‘So many of my comedian guests were becoming mums. It gave us an angle.’

Listen to: ‘Margaret Cabourne-Smith is a regular. We did a live record with her in front an audience just before the first lockdown last March. Her story of the worst advice given on a bus is something that will haunt you forever.’ Listen now >>

Some Families

Some Families is a podcast ‘for and about LGBTQ+ families’, says Lotte Jeffs, who lives with her wife and daughter in South East London. She and cohost Stu, an adoptive dad of three, welcome a diverse array of guests: ‘This season we speak to a lesbian couple who gave birth on the same day, a trans dad, black lesbian adoptive mums, single adoptive dads, a woman fighting for IVF equality and so many more.

Listen to: ‘One interview that really taught me a lot was with lesbian foster mum Annabelle Avis.’ Listen now >>

How to Be a Girl

How to Be a Girl tells the story of Marlo Mack and her trans daughter. They’ve been producing the show from home for seven years, after ‘doting mum’ Marlo bought a cheap recorder to preserve the sounds that her baby made. She believes that podcasting has made her ‘a better parent and maybe a better person. When I record my daughter, I find that I listen more closely. She knows she matters.’

Listen to: ‘Start at the beginning with Mama I’m a Girl. You can hear a fierce three year old telling her mother she isn’t a boy after all. She also tells you some interesting facts about aliens and princesses.’ Listen now >>

The Mother of All Losses

The Mother of All Losses explores the ‘often unfathomable death of a mother’ and originated from a book anthology project that writer Anna Burtt was pitching to publishers. Although it didn’t get picked up, she put a callout on Twitter for a collaborator who might want to revisit the idea with her as a podcast. She met Emily Benita and fell in love with her show Big Wendy, which she had written about her mum: ‘I’ve made a friend for life and we’ve brought something really special, meaningful and fun into fruition.’

Listen to: ‘Our introduction episode. We ask each other “How is your grief today?” and “How did your mum live?” I think it’s important for us to be vulnerable and prepared to answer the questions we now ask other people.’ Listen now >>

Discovering Dementia

Discovering Dementia was created by former nurse and radio journalist Penny Bell when her mum was diagnosed with dementia: ‘We weren’t given a lot of information about the road ahead. So I started doing my own research. Then I thought it might be helpful to share what I found.’ She loves the ‘free nature’ of podcasting that allows for a really organic way of bringing people together who might be seeking support and advice.

Listen to: ‘The first episode of season two is a great way to meet mum. You really begin to hear how dementia is affecting her memory. But she still remains her chatty, cheerful self, itching to practise the piano.’ Listen now >>

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