The best parenting podcasts

Podcasts can offer a "brilliant insight" into parenting, said My Baba magazine. Whether it's "tackling the day-to-day challenges" of bringing up children or "picking up some new parenting techniques", there are podcasts out there that cover all relevant topics. One of the UK's top parenting podcasts is "Not Another Mummy Podcast", hosted by Alison Perry. She chats to a different guest each episode about parenting and family issues, and previous guests include Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Emma Bunton.

One would expect that the audience for Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's "Parenting Hell" would be mostly new dads, said Stuart Heritage in The Guardian. In fact, the comedians' winning mix of "piss-taking and genuine introspection" has drawn a wide listenership. "If you worked on a desk next to them, there's a chance that the non-stop banter would drive you up the wall, but in weekly, hour-long chunks it is an absolute delight."

"The Scummy Mummies" is a broadly similar offering from two other comedians, Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn. They are excellent company; they make you feel "part of their gang"; and their podcast is a "played-for-laughs confessional, dealing with the sort of subject matter that you’d only share with friends you really trust". Podcasts that teach you to be a better parent are often "quite unbearable", but Dr Maryhan Baker's "How Not to Screw Up Your Kids" covers a vast range of parenting issues with wit and empathy, and steers well clear of "irritating idealism". You're "still going to screw your kids up a bit, but this might provide some damage limitation".

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Happy Mum, Happy Baby" with Giovanna Fletcher is a "must-listen" for any parent seeking "solidarity and support", said Amelia Jones on Metro. In "warm yet frank" and "non-judgemental" conversations with other high-profile mums and dads, Fletcher continues the conversation about motherhood that began in her bestselling book of the same title. Hosted by Zoe Blaskey, "The Motherkind" podcast is "an invitation to ditch the guilt, anxiety and feelings of overwhelm" to find the "calm" amid the "chaos".

Hosted by lesbian mum Lotte Jeffs and gay dad Stu Oakley, "Some Families" is the UK's first LGBTQ+ parenting podcast, said GQ, and each episode features a guest with a "unique, often jaw-dropping story". A "source of support" for queer parents, and "insight for allies", this is "well worth your data".

"Help! I'm a Parent" acts as a "valuable companion" for new fathers (and indeed mothers) from "Made in Chelsea" alumni Ollie Proudlock and Emma Louise Connolly, said Charlie Lindlar in The Guardian. "Dope Black Dads", presented by the businessman Marvyn Harrison, offers "plenty for every dad to learn" from and enjoy, "regardless of your ethnicity".

From the US, "Dads Who Try" is a wide-ranging and charmingly down-to-earth podcast about simply doing your best. "Mom and Dad Are Fighting" is Slate's excellent parenting podcast, and it is "much less combative than it sounds". The show "runs the gamut from toddler tantrums to teenage angst", making it a "perfect podcast to listen to in advance to prepare you for the years to come". And finally, "Fathers and Sons" is a compelling six-part documentary series made in 2016. Each 30-minute episode is an "intimate study of a father and son's relationship", exploring "what it means to be a dad, a son and indeed a man".

The Week Unwrapped

Have you missed the biggest news of the week? Or at least the stories which will shape our lives in years to come, when the passing hype of the day's headlines have faded from memory. That's the premise of The Week's own award-winning podcast, "The Week Unwrapped", which seeks out under-reported stories with unexpected consequences, from the world-changing to the small but personally significant. 

Listen to The Week Unwrapped on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts