Mother Forking Podcast

Mother Forking Podcast is a parenting show carried by the rapport between two moms, Celeste Charles and Magen Mintchev. Episodes open on the same promise of unfiltered talk about raising kids, worded more bluntly than this page will repeat. From there, they go one of two ways. Some have no guest at all, just the pair catching up on work, kids and reading with the easy back-and-forth of people who end a chat by telling each other 'I love you.' In one of these, the talk turns to how many hats a working parent wears: the job, the family, a small business, the podcast itself and a bookstagram. The fix they land on is learning to say no. One of them has started turning down review copies and spent October reading only books she chose herself. The same conversation closes on the small kindness of texting a friend with no reply expected. Other episodes bring in a guest. With Ann Kaplan, a question about a child's sleep becomes a distinction between sleeping through the night and falling asleep alone; she says she does not usually teach cry-it-out and calls her approach parenting on your own terms. Dr. Gertrude Lyons points to Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch and its idea of self-validated intimacy, which means sharing something without needing it returned in order to feel okay. In the episode titled 'Sex, Open Marriage, and Essential Taboo: Parenting as Humans with Jordan Claire McCraw', the guest talks about growing back together with Tom, a move to Hollywood, and how hard it is to find men who sincerely want conventional dating. Set side by side, titles like 'Parents! Make Yourself a Priority Now' and 'Co-Parenting and Parenting on Your Own Terms with Ann Kaplan' show a steady interest in the parent as a person with needs of their own. Books are the second thread. The pair run buddy reads, working through the same book over a month and then talking it over. After a buddy read of The Push, they talked with its author, Ashley Audrain, about a mother told that what she believes about her own daughter is not true, and the lonely place that leaves her. That talk also weighs whether families do better when parents put their relationship first, while granting it is easier said than done. Rea Frey turns up for an author chat as well. The two laugh about sounding rusty after time away and lose track of when they last recorded. Taping an intro after an interview was already done, they fumble for the word and settle on 'prequel aftershadowing'. The jokes sit next to plain candor about rushed mornings and a child's hard day.