Welcome to 2018 - the age of podcasts! What are podcasts? Well, they are basically radio stations accessible online with any number of episodes depending on the hosts, and we love finding great podcasts centered around parenting! Podcasts can be a great way for new parents to absorb important parenting information without having to sit still and read it in a book (because who has time to sit still with a newborn?!), and parenting podcasts normally come across as more genuine and relatable than a thick parenting guide. While podcasts are one of our favorite ways to absorb new information, it seems like podcasts are a dime a dozen nowadays, so we at littlebeam wanted to make finding great parenting podcasts a little easier!
What makes a great parenting podcast? Well, we think most importantly any parenting podcast should be relatable, enjoyable, and informative. Those might seem objective and general, but there are so many parenting podcasts (and other parenting resources for that matter) that have different tones and styles for different types of parents. Our rule for parenting podcasts is this: as long as you can end a podcast feeling like that you’ve learned something new, what you listened to can be applied to your own life, and that it wasn’t a chore to listen to the host, you’ve found a great parenting resource! Here is a list of some of our favorite podcasts to get you started in your search:
Sarah Trott and her postpartum doula, Esther Gallagher, host the Fourth Trimester Podcast and they discuss topics such as doula practices, prenatal care, yoga, parenting, breastfeeding and a range of other parenting topics. They focus on researched-base parenting resources with a sprinkling of personal parenting stories to better relate to their audience. This is a great starter podcast and there are about 63 podcast episodes available on listennotes.com covering various topics. For example, they have a podcast specifically about hiring a nanny and they discuss things like paying your nanny and developing effective communication between yourself and a nanny.
If you’re looking for something a bit wittier and ‘real,’ we’d recommend the Parent Nation podcast, with Tara Kennedy-Kline. Her website is pink and reminiscent of the ‘20’s housewife’ aesthetic, but you’ll quickly discover that this is her ironic sense of humor at play. The great thing about this podcast is that on their toginet.com page you are able to download any podcast with one click and take it with you on the go - perfect for car rides!
The last podcast that we at littlebeam would love you to check out is Babytalk with Penny Johnston from ABC radio. If you are looking for a more news-oriented style of information, this is for you. It is an intelligent and well-resourced podcast, but it’s still very charming and interesting to tune into. Some of the topics discussed include colic and Lamaze, so if you’re looking for in-depth look into topics similar to those then this is the podcast for you!
Hopefully we’ve helped get you started with finding online parenting tips through the help of parenting podcasts! Let us know what some of your favorite parenting podcasts are, and if you have any other recommendations for online parenting tips (like parenting Youtube channels or Pinterest pages we should check out) let us know through social media!
