Mum's The Word! The Parenting Podcast - Mum's The Word Unleashed - With Georgia Jones, Kelsey Parker & Grace Victory

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In a special edition of Mum's The Word all three hosts Georgia Jones, Kelsey Parker & Grace Victory join forces to host an episode all together for the first time for a group therapy session.No topics of limits as they discuss everything from dreading doing kids' homework to their favourite boybands to answering YOUR questions!Get In Contact With Us:Do you have a question for us? Get in touch on our Whatsapp, that's 07599927537 or email us at [e-mail] for Listening Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Mums the Word, because we're all finally together. So if anyone doesn't know who we are, we've got me, Georgia, and we are all co-hosts, but this is the first time we've ever hosted one together. I've done one with you. I've done one with you. I've done one with you. You've done one with Grace. But we've not all done one as a three. No. So this is gonna be special.

This is our first threesome. Yeah. Actually, it's my first threesome. Right, let's smile. Oh my God, it's already turned to a game of have you ever. I have never ever. No comment. This is why they never got us all together.

Yeah, I know. This is why. Right. I've got to intro myself and I don't feel comfortable doing it. Because, you know, when you've got to talk about yourself and you're like, what do I do? Who am I? What am I? Come on, George.

Who are you? Tell everyone who you are. I am a 37-year-old mother of one. And that is it. I year old six year old cooper and um i'm a content creator i was when did you start at content really as soon as my followers grew on instagram which was maybe over a year then after that i started right um and got like management and then it went from there when did you start 2011 i'm like an og youtuber so i started like before instagram was even around yeah it wasn't even a thing yeah because twitter used to be massive yeah i had twitter first i mean my twitter following

now is like nothing but i used to have a bigger twitter following yeah i don't even go even though I'm so bad at writing like my whole thing is like what caption do I write on this picture what caption should I write on this video I don't know how I actually survived in the world of twitter same the amount of times I'm sat there at my computer like I just don't have any words oh I have no words in my brain to come out and go with this picture. When you're a mum, I feel like you're spoken to so much and you have to, like, speak so much. It comes to, like, work. What do you even... I've got nothing to say. I can't even speak.

I'm like, when management are like, Georgie, you've not got many, much content going out. I'm like, because I'm doing nothing. Literally, it's the same thing every single day. I'm making Cooper's tea, getting up in the morning, making his tea in the evening, putting him to bed. I'm'm like do people want to see that all the time i don't know but anyway we're going off on a tangent right so grace kelsey you you guys go for it i'm kelsey i'm 33 soon to be 34 next month and i am mum of bodie who is three and Aurelia who is four. I am a widow. I'm a solo parent

and I'm a bit of a del boy and do absolutely everything. You name it, I do it. I run a dance school. I have a book. I'm an actress. I do Instagram. What else do I do? Oh, I host retreats as well. And a podcast. And a podcast. There's nothing that I don't do. But most of all, I'm a mum and I'm absolutely loving it. It's a strong CV. Strong CV.

I'm Grace Victory. Started YouTube in 2011. Grace is more like standing up like she's an addict. Hi everyone. I've been gambling. We always go live. I wrote two books. I've done a few documentaries.

I mainly do Instagram and content. That's basically it. Talk about trauma, overcoming my trauma. Oh my God, I've got two kids. Hello.

Quite a big thing you're missing out there. I'm a mum to a Cypress who's three in kamiko who is 15 months and life is absolutely wild and that's yeah who i am i'm 33 i'm a virgo i'm a virgo and that's it that's who i am look at us. Look at us all. Look at us all. Growing together and hosting a podcast. How have your 2024s been so far? Chaotic. So we went to Dubai.

And obviously a holiday with kids isn't really a holiday. So although it was amazing to get a nice tan, not have to cook or clean for like 10 whole days, the kids got a bit ill. So it was a bit chaotic. But I feel like now we're in the kids got a bit ill so it was a bit chaotic but I feel like now we're in February I'm like I can breathe a bit better routine is back yeah back to work a little bit more so a rocky start because I find Christmas and January quite difficult times of the year why so I had COVID with my first um in december 2020 was severely unwell had him in a coma for three months what months were there then was that december 2020 yeah right

in a coma for three months multiple organ failure cardiac arrest in january the end in the beginning of the year like hard just because it's triggering yeah There's a lot going on out of a routine, a lot of emotions. So now we're coming out of that kind of time, I feel, like, more settled and more grounded. Yeah. Which is nice. Does that feel like that was a long time ago for you? How does that feel, the time?

Because I can't believe now, like, when you think of COVID. I know. It seems like that was yesterday. Yeah, because Cooper said to me, Mummy, what happened during COVID? I was like, don't you remember? And he's like, I was two and a half. I'm like, oh my God, yeah, you were. Well, next year will be five years since it all kicked off.

I literally just got goosebumps. Yeah, it feels like yesterday, but also like a different lifetime. Because I look at photos and I had like long blonde curly hair, was pregnant. My voice was obviously a lot higher because I was intubated and I have telotracheostomy. So I look back and I'm like, I don't even know who that woman is. So it feels like there's a lot of distance, but also like nothing at all. Did you have any kind of like, you know, when someone's come like that close to death?

Yeah. Did you have any kind of like epiphany or anything like that when you kind of, have you already spoken about this? Well, yeah, I saw. Me and Grace spoke about it on the pod, but then after the pod, we were like then just messaging each other. Yeah.

it on the pod but then after the pod we were like then just messaging each other about like yeah so I don't remember like in the physical space of dying yeah but in my coma dreams I could fly I like flew to Malaysia and I think when I died I could hear like bamboo flute music and then weeks later in the ICU I heard the music and I was like what and then the nurse was like oh yeah we used to play this to you when you were like in your coma and I was like I heard that they're like bamboo like Chinese like flute music did you did you see anyone Grace like when you was in the coma all my coat yeah so in my coma it had I saw loads of my friends, saw my partner. I saw my baby, Cyprus, who's probably now three. And I basically, I don't know how it happened, but I was in like the Caribbean. I was walking on a beach and I could see what I think is God.

I saw God. And it was like. I think Caribbean's your heaven as well. Oh, 100%. and it was like caribbean jehevan as well like oh 100 and this being told me that he resides in between five of the caribbean countries i'm not sure what five there were and i looked up and his eye was here but his eye was here that's how big he was like he was at his eye was like the whole sky i could see him and he said to me you cannot die I'm gonna fill you with my green light and you're gonna go back oh oh that made me go yeah goose and he said no matter how many

times you die you will always you'll always come back which is like I think like a a spiritual death maybe yeah do you know what I mean like when you die over and over again like parts of you and then I came back the orange yes this is recapping yes we're recapping so when i woke up i yeah when i was when i woke up i was i had tracheostomy so i was like so thirsty i couldn't eat couldn't drink and then i was able to take sips of water and i was like no i actually need orange juice i need a capri sun ice cold orange my partner would bring in the 12 pack yeah of capri suns and I would just sip and then like spit them out and then I would when I could drink I would drink oranges constantly and then when

my friend came in who was doing like some spiritual work on, she said to me, when you was in your coma, all I could see was oranges. I was like, oh my God. Yeah. How bizarre. And when I saw where you could go, it was like the water was pink and there was butterflies. It was colourful. It was colourful.

It was like a secret garden. That's incredible. That's what I perceived heaven to be. Do you find that quite comforting, Kelsey? Because obviously, you know, your husband Tom died. To know that, like, maybe he is somewhere like that. Yeah, and I do. We massively spoke about this.

But I do believe, obviously, there's somewhere else. And I talk to the kids about the butterflies. Daddy's with the butterflies now. And it's so weird that you said you saw the butterflies because that's where I say that he's with the butterflies and then Aurelia will say to people not so much Brady but more Aurelia she'll be like oh yeah my dad's in the sky with the butterflies yeah but it's also peaceful and so like so much happened also I was down in the coma for three months so I have a lot of memories and they kind of come back in pieces

but I just remembered when you were speaking then that when I was could have gone to the other side it was very very peaceful and I heard a friend say if you're tired and you want to you can go and in my head I was like I'm fucking staying I've got a son do you think there was a friend that was actually sat by your bedside that said that oh no because it was COVID no one's allowed in no one saw me no one could touch me nothing like yeah but that could be like a spirit of something yeah yeah yeah I said you can come over if you want to and I was like oh I'm sorry I can't I mean this should literally be a spiritual podcast because I could get so deep right now with all of that about like the soul, the soul's journey,

where Tom is now, like it's endless. We know this. How was your January? Because obviously, you know, moments like Christmas are quite big times, aren't they, when you've lost someone? Do you know what? I've never been a massive fan of Christmas. Tom loved Christmas. This year I was just like, like i'm just gonna do it for the kids but what i did is i

booked to go away on boxing day we went to gran canaria it was the best thing i could have done i went away i had that time and i don't feel like i've had that time yet and then i've come back and i feel like this fog's lifted from me yeah and it is the beginning of the year and I'm not one to be like oh new year new me but I feel like a fog's gone that I was I was in a place where I've just been just get through it get through it yeah yeah but now I do feel like I can see a lot clearer yeah the future yeah yeah and? Do you know, my Christmas was lovely. It was hectic. It was, you know, not without its drama.

I feel like when you've got, like, a family Christmas and there's a lot of family around and different families from different, you know, and lots of kids, there's always going to be something, isn't there? There's always going to be some argument or whatever. Very true. But I did really enjoy it despite, you know, arguments or whatever that was going on. I actually had a really nice time.

And I came into the new year. This is the first time I've ever felt like really, really positive in January. And I actually felt quite guilty about it because, you know, when like everyone's like, I'm just, you know know in a funk in January which is normally me I wasn't I was like oh I feel really like and then towards the end of January that's when it dropped off for me and I was like oh god I've lost my yeah it was like the longest January ever though oh my god like honestly it was about two months worth that January wasn't it I feel like it's always the same we just forget how long january is i don't know why

every year when it when it gets like midway through january i'm like why didn't i book that holiday for january because i feel like we need we just need to like disappear in january vitamin d yeah get some vitamin d we're great we've eaten too much we've drunk too much we're great we haven't had yeah we haven't had enough vitamin d because you don't because you go into like hobbit mode don't you when when it's christmas and you don't really go out much well you know i just stay i just stay in and i mean i stay in i and that's yeah i stay in but don't i feel like events like absolutely ruined me before christmas yeah same i felt like i was just like oh that's when i felt like i was on the running machine i was like is this ever tired and

then when i got to boxing, that was the best thing. Having that Boxing Day holiday booked. And then also the kids knowing that they weren't going to get loads of presents because your present is you're going on holiday. And then to just wake up Boxing Day and leave. Great. I mean, I'm definitely going to try and do that next year. But January is a funny month for me as well because it's Cooper's birthday.

So, and it's so annoying having a baby that was born in January. Sorry, but this was born on Christmas Eve. Oh God, oh no.

Poor kid. Yeah, he absolutely, more presents, more presents. I know, but I'm like, I don't know what to get here.

It is hard though, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I said to Cooper, I was like, what do you want for your birthday? He's like,

I don't know, mommy, I've got everything. I'm like, oh, cute. But your birthday? He's like, I don't know, mummy, I've got everything. I'm like, oh, cute. But I think for the kids, it's any time of year they're born

because Aurelia's really upset that she's a June baby. She's the end of June. She said, everyone's having their birthday parties, mum, and no one's going to come to my birthday party

because I'm in June and everyone's going to, I'm like, I'm still going to do you a birthday party. She's like, but it needs, how many months have I got?

How many months have I got? They don't understand the concept of months anyway. So they're never happy. They're never happy when they're born. I just would be happier if I had a summer baby because I'm a summer girl and it's so much easier because you can just do a picnic. There was a higher,

we basically got a bouncy castle for the garden. Well, it basically just filled the entire garden. There was no breathing space anywhere. And the kids just played on that. Honestly, if you do anything for a kid's party, get a bouncy castle because they did not stop. Or come to K2K Stars where we do birthday parties. Just plugging myself. And the website is

www.daveycott so I feel like this podcast is the thing that I needed like years ago and how did were you guys

on the podcast before me I feel like you yeah we were all about you were just an add-on at the end grace they were like girls yeah no um i think i'd been on it before i think yeah i'd um been interviewed on it before yeah me too yeah had you no no oh well well you're the OG's then I'm not clearly well what can I say but yeah

and then yeah we obviously all started didn't we at a similar time yeah at the same time and I agree with you

like I feel like it's it's almost been like therapy for me what do you think girls yeah I've loved it I've loved

being involved in it and just talking to different women oh my god yes like that's i've like had friends on yeah but then i've also had like some people that you know even for me i had jojo fraser and she we had we came on to she came on to talk but we got really spiritual and really deep i feel like i'm quite deep i feel like i get i feel like you're like the spiritual i mean you are a bit as well grace but i feel like you're quite the spiritual one i'm just the crier i didn't realize how much i cry and like literally when i was talking to every guest i was like really sorry i think i'm going to cry again crying is a spiritual experience yeah is it and they say you have to release it is a spiritual experience

well I once stretched my hips and it made me cry oh my god yeah like I went on it was on this like yoga retreat thing and they said

as we were doing these exercises they're like now these are like the hip openers this does release a lot of emotion and I honestly

at that point I was like I'm done ridiculous I was like this is so stupid why would stretching my hips make me cry well within about five seconds I was sobbing and I was like and I was like apologizing to the yoga teacher I was like I'm so sorry I don't know what's happening

I just can't stop crying and she's like no this is good oh I love a good cry oh I mean I do love a good cry I am an emotional person but I do love a good cry. I am an emotional person. But I just didn't realise I could release it from my hips. Yeah. I used to go to a lot of women's circles and do, like, breath work with, like, women and, like, meet our ancestors and stuff and I would be an absolute mess.

Really? Yeah. I had issues with my period years and years ago and going to, going to women's circles brought my period back what's a women's circle? it's a place for you to meet other women and just hold each other emotionally

guys, not going to plug it again but I do hold retreats called horror retreats which we do lots of women's circles she's not the spiritual she's a blogger that's what we do so we hold space for each other so yeah we did one on sunday and everyone had to go around and

just say why they were there and people the reasons they come out with and what we actually say is when you're releasing no one can go oh are you okay like you have to leave them you have to leave them in their space to cry to get it all out and i guess that's what we're doing here aren't we well yeah mom's the word you're holding space for for each other but also it's really sacred like as much as we have this space and you've got your people and you've got your people some women don't have their people yeah so like actually having women that can hold you emotionally is sacred and like it's it's a privilege I hope that's what this podcast does like for people because like sometimes when I've had a guest on and I've been chatting and I've afterwards you know ones were like off air I've said that was incredible for me like I didn't

realize like x y and z about myself and I didn't know that's why I was feeling that way and that's really helped so I think hopefully for listeners listening they'll feel the same yeah that it do you think this podcast has impacted your parenting or like made you parent differently a little bit I think I had a lady um on for the very first episode she was actually actually my pilot. You know, when we were all doing pilots to see if we were good enough for the job. She was my pilot. She called Marie Gentles. And she was a behaviour expert.

And I found it really interesting because Cooper, when he was like three, he was, I have never experienced tantrums. Is it Cyprus now? Is it? Yeah, I'm going through it. Listen. Is it Cyprus now? Is it? Yeah, I'm going through it. Listen to podcast number one on The Mum's The Word. What's Cyprus, how about it?

He's three, he was three Christmas Eve. Yeah, because Bodhi was three in October. And I'm like, it's the three-nager. Honestly, I couldn't do anything right. All I had to do was look at him the wrong way. And it was like, I was the devil. And then you just cried. Oh, God.

And then I was like, and I had everybody saying all these conflicting things to me of like, leave him. Don't pander to him. Just let him cry it out. And every inch of my being just wanted to cuddle him. And I gave in. And I eventually just like cudddle him and i gave in and i eventually just like cuddled him i was like he i think he needs me and he's like to know that i'm here and that like you know it's not right what he's doing but i'm supporting him and honestly that was a game

changer and i was speaking to her about this and she's like yeah like she's like i just need a hug mommy oh really yeah and he does, he goes. That's really good because he's telling you as well. He does this deep breathing that I've taught him and he punches the pillow to get his anger out. That's great. Like, it's amazing, isn't it? Like, all the different,

obviously you two won't be here with this yet, like, when they start, like, year one, honestly, the change, and I'm sure listeners that are listening, whose kids have gone through year one, I was like, who is this child? Like, they come back and they start talking to you in a different way. They start picking up on their friends' ways of being,

which might not always be like how you would want your child to be. Cooper started calling me bruv. That's right. We talked about this. Oh, I had the bruv ages ago. You had it ages ago. I've only just had it

because it was, I didn't have it when we did our podcast together. He was calling me something different. But mine's a regular calling me bruv. Oh, I love it.

Bruv. And I was like, what? I'm not. And now, he's going through the stage of calling me mother. Mother?

Oh, honestly. I'm like, mother. I'm like, mother. Mother, can I have this? I'm like I'm like mother and like mother mother can I have this I'm like

stop it no I've started calling him son and he doesn't like that so I'm like well you call me mother oh my god

but it is so weird like and I feel like every age something different there's some new like you can never fully know

what you're doing you feel like you catch up and you're there it's all good and then they suddenly change it's like terrible twos but now we're in the different phase yeah mine was um bodie yesterday had to do chinese new year at school so they wanted him to wear red no like don't like don't go out and buy anything yeah so he had a red t-shirt on and then i had this really nice red Ralph jumper and I was like, I'll put that on.

He's like, I'm not wearing that. I went, just put the jumper on. It's Chinese New Year. You've got to wear red at school. I'm not wearing it. He literally, through the biggest tantrum, we put it on him

because I think you have to make him do it, don't you? Like, no, you're wearing it. That's what you have to wear to school. Nope. Took it off and then every picture that they sent me through on the tapestry, he didn't have the jumper on.

What did he have? He just he didn't have the jumper on. What did he have on? He just had the red T-shirt on. That was it. And obviously it was quite cold just today. He was like, no, I'm not doing it. He's so stubborn. He's not backing down.

So then this morning when we woke up, I went, oh, you've got to wear red again today. He went, I'm not doing it. I went, yeah, you've got to wear red again today. And he was like, you're teasing me, mummy. You're teasing me. I was like, yeah, I am. Because yesterday really annoyed me. I've seen the photos.

Nothing more frustrating though. When you just like, just put it on, please. No, I know. And they don't, and they won't,

they just will not. And I do think for me, Bodie's so much more stubborn than Aurelia. Aurelia, I can like team talk her. If she had to wear it, she'd, cause I said, when you go to Aurelia's school, you have to do all these days. Like we had like team talk her if she had to wear it she'd because I said when you go to

um Aurelia's school you have to do all these days like we had rainbow day on Friday where she had to wear bright colors I'm like you're gonna have to do that when you go to reception so let's get used to it now no I'm not doing it yeah no that's Cyprus and oh god but they is it a boy thing but they say I saw this maybe but I saw this quote and I was like, careful, Beth's side. It said, obedient children become people pleasers. And I was like, I want a wild child. Yeah. You need a wild child.

And he is the wild. Is he? He is. They both are. And I'm like, oh. See, when I had Cara on, our group chat together is feral children because all our children are. I called my child feral once

and my best mate told me off. She was like, you can't say that. My children are absolutely feral. Mowgli. Cypress is Mowgli. When he wakes up, his hair's out here and he's like, stood there in his pants. Mowgli, 100%.

I've got parents evening for the first time on Thursday, and I said to Aralia, I've got parents' evening. She went, oh, and I went, what? I was like, that's not good. She went, oh, they're not going to tell you I'm naughty. They're not going to tell you I'm naughty. I don't think they will. Yeah, with that reaction, maybe they will be telling you that.

Oh, my God. It's so funny. Good luck. It's so funny, right, when you go to your first parents' evening, because I went in. I missed the first one it was meant to be on zoom and i didn't book an appointment oh so this is a face-to-face hey hey listen i'll make a confession on on air um and i actually confessed it to cooper's teacher

the other day because i was like i'm just going to have to because this is it's keeping me awake at night so basically there's this like platform you've got to log on to for homework so they do homework in like in year one which is which is just wild for me don't have time to even bath him some nights let alone sit him down and get him to do like too much no it's so much that's another topic to talk about and you've got to log on to this platform and i've just never done it it's been a whole year well not a whole year it's been like a whole uh term and I've not done it and I saw her the other day I was like I've got a confession and I feel like I've just you know when you leave something so long that you've gone too far with it and you just then just don't do it surely she knows you've not logged on though done any

homework yeah no but I felt like I needed to confess and just explain myself she's like it's fine I'm not entirely sure. She necessarily agrees with homework, if I'm being honest. But, you know, she couldn't say that. I just think it's too much of the homework, especially now that you want them to do, we want them to do all the activities. Like, Aurelia does an activity every night of the week.

And it, like, last night, she doesn't get home till seven o'clock from dancing. No. And she loves her dancing. Like, to then sit down and read a book and... Yeah. Oh oh it's honestly just bollocks isn't it yeah well do you know what it is though we're taking on the school if anyone from a school no but i do think the curriculum i mean my children aren't in school

but i do think the curriculum it's just not it's not the one is it no no it's not i can't be doing with it all i'm such a technophobe I can't be doing with it all. I'm such a technophobe. I can't be doing with everything being online. I just want a piece of paper. Like he does get this stuff sent home. Stuff. He gets like stuff, writing, spelling.

He gets like, you know, he has to, he gets this little book that comes home and he's got to write like three sentences about a picture that's in the book. And I don't mind that so much because, like, it doesn't take too long. But, like, logging on and, I mean, God forbid the day I have to try and do maths with Cooper.

Why doesn't Danny do any of this with him? I feel like this is really a... Really good question. Yeah. Danny, where are you in this parenting? Should we call him now and just ask him whether he's ever done any homework with Cooper? Danny, do you know the login for Cooper's School? I don't think Danny even knows there is a login for the school.

Oh my God. Yeah. I don't know why. I mean, there's no way I'm going to be able to do maths. No. No way. It's not even a joke. No, but it's not even a joke thing.

I go on E in my GCSEs maths. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. What girl? She can't do Pythagoras? Who's that? I haven't even heard that. Who's he? Fractions. I haven't got a clue. Per. What girls? You can't do Pythagoras? Who's that? I haven't even heard that. Who's he? Fractions.

I haven't got a clue. Percentages. Don't even bother. It's embarrassing. Can't do them. And my partner's quite academic. They went to university and everything. And I didn't do anything.

No, I didn't. And he does all this educational stuff. And I'm like, nah, it's not for me. Oh, well, he can be the homework person. Yeah, because I don't know what I'm doing. You've got to calculate with your pocket. That's 24-7. You don't need it. Yeah, because I don't know what I'm doing. You've got to calculate with your pocket 24-7. You don't need it.

Yeah. Seriously. Mental maths. I think that's the one thing that panics me the most about Cooper growing up is having to help him with homework

because I just don't think I can do it. I just can't. Tutor. Get a tutor. No, seriously. Yeah. Outsource where you can.

Aradia does actually have a tutor already. What the shit? What for? Well, to do like the reading and doing the letters because I am busy. She loves it. She loves it.

Thursday night. The Motherkind podcast explores how to feel feel happier more confident and empowered in your motherhood even in our world of pressure judgment and comparison i'm your host zoe blaski and every week i speak to an incredible expert to share actionable steps and powerful lessons to living your life as a mother with more joy and unapologetic confidence listen wherever you get your podcasts just search mother kind question do you read a bedtime story to your children every night? Yeah. No. No. OK. Thank God. Right. Yeah, I do. Not every night.

Yeah. There's some sort of activity. Right. Like, basically, what I sometimes do is I tell Cyrus about his day. So we go through, like, so when you work up and we got this outfit together and we did brushing my teeth and his whole day and he loves it and recently i tell him about a little girl called grace and i do my childhood oh no we do a little girl called ray ray because that's a little nickname we do a little girl called ray ray and i have to talk about her whole day yeah

and then she goes no mum we did so say if i add something on oh yeah and then now we do a little boy called bodie yeah so i do a little girl called grace and do like my childhood you know what did you not love that as a kid though my mum see my mum invented the little girl called ray ray with her because my mum used to do that with me and i just love it and they relax because you could literally say anything ge George. Doing a little arm tickle. Yeah. So, everybody says, oh, arm tickle, mummy. Oh. Mm-hmm.

But then Kimiko's different. She literally will push me off her and put herself to sleep. Will she? Yeah. Yeah, Coopers are even. Girls and boys, they're so different. They are, aren't they? I mean, I obviously don't have a girl.

I've only got a boy. But from watching girls, honestly, at Cooper's birthday party, he got bashed in the nose on the bouncy castle. And the girls that were there literally took him off, sat him on the sofa, cuddled him. One of them fed him crisps whilst the other one stroked his head. And I was literally like... I think that's called flirting.

I know. I was like, oh, my God. I was like, who do you all think you are? I'm his mother. Give him back to me. Get off him. No. It was quite cute, actually.

Yeah, girls and boys. The boys were just like, whatever. But that's, the sidebar is like that, though. Really? Mm-hmm. If I'm crying, he goes, wipe your tears, mummy. Oh, don't you love it when they're like... He's really nurturing.

When they do something really sweet like that. And Bodhi is a mummy lover. He just loves me so much. He holds my face and he goes, I love you, mummy. And he's my get into bed with me. Aurelia was never bothered about it. They don't care. Didn't really want to get in bed with me.

After Tom died, she did a little bit more. But Bodhi, that's been, I'm having to, this is my thing. I'm breaking this habit it's been three weeks now and every day that he doesn't get in bed with me he gets a tick on his chart oh really

see Cooper always just liked his own space he's a cuddler like a massive massive cuddler but when the time came to like sleep

but I'm like that as well so I just would go back into my womb if he could every day he's like oh mummy you're so beautiful oh my god no seriously yeah and in the night he's in every crevice he is there like in my neck in my he is he's obsessed with me oh but i just love him oh and he's like me i look at his face and that's me as a child see i've got no boobs i wonder if i had boobs that i'd be more like yeah like you're not

very welcoming i'm not like i'm a bit collarbony yeah because i remember my mum as a kid she had big boobs and she just like nestled yeah which is the coziest cuddle i think i'm just a bony cuddle i'm just not that appealing oh my god no no even though i do love a cuddle right we um i haven't touched on who our favorite guests have been it's a tricky one this is a hard one i think because i've loved all my guests i have one guest in mind anita cleary and she spoke a lot about so she's got a book about the mum work the parenting and work switch and how it's really hard to switch from mum mode into work mode because they're so different like how I want to be in my career isn't how I want to be as a mum and when she was on the podcast I was

like yes I feel seen because I find it really hard working from home like this is the first time I've gone out to work in literally like two months. Really? Yeah. A lot of my stuff is just at home. So having to like bounce between like doing the lunch, doing a snack, quickly going to film a reel, coming back. I just feel like I'm doing this all the time. Do your kids go to nursery?

No. So they're at home with you? Yeah. Cypress is going to start forest school and Kamika's only 15 months. And I'm like, oh oh no you stay with me do you ever feel like you're doing like it all half heartedly because that's what

my struggle is like because when you've not got set working hours you're kind of like trying to do it all at the same time and there's no like set this is when I'm at work and this is when I parent so that's together yeah so like you know i'll be doing bath time i'll be on my phone because i've got

something to upload at that time and i'm trying to pay him attention but not enough and i'm trying to pay attention to my work but not enough so i feel like everything's just like 50 yeah you need this book honestly is so good. I'm going to give it up. And I felt like there was a bit of relief when she was talking because I felt I get mum guilt, I feel like I can't give myself... Who I want to be as my career girly, you know,

and who I want to be as a mum, like I can't do it all. And, you know, it's hard because it is hard. So it was just nice to feel heard and listened to um because yeah i i do massively i think being a mum is so hard is anyone else because i feel like it's just me it's the hardest job my mum tells me all the time when i moan she goes i told you this is going to be the hardest job you'll ever do i know you're right you are right mom i shouldn't listen to you but because we not only like not only have we like grown and burst a human we also have this huge mental shift in our brain we're very hormonal we're hormonal we take on the mental

load completely differently to the way a man would be taking it on we have to think about everything like everything is there food, are there clean clothes have I remembered to do that now there's homework, do I need to do the homework have I signed on to the homework

app doctor's appointments, dentist's appointments like everything, they need new shoes today, like homework yeah yeah doctor's appointments dentist appointments like all those things everything they need new shoes today like do their shoes fit them yeah do their shoes fit them yeah the amount of times and i hope i'm not the only one i've put cooper's shoes on he goes mommy they're a bit tight i'm like oh dear god i've not had your feet measured for about a year yeah of course you're gonna have bigger feet like you're growing like a rapid rate yeah um but no it's it's a struggle and it's just learning isn't it to like how you manage it because we can do it all but we have to manage it in a certain

way and and the thing is i think like the modern woman wants to do it all like we want to be able to have our career we want to mother we want to be a you know but the world is set up against us yeah isn't it absolutely like breastfeed your baby but you've got to go back to work in six weeks or six months it's a joke yeah especially if you're self-employed as well yeah i've had a lot of these conversations being self-employed having to take the kids to work like my kids have had to come everywhere with me yeah and just get on with it so they are really good at that they can wherever we are they will just entertain themselves and get on with it yeah because they're like oh where are we going now like even on saturday night i had to go and set up for the retreat they had to

come come with me they were like it was in a hotel there's like are we not staying over the night we don't sleep at every hotel we go to oh we stay in hotels who's your favorite guest bin kelsey oh do you know what i can't actually pick because i've i've actually had a lot of my friends on we spoke about different topics i think i feel like i've just learned from everyone that's been on my pod and i feel like the word i've used on every single podcast i've done is relentless being a mom is relentless i'm gonna say it again for my listeners. Relentless.

And monotonous. That's the right word, isn't it? It is. Mundane. Mundane. I try to find the magic in the mundane, but sometimes

I can't do it. Yeah. I think as mums you've got to sometimes admit it's just really boring sometimes. And hard. Because it's the same.

It's the same. Breakfast. Yeah. Snack. Yeah. Lunch. Dinner. Yeah. Go to nursery. Go to school. And then it's when they it's the same breakfast snack lunch dinner go to nursery go to school

and then it's when they do create like Bodhi for a tantrum the other night and I literally just lost it and I was like

I do everything everything I do for you you and your sister I don't I don't even go out and enjoy myself and then he's like

and then I went over and got into bed and then I came back and I went, Mummy's really sorry. I love you so much and I do this all for you because I love you and your sister so much. But can you just go to bed when I ask you to? Yeah.

No, it's so hard. And sometimes it's just like, what about me? Big feelings evoke big feelings in me and I have to work really, really hard to not just come in all guns blazing. It's like my 50-year-old self comes through and I'm like, oh, shit. I'm like 33-year-old mother. And then my old self comes in. I'm like, oh, my God.

But you want to be like, do you not realise what I'm doing for you? I'm sacrificing everything. All day. For you. It's all for you. I think all my guests have been amazing but I feel like I found Gareth and Olly Locke and then Jake Graff really really interesting because Jake is trans guy yeah and Olly and Gareth are um gay all three of them went through a surrogacy journey and I was

completely unaware of like the struggles with that and like oh my god so much red tape like you wouldn't believe like how much goes into actually trying to get a baby when you can't have one naturally yeah I don't like the word naturally you can't have one you know yourself yeah yeah so that was really really interesting who would be your dream guest oh you guys thank you yeah you two girls that's it your dream guest oh my god that's a really really good question do you know it'd be really interesting to have anna uh mother pucker on oh yeah because she's done so much work and actually well we'd all find this really interesting because obviously she's done so much work on And actually, well, we'd all find this really interesting because obviously she's done so much work on women's rights within the workplace.

Flexible working. Flexible working. I think she'd be really great to talk to. She would be one. I'm going to get her then. I'm going to have her. Do you know what I mean? I know I am going to have her.

I don't even know. Who for me? Any like celebrities? I would love, love to interview Drew Barrymore. I'm obsessed with her. Oh, yes. Her TikToks because of her show. I would love to speak to her.

Wow, gross. Go big or go home, eh? Go big. Yes. Listen, we'll set our sights high. Victoria Beckham. Yeah. Yeah.

She would be a good one because I think she's actually really nice. I actually met Victoria. Did you? The Wanted got invited to Romeo's 11th birthday party. Oh, let me just pick that name off the block. Hang on, did they perform? Or did they just get invited as like... No, actually, this is a great story to tell.

So I thought I was going to go and it'll be like, you know, in the back of their garden, there's going to be like elephants and like the most extreme party. No, no, no. It was literally a go-karting party. Oh. And we went.

But she's so nice. She's so cool. Do you know when you just look at her, you're just like, you're so cool. Yeah. She's so lovely. She'd be a good one. I have a couple of friends I would love to talk to as well. Mmm.

Same. Who like, they're in my group chat. It's called In the Trenchesia lita and michelle and i would just love to talk to them about life mothering life how they do it so lita homeschools and this employer has her own other business and like how she does that and because that blows my mind to be able to homeschool. I mean, I certainly wouldn't be able to homeschool. I would love to do the homeschooling. But I feel like Aurelia just thrives in with people. Yeah.

Yeah, same with Coops. I'd love to have one of my best friends on because I will at some point, I'm sure. Because her husband had an affair and left during lockdown. No. Yeah. And we found, we found him. But that is for another time.

Well, you found him having an affair? Yes. Oh. You? We did. Shut. Me and her. What, like detectives?

Yes. Love that. Like, honestly, honestly, I'm going to get her on because, like, honestly, there is so,

the story, it's like something from a film, but it'd be so interesting. How is she now? She's great. She's thriving. She's thriving. Finally. She...

Bounce back. She did eventually, but, like, it took her a long time and she is probably, like, one of the most incredible, strong women that I know because,'s you know she's got a little boy um he was only he was only like two and a half when it all two and a half three when it all happened and it's just it's a lot like it was a lot for her but she's doing really well and really proud of how like strong she's been I don't know how I would cope if someone there's like these stories on tiktok of women going into com They've grown up and their partners have moved on.

Oh my God. That happened. Grace, what would you have done? Tell me, don't ruin the steps. What would you have done? I would be in prison. Okay. No, I don't.

I'm ready for the beach now. My brain can't even fathom that. I think Tom would have had to ask me to have an affair. Do you think this is a good idea, girls? I'm just... This girl's messaging me. Do you think it's a good idea, Kelsey? I'm just... This girl's messaging me. Do you think it's a good idea? No.

I'd know it in Danny's face. Definitely. Now, so... Right, moving on. Moving on. Cheating to listeners' questions. I have been cheated on. Yeah.

Right, kicking off. Shout out, Claire Robinson. I've got a best friend called Claire Robinson. Imagine if it was her. kicking off shout out claire robinson i've got a best friend called claire robinson do you feel more pressure raising your kids because you're in the limelight no but i feel more protective um there's just certain things i would never talk about online about my children certain things i wouldn't post yeah there's boundaries i think i just feel the pressure regardless yeah i actually feel like potentially i feel less pressure only because like my little community like the people that follow me on instagram are just so nice and supportive

so like if i was to put and i'm quite open with you know posting about struggles as a parent the response i get back is so supportive that i actually feel like it's only a positive thing really for me personally and everyone's a bit different what about you kels yeah i think the same i think everyone's so supportive and wants me to thrive. Don't get me wrong. Obviously, I have had trolls, but that's more to do with, like, Tom and that. They're not actively, like, people that follow me. They're just trolling me.

Random people that have found you. Just trolling me. The only thing is, is when you're in, mine is when I take the kids to events. Right. And they start kicking off. That's the only time when you're like you're somewhere and you're like please just don't kick off like we went to a hamley's event i spoke about it when louisa was on my pod that we went to this hamley's event and um it was downstairs but every

hamley's event i've been to before they get a 50 pound voucher and they get to walk around hamley's look at all the toys and shop they didn't it. It was a Christmas experience. So we just went down into the basement and they had everything set up. It was lovely. Obviously, my kids remembered. Oh, God. Are we not going shopping? Are we not?

Mum, I want a toy. I want a toy. And I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah. Let's do the business. We've got to do. Yeah, I just kept smiling. We're going to. And then in the end, I was like,

Mum, I've got to take them and go and buy them something. I don't want them to be brats, but they're used to it. What can I do? Say no, sorry. That's what they know. They don't know any different.

So it's more them times for me where I just think, please be on your best behavior and don't show me up. I mean, I am super lucky my kids are so kind. So if there's other kids there, they're so welcoming. But it's just like, please don't have a tantrum. Yeah. Because then your parenting really has to come in and how you're going to handle it because really you just want to grip them up and go right yeah because it's a bit of a fine line between do i parent how i normally parent which would be to remove them from the situation but if you're there

with work you can't you're kind of there and you've got and you kind of like we're all happy in the park yeah you kind of gotta like in the park yeah yeah like diffuse the situation rather than like be like right that's it you do that one more time and we go home yeah but it's also so hard when you take into events because it's catered to them and everything they're getting given everything you have this yeah design that cookie have this present like it's not normal no i tell i say to lee all the time sight pretends to understand that his life isn't whatever every other child has like it's not normal no no i always say that's cool but i'm like do you realize what your daddy does because obviously danny's you know a

musician isn't it like he'll be on telly like can i just say you can can she have any from mcfly yes i used to love mcfly great i i used to love boy bands fly and the one honestly oh busted i was a busted actually and then america and seeing backstreet boys like come on did anyone ever go for hansen or was that just me one song no they did not have one song how day. I don't, I couldn't even name you a Hanson song, babe. No idea.

Where's the love? Oh, it's a Hanson. If anyone's listening that knows Taylor from Hanson, if you could slip me his number, that'd be great. Oh,

okay. They were like gorgeous. Oh, they are gorgeous. No, I don't remember them. Yeah, yeah,

long hair. I wasn't massively, what was mine? Mine was Yeah. Yeah. Long hair. Oh, yeah, not for me. I wasn't massively... What was my... Mine was Spice Girls. Spice Girls, Steps, S Club 7. Yeah, S Club. And I guess they're like mix groups.

See, where are all these like proper pop bands now? Honestly. I feel like they're not there. I was talking about this today because Justin Timberlake's doing a tour next year and I'm like, I need to go. I'm bringing in Sexton Bay. But like new artists,

I feel like because of, we're definitely going down a different route again, but like because TikTok and everything's so like, like we, I used to watch MTV and watch every music video and you'd get the album, you'd pull your little sheet out and look at the lyrics.

Chris Aguilera stripped that album. I was 12 when that came out. That album. I used to actually think I was Chris Aguilera. I had that skirt, that dirty skirt. Oh my God, stop.

And then I had a top that said like, player two on or something like that and I used to go to like the mini discos and be like, yes, yes. Everybody dirty.

No, seriously. I love our confidence. Honestly, that time of my life was the best. I loved Christina Aguilera. And yeah, we had Britney and Christina and then Justin. Yes. Oh yeah, we did.

Not Justin Bieber. Yeah, not the Biebs. Oh, I do like Justin Bieber though, I'm not going to lie. I love Justin Bieber too. I do really like Justin Bieber. He's quite he's quite attractive hasn't he

I can I don't mind having to look at him every now and again and Usher Usher has released a world tour and is not coming to the UK

are you joking me no seriously why is he not coming I don't know but confessions I need to I had I had a boyfriend

at 14 and we broke up and burn. I used to listen to it on repeat. Me too. But isn't that album all about him cheating? No. Yeah.

That's what I felt like at 14. As an adult, you realise, don't you, about a certain something. You're like, oh my God. I used to listen to some questionable songs. Oh God. Questionable. Oh yeah. Like, oh God right we could reminisce

for hours about uh old old music oh my god honestly right who wants to do the next okay Flynn and Familiar best places to go on holiday with a two-year-old anywhere that's got kids club yeah and a buffet I feel like you need to have a hotel yeah but two year old day and going to the kids yeah they're too young oh yeah i feel like you need a hotel that does cater to children yeah soft play outdoor playground something otherwise it's just constant well do you know what we do every year what camping full-on good camping absolutely not no no no. You have to do it like me.

So I have like the blow up tent. So literally my tent erects in seconds. Just need to give it a few pumps and it erects in seconds. I have a full on like double king size blow up bed with a headboard. I take my duvet like I full on. We go for like 10 days to 2 weeks

but it's amazing for the kids because you you do the zipper the tent goes down you can lay in bed they're out playing they're there on the field

they're earthing it's amazing I am I am on team camping right Grace I was a girl's girl you're coming in the summer okay

I'm coming in the summer oh my gosh should we do a mum was aware of camping trip I think we should because I wouldn't even know where to start oh my god

do you know what I was 12 though I went camping with my school and I think I am a bit of a diva and I called my mum I said mum I'm done two days is enough for me

come pick me up it rains the rain was in my tent the food was diabolical yeah that's the only thing it's the weather grace like soggy sandwiches food was diabolical it's the weather like soggy sandwiches

I was like I'm sorry a week nah I'm done two days come and get me I was fuming do you know what

Diane would have said get on with it my mum would have been like get on with it Kels and I'm like okay mum but um

I really hate it I remember doing a bronze duke of Edinburgh award and I walked through that door and I couldn't do it. I remember doing a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award and I walked through that door and I said to my mum that I was never walking ever again. I was like, I quit walking. I'm never doing it again.

I stayed in the bath for about an hour. Yeah. But I do, actually, yeah, I'm a camper. I do love camping. And the other thing I would say is make sure the pool, if you're going abroad, there's a pool that's like a really little shallow one. Splash park.

Yeah. Kids can just splash about in it for hours and definitely try and do either all inclusive or breakfast. Half board. Yeah, half board. Whatever it's called. My only niggle with the all inclusive now is I'm paying for bodie what i'm paying for an actual adult is it not um no less for a kid rarely now some of these have been doing i know jet two did uh i don't know if we can plug jet two they did um one kid goes free oh okay oh god you have to start

paying for a kid's seat yeah from two from two years old yeah is it yes anyway they're gonna spend the majority of the time actually on your knee. On your lap. Or running up and down the aisle. Yeah, or causing a ruckus. Last question. Mums Work UK,

what would you say to someone starting their own business? I have imposter syndrome. Go for it. Bloody well do it. Yeah, mine is feel the fear, do it anyway. Yeah.

Be bold, be brave. If if it fails it fails at least you've tried and sometimes hard things if they just because they're hard doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it yeah no and i remember even when i got the call about doing this i was like i can't do a podcast like why would they want me to do a podcast i was like that i was like me talking to people like and then i remember doing why you're surprised about that. I remember doing the first two and being like, no, because we had a script and stuff, I was like, I've got to keep to the script. I've got to do this. But then I sort of got into my flow of just talking and being me.

Yeah, and not sticking to the script. Be, yeah. Get the script. Throw it away. Go away. She really did throw it away then. But yeah, just be you. Yeah. Just do it. Yeah, just do it. throw it away go away she really did throw it away then but yeah just be you

yeah just do it yeah just do it the worst that can happen is it fails don't overthink it just don't invest too much money into it

yeah that's all don't invest your life savings but just go for it that was a nice note to end it on well we've been talking for over

well 55 minutes girls woohoo is there anything else you feel like we need to talk about well it's been very nice i've loved it can we do this again yeah i've really enjoyed it it's nice being together nattering very very nice what mum's the words about isn't it yeah mum's talking it's having a catch-up and talking and just realizing that we're all on the same page. We all are struggling with the world that is being a parent. And we're normal. Thanks for listening to Mums The Word, the parenting podcast.

We love to hear from you. Get in touch on WhatsApp where you can send us a voice message. For free at 07599927537. Or email us at askmumsthewordpod at gmail.com we're back with another episode same time same place next week