The Ten Best Podcasts for Parents

Multi-ethnic young family relaxing in pajamas on living room sofa

Becoming a parent is a truly insane life shift where everything completely changes: your schedule, your career, your home, your finances, your priorities and your goals. Along with a child, parents receive new anxieties, headaches, decisions, bills, as well as all those joys and triumphs, too. It’s a lot to navigate! Even though parenting is pretty universal, it always helps to know you’re not alone in your fears and frustrations about raising kids. Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed from having the hardest job in the world, turn to these ten podcasts for comfort, information, and at the very least, a good laugh. You’ll be back to feeling like SuperDad or Marvel Mom in a flash.

Bodyshock

Let’s get real, here - motherhood is intimidating on many levels, and one of those levels is all the physical changes your body goes through during a pregnancy, during the birth of a baby, and during everything else it takes to sustain a life. Bodyshock separates the facts from the fiction about what happens to your body when you have a child, delving deep into hormones, libido, what happens to a new mother’s sense of self, and as a bonus, it introduces several new euphemisms for lady parts. This one might not be for the faint of heart - but then, motherhood never is.

The Honestly Adoption Podcast

It’s important to remember that not all families are made the same way, and the stories of those families are just as real and fascinating as anyone else’s. In The Honestly Adoption Podcast, all the bases are covered, taking an true look at the struggles of foster care, bonding with adopted children, when and how to meet birth parents, what to do about money and resources, and so much more. This podcast gives a compassionate glimpse into the world of foster and adoptive families, whether that’s completely new territory for you, or all-too-familiar.

The Parent Panel

Can parents be their kids’ best friend? Is a home birth better than a hospital birth? Are there any rules about posting your kids’ pictures on Instagram? In The Parent Panel, host Shevonne Hunt is joined by famous comedians, musicians, authors, and journalists to discuss all these questions and more, covering everything from music to give birth to, to baby name regret, to Tinder for babies, to vasectomy parties. Touching on the hilarious, humiliating, and heart-wrenching aspects of parenting in equal turn, this podcast is sure to enlighten and entertain you while you’re trying to pee with the door closed, for once.

Mommy Moves

Working moms don’t have it easy - not only are they busy hustling away from home and hearth, they’re often criticized for “trying to have it all.” It’s made extra complicated because many working moms love being home with their kids, but also enjoy their careers. Why should they have to give up one to have the other? On Mommy Moves, hosts Sisanie and Patty from On Air with Ryan Seacrest think you shouldn’t have to. These working moms go into postpartum depression, iPads in restaurants, breast-feeding, food allergies, and more, demonstrating that just because they’re bosses at work doesn’t mean they aren’t bosses at home, too.

The Mother Shift

Okay, so now we know that moms can go back to work and crush it, but exactly how do they get back on the career track after maternity leave? The Mother Shift leaves no stone unturned as it examines this tough and sometimes tearful transition in a new mom’s life, talking through challenges facing single mothers, shift workers, 9 to 5ers, and freelancers alike.

The Fatherly Podcast

While it may not include stretch marks and lactating, fatherhood is still a significant shift and a hugely important job. The Fatherly Podcast is a couple of guys who get it - they’re trying their best, and they know most fathers are too. So they dive into dad-dom - sometimes with intensely personal episodes about how to be a good dad with mental illness, what to do with all the guilt and pride parenting comes with, or how to deal with the changes in your family’s finances - other times, they talk to publishers and playground designers about what makes a good kids' book and why children’s toys are designed the way they are. Endlessly fascinating and deeply affecting, it’s the perfect podcast for the proud patriarch.

Motherhood Sessions

Becoming a mother isn’t just about coming to terms with a new body and a new life - it’s also about having a whole new identity, and it can be a source of turmoil for many women. In Motherhood Sessions, renowned reproductive psychiatrist, Dr. Alexandra Sacks, sits down in intimate sessions with women grappling with toxic grandparents, never finishing their phD, whether or not they want a second child, and more. These deeply personal struggles shine a light on oft-overlooked obstacles in motherhood, focusing on women’s personal goals and sense of self outside of their children.

Parenting: Difficult Conversations

Kids say the darnedest things - and sometimes they ask the toughest questions, too. Parenting: Difficult Conversations draws on the 50 years of experience child psychologists at the Sesame Workshop have in tackling sensitive topics. Divorce, race, and death are covered, along with Santa Claus suspicions, how to teach kindness and self-control, and helping kids enjoy math. Parenting is full of tough talk; let this amazing resource help you do the heavy lifting.

Dads On Dads On Dads

Just three dudes talking about being dads, Dads on Dads on Dads goes into everything dad-related: how dads aren’t babysitters, student debt, trips to the ER, daycare, masculinity, which Game of Thrones dad they aspire to be, and more. Charming, funny, full of heart and real dad life, this podcast might not give great advice, but it’ll probably toss a ball around with you out in the backyard before dinner.

We Knows Parenting

Parenthood is definitely intense and life-shifting, but it’s also funny. Really, really, funny, because you’re basically hanging out with a tiny drunk person who keeps making fart noises with their mouth and smearing food everywhere. Who better to laugh at the hilarity of parenting than a couple of comedians? In We Knows Parenting, Reductress’s Beth Newell and Story PiratesPeter McNerney joke their way though their kids learning how to lie and curse, that time their daughter found their vibrator and the neighbor said they have sex too loudly, and especially the most terrifying days when everything is just….fine. Shockingly fine. No loud noises at all…

If you want to be sure you're listening to the podcasts everyone else is checking out, iHeartRadio has you covered. Every Monday, iHeartRadio releases a chart showing the most popular podcasts of the week. Stay up to date on what's trending by checking out the chart here. There's even a chart just for radio podcasts here, featuring all your favorite iHeartRadio personalities like Bobby Bones, Elvis Duran, Steve Harvey and dozens of others.

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