THE GOOD ENOUGH MOTHER PODCAST
Transformative relationship-based parenting tools
June 6, 2022
MOTHERHOOD, THE LOST DAUGHTER, THE BAD MOTHER, CULTURAL TABOOS, PODCAST EPISODE
with Fiona of Mama Matters
In this conversation with Fiona, you’ll hear us both talk about our personal experiences of mothering our children and some of the challenges we’ve experienced (and continue to experience). Fiona shares how understanding information about temperament, sensory preferences, and connection-based, relationship-building parenting ‘tools’, can transform how we see our children - and ourselves.
You’ll hear us discuss:
How to contextualise and understand our experiences of parenting, to support us in trying to see the world through our children’s eyes
What the 'goodness of fit' is and why it matters in our parenting
How to recognise quirks in your child as temperamental tendencies, temperament traits or sensitivity traits
Meeting our children not only where they’re at, but also as who they are
How to understand who your children are, with all of their temperament traits and sensory preferences
The importance of how we perceive our children and why this really matters in how we parent them
Why separation-based techniques don’t necessarily work for children
Giving yourself permission as a parent to hold that bigger, holistic focus in parenting in mind as we navigate day-to-day challenges
Why it’s more common than you think that parents feel resentment towards their child or baby
What attuning to our children actually means
“This idea that we can mold our kids to be a certain way. If we follow this, then they'll be resilient. If we do this, then they'll be adaptable. If we do this, then they'll be polite and behave well and sleep well and eat well and all this stuff. So of course, we have some influence over our kids, but they also have influence over us. And accepting that our kids can influence us and impact upon us and change us is part of being in a really healthy attachment relationship with them. We influence them and they influence us. And that's the way it's supposed to be.”
— Fiona of Mama Matters in conversation with Sophie Brock, Ep. 71 The Good Enough Mother
Listen up.
A conversation that challenges the dominant paradigm on how we raise our children.
Meet
fiona
(of Mama Matters).
Founder of Mama Matters, Fiona is a Social Worker turned Infant Sleep Specialist. She provides attachment-centred, real-life parenting and sleeps support to responsive parents and their renegade babies and kids. She is passionate about busting through the mistruths of the mainstream sleep industry and empowering parents to parent in alignment with their values, with evidence-based, biologically normal sleep advice and relationship-centred approaches to optimising sleep and well-being for families.
— Fiona of Mama Matters in conversation with Sophie Brock, Ep. 71 The Good Enough Mother
“It's this dance, this to and fro. So the whole idea that we mold our kids is very much this behavioral approach to parenting. You see a behavior you like, you reward it. If you see a behavior you don't like, you punish it or give consequences or ignore it and just nip it in the bud. But actually, our kids are so much more complicated and beautifully complex than that. We don't just do to our kids. We be with.”
Enjoy this conversation and please share with anyone who you think would be interested in tuning in