Our Favourite Podcasts on Parenting & Mental Health

If you’re like us, you don’t have a lot of time to kick up your feet these days. It’s hard to carve out quiet time! But still, we love learning and we love stories. And we really love finding things that make our daily routines—laundry, dishes, commuting, and going for walks—just a little bit more fun. This is why we listen to podcasts all. the. time! In today’s post, we’re sharing the eight podcasts we keep coming back to and recommending to friends with toddlers—so you can get your podcast on, too.

Podcasts We Couldn’t Parent Without

Listening to these parenting podcasts has been a way that we’ve continued to learn, reflect, and tweak our parenting styles. We hope you enjoy them!

#1 Janet Lansbury Unruffled

We have both always loved learning from Janet Lansbury. Her gentleness is inspiring. She’s an Educator who uses an RIE approach with little ones, implementing the core principles of respect, trust, and acceptance, and as a result, she shows us how viewing our children through this lens is so freeing as a parent. And, she teaches us how approaching behaviors with curiosity, rather than judgment, leads to more positive relationships and calmer homes. (Umm, yes please!)

#2 Good Inside with Dr. Becky

In Good Inside podcast episodes, parents ask questions and Dr. Becky answers them. And we love this style of podcast because it means short episodes on relevant topics with actionable takeaways!

Dr. Becky is always so down to earth, so listening feels like you’re talking to your best friend—if your best friend was a clinical psychologist with major credentials and plenty of research to back up her advice! We’ve learned so much about toddler behavior and how our mindset impacts it, and a lot of that is thanks to Dr. Becky.

#3 The Mom Psychologist Show

Do you know our friend, Dr. Jazmine? The clinical psychologist, published author, mom to two adorable kids, and The Mom Psychologist on Instagram? If you don’t, you definitely should! And one of the best ways to get to know her is through her new podcast, which launched this year.

We love her social media content and Youtube videos, so we are excited to have her chatting in our ear each week. In her episodes, she touches on everything from potty training, to clean-up cooperation, to whining, and so much more.

#4 Life Kit: Parenting

Life Kit: Parenting is an NPR podcast, which is how we got hooked. (We love This American Life, TED Radio Hour, and How I Built This, too!) This podcast combines science and expert advice to help parents through the hard times. Because as they say on their website, “raising awesome kids takes help!” It’s awesome if you have kids of all ages, at any stage of development. They address super relevant topics for parenting in the world we’re in now, and it’s parent-friendly with short, digestible episodes. We highly recommend it!

#5 Raising Good Humans with Dr. Aliza

Dr. Aliza truly is a good human! And she definitely helps us raise our little ones to do good too. She’s a highly regarded developmental psychologist and is gifted in her ability to communicate with parents. On the podcast, Dr. Alize interviews top-notch guests we feel lucky to learn from. The episodes are long enough to give you many practical takeaways—and the background to support them—but not so long that you have to revisit the episode 18 times to finish it (IYKYK). One of our favorite episodes is Season 2, Episode 17: Who Is Mothering Mom? If you’re not sure where to start, start there!

Podcasts on Mental Health for Parents

The rest of the podcasts we recommend focus on your mental health. Because as you’ll hear in the episode we linked from Dr. Aliza, supporting a parent’s mental health has a wonderful trickle-down effect on the whole family.

We find these podcasts are incredibly supportive, encouraging, and validating. But that being said, it’s important to remember that they are not a substitution for therapy. Individualized mental health support is invaluable and we fully support you in seeking help from a licensed provider in your area if you need it.

#1 Holding Space

Listening in to Dr. Cassidy Freitas’ Holding Space Podcast is like having coffee with a really wise (and super educated) friend as she speaks validation, encouragement, and new ideas over you. In her episodes, which are always under one hour long, she has profound conversations with experts who know what they’re doing and parents who’ve gone through the tough stuff. Podcast topics include pregnancy, postpartum, parenting, relationships, wellbeing, to name a few.

#2 Motherly

The Motherly podcast features conversations with mothers, that help mothers. We love the variety of voices you get to listen to–the different backgrounds, and what they bring to the communal experience and conversation of motherhood. Because each episode is a little different, listening can leave you feeling supported, encouraged, understood, or any other kinda way that you might need to feel. This podcast is one we come back to again and again, so we think you’ll love it too.

#3 Herself

Started by two moms, Abby and Amy, the Herself podcast interviews experts in fields often related to maternal mental health. We love how they mix in their personal stories so the listener feels less alone in the experiences that so many mothers go through.

#4 Happy As A Mother

Last but certainly not least, our friend Erica Djossa, registered psychotherapist and mom of three boys, speaks straight to the heart of motherhood in her Happy As A Mother podcast. She’s all about “empowering moms to meet their own needs, rediscover their identity and enjoy motherhood more.” (We borrowed that from her website!) You definitely won’t feel alone in any experience you’re having after listening.

What Podcasts Do You Keep Coming Back To?

These are our favorites, what are yours? We’d love to keep this list growing by adding more titles from Wee Talkers parents like you! Let us know which podcasts you couldn’t do life or parenthood without in the comments below.