The Mothers
Podcast Description
Do you ever marvel at women seemingly crushing life – building businesses, leading congress, writing best sellers, dropping hit albums, winning gold medals – then learn they also have children and think Wait, how the f*ck are they doing this? And how are they, really? // Sara Brown and Veronica Wolanin are many things and also mothers – on their own journeys to “do it all” while redefining what it means to “have it all.” Join them in funny, vulnerable, true conversations with The Mothers among us as they reflect on their lives, identity & purpose through the lens of motherhood.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes such as the balance of motherhood with personal ambitions, identity, and purpose, with episode highlights including discussions on the portrayal of mothers in the show Shrinking, personal journeys of women like Seo Yun Yang, and reflections on the musical Peter Pan related to maternal figures.
Sara Brown sits down with the people shaping our world — extraordinary leaders, creators, and thinkers — to explore how their identity, purpose, and ambition evolve alongside career and motherhood.
These conversations invite you to get curious about who you are, what you want, and why you want it — and leave you inspired to build a life that honors those answers.
Raw, smart, and deeply human, The Mothers blends the emotional honesty of We Can Do Hard Things, the practical wisdom of Mel Robbins, and the intellectual depth of Brené Brown.
Follow, review and join us on IG @themotherspod.
What happens when toxic productivity reaches childhood?
As parents, many of us feel pressure to enrich, entertain, supervise, and optimize every moment of our children's lives – all while navigating the demands of work, family, and everything else competing for our attention.
In this episode, Sara sits down with parenting coach, educator, founder of The Workspace for Children, and writer behind one of Substack's most popular parenting publications, Lizzie Assa, MS Ed. A former teacher with a master's degree in education from Bank Street College, former Head of Play and Development at Lalo, author of But I'm Bored!, and mother of three, Lizzie has spent years helping parents better understand how children learn, grow, and develop.
Together, they explore what happens when our discomfort with boredom, uncertainty, and unstructured time spills into the way we parent—and why creating more space to explore, experiment, and become may be one of the most important gifts we can give both children and ourselves.
They discuss how our ability to trust our children is often connected to our ability to trust ourselves, what both children and adults gain when every moment doesn't have a purpose, and why achievement culture may be shaping childhood in ways we rarely stop to question.
In this episode:
• Why boredom has become so uncomfortable for modern adults
• The connection between trusting yourself and trusting your child
• What parents get back when children learn to play independently
• What we gain when every moment doesn't have a purpose
• Why not every hobby needs to become an achievement track
• How achievement culture shapes the way we work, live, and parent
• How play, curiosity, and experimentation shape a meaningful life
• Building a career around education, creativity, and family
Whether you're raising young children, navigating a demanding career, or simply questioning the pressure to always be productive, Lizzie's perspective is both practical and deeply refreshing.
Episode links:
Substack: theworkspaceforchildren.substack.com
Website: www.workspaceforchildren.com
Book: But I’m Bored! available on Amazon and wherever books are sold: https://www.amazon.com/But-Bored-Independent-Confident-Resilient/dp/B0F4QDZKHT
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The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.
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