Being a parent is really freakin’ hard. Of course, it can also be incredibly rewarding and delightful. Either way, it consumes us. Childproof is a show about us, the parents, and how we can raise kids without losing track of ourselves in the process. Each episode host Yasmeen Khan, a journalist and mom, brings us conversations and stories with fellow parents and experts on how to navigate this whole parenting thing — especially the shifts that happen within ourselves. Because parents are growing too.
Editor's Notes:
"Childproof is a show about the parent experience with a nod towards the idea that parents are also growing just like kids are growing," host Yasmeen Khan tells Apple Podcasts. "It's the show for parents seeking growth, and I'm one of those people." The North Carolina-born and now Brooklyn-based host, journalist--and most importantly, mom--Khan brings you the bi-weekly show Childproof about parenting for parents.
Khan's past life as a reporter and journalist for WNYC Radio covering New York City schools and policing paved the way for her passion for covering families--especially issues and anxieties that the pandemic brought to the surface. "People are so deeply affected by these events. Family structures are, and parents are," Khan says. "I bring a lot of that sort of background with me and I have brought some characters, actually, from my time reporting into the show also."
The self-proclaimed "audio evangelist" covers a range of topics on parenting through the lens of other parents sharing their stories. "If we're going to feature someone's story, I want to hear somebody wrestling with something," Khan says. "What are parents grappling with? What's the interior experience of a parent? I hope in that sense, honestly, the show could be for anybody, any grown-up, if they have kids or not, but because sometimes the issues we're grappling with aren't specifically related to our kids, all the things that we're dealing with as people."
Anything goes, and each episode aims to have a takeaway in the form of a lesson learned or some evidence of personal growth. But getting to hear parents share their own concerns is cathartic in its own right. "Nothing should feel like it's too precious or performative or anything like that, but if you feel like someone is really opening up in a conversation, and you can sense that they're just being real with me and the audience, that's compelling," she says. "That's really where the power of audio comes in because audio stories and listening to someone tell their own story is so intimate. I think it's the most powerful way to tell the story."
And as a mom to two girls herself, she knows a thing or two about being a parent. "My kids fill my tank in a way that I need, that I can't get anywhere else," she says. "And the thing I love about being a parent is that my life is filled--this is going to sound so cheesy--but my life is filled with so much love. I don't feel like I deserve it all the time, but it's just nothing but love. And that just gives the house a lot of good energy, you know? And I like that.”
Aubrey, a mother of three children with cognitive differences, has a habit of lying in bed at night and ruminating over the mistakes she feels that she’d made throughout the day. “Especially when you become a parent, your flaws take center stage,” she says. Although she’s been working on strategies to take better care of herself, she’s searching for a way to be kinder to herself when the chaos of her busy days feels like it’s too much. For an episode of Twenty Percent Happier that we’re sharing, Aubrey meets with Matthew Hepburn, a meditation teacher, to learn how to replace her nightly routine with a new practice: one that can help her ease up on herself when she feels like she’s falling short.
You can find more episodes of Twenty Percent Happier exclusively in the Ten Percent Happier app. https://www.tenpercent.com/twenty
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