Kiddo Chats

Words Grow Minds is a parenting podcast helping families support early brain development with expert advice from Kate Ellis and Amelia Mulcahy.

In this episode we welcome Dino Mennillo, Occupational Therapist and the Clinical Director of the OTFC group; the longest standing private occupational therapy clinic in South Australia.

In this episode we chat to mum and Director/Co-founder of the HAS Foundation, Ella Stratton.

We chat with former professional Tennis player Todd Perry about kids in sport, how much training is too much, the ‘right reasons’ behind playing sport, and how parents and coaches can work better together for exceptional results.

Get ready to completely switch up how you shop for your family. In this episode we chat with Nabula from Supermarket Swap. We chat about how it all started, and Nabs takes us through how those sneaky little numbers and unrecognisable ingredients on the nutritional panels of the food you buy could be affecting your family. She also gives us her TOP SWAPS and all the intel on the new Supermarket Swap app!

Sean Szeps is a joyful, hilarious and clever dad of twins! He is a content creator and podcast host based in Sydney and his Instagram account @seanszeps serves up serious fun and laughter. Sean has flown 43 times and counting with his kids, so who better to give us advice on travelling with kids?! As restrictions ease and travelling becomes a bigger possibility for families, we talk to Sean about his best tips and tricks for flying post-Covid with kids and also roadtrip hacks! If you’re nervous about travelling with kiddos, this is the pep-talk you need!

In this episode we have the absolute pleasure of being joined by “The Real Dads of Adelaide”, Brendan and Matt, to talk about their journey to parenthood via surrogacy. We chat with the guys about their story, taking a detailed look at the surrogacy process, their own personal experience (highs, lows and everything in between) plus get the guys advice for people hoping to become parents via a surrogate. Expect brutal honesty, plenty of laughs and the odd Kardashian anecdote!

Kids and conflict; whether it’s squabbling with siblings over toys, name calling, sibling rivalry or fighting over who had the green bowl first, every family has to deal with family conflict in one way or another, oftentimes on a daily basis. Today Madhavi Nawana Parker, our resident parenting expert and regular KIDDO mag columnist returns to KIDDO chats to talk with us about that dreaded c word. Conflict.

Let’s talk puberty! To take us through this subject we chat with Michelle Mitchell, author of A Girl’s Guide to Puberty and A Guy’s Guide to Puberty. These books are jam packed with need-to-know info on puberty, they’re accessible for kids at the same time as offering a great jumping off point for parents to start these important conversations. There’s a window of opportunity we have with tweens BEFORE the teenager roller door goes up (and they decide they already know everything)! Seize this opportunity, it’s now or never! It’s time to establish yourself as a trusted go-to person and reliable source of info about all things growing up and Michelle is going to help set us up for success!

Scott Stuart is an Aussie dad and best-selling children’s book author who is committed to creating content that empowers young kids. In fact, his messages about self-acceptance have been seen over 100 million times on social media. We chat with Scott about that viral picture of him and his son in matching Elsa costumes, and he gets really honest about his own journey and experiences… plus shares some great tips along the way!

In this episode we chat with one of Australia’s leading parenting writers, Michael Grose, who wrote the very popular book “Why first-borns rule the world and later-borns want to change it”. We chat with Michael Grose about how birth order can impact your personality and how understanding it can actually make us better parents.

Teaching kids consent. In this episode we’re tackling the important issue of teaching our kids about consent. Talking us through this topic is award winning author, educator and advocate, Jayneen Sanders. Jayneen has actively advocated for body safety, gender equality and respectful relationship education being taught both in homes and in schools for over twelve years and has written and published several books on consent for children and parents.

Earn at Home Mum. Today you’ll be hearing from Jody Allen, an Aussie Mum of two, author, founder and chief editor of stayathomemum.com.au, one of Australia’s biggest mothers’ networks. Jody has written five books, with her first four focused on really clever and unique ways to save money as a family. Her latest book, ‘Earn At Home Mum’, has just hit shelves, and this time she’s helping mums and families, as the title suggests, earn more from home, just like she did.