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PODCAST

The Mother Of It All

Sarah and Miranda

We are Miranda Rake and Sarah Wheeler, two friends, mothers and professional writers on the parenting beat. The Mother Of It All is a podcast where we dive deep into the culture of modern motherhood. Expect warmth, humor and over-considered takes on hot topics, fresh takes on old ones, expert guests and good times. motherofitall.substack.com

kids & family parenting

All Episodes

68:58

Club Sandwich Generation with Courtney Martin

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/12/15

In this episode, Sarah and Miranda Rake kick things off with some Mariah Carey karaoke and a rundown of their favorite “laundry folding films.” Then journalist Courtney Martin joins to talk about the messy, tender, and often overwhelming realities of caring for aging parents while raising kids—the ultimate sandwich generation hustle. Courtney shares what it’s been like to relocate her whole family, the heartbreak and beauty of moving her dad into memory care, and how communal living and worker-owned

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55:03

Elf On The Shelf & the Annual Search For Meaning with...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/12/01

Welcome to our ✨Holiday Special✨! In an episode that is ostensibly about Elf On The Shelf (or Mensch On The Bench — for Sarah), we explore our collective annual search for meaning and self with the great Meaghan O’Connell, author of And Now We Have Everything and noted Elf On The Shelf apologist. Pressing items interrogated lightly include: Should Elf On The Shelf be a Dad thing? Does holiday magic necessarily include lying to our kids? What do we say when our kids ask if we’re Santa? What is the

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69:29

Parenting Advice That Fits On A Bumper Sticker with...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/11/17

We’re joined by science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer, author Hello, Cruel World! Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times. Melinda’s work has long been a trusted source for parents, and here, we talk a little bit about a lot of things that are on our minds right now. Melinda shares thoughts everything from Botox and dying our hair to resilience & kids, to nervous-system regulation to whether divorced moms are quietly judging their married friends and so much more! We

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10:55

Who is the PTA for?

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/11/10

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comIn this bonus episode for paid subscribers, Sarah and Miranda go long on the PTA (Sarah is this year’s PTA President for her school—something she thought she’d never do) — balancing anxiety about your kid with collective goals and getting involved without losing your boundaries. Also radio nostalgia and whether your clothes just look like pajamas. Links:

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90:35

Motherhood & Creativity with Christie George & Jihii...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/11/03

Sarah and Miranda are joined by guests Christie George and Jihii Jolly to discuss how motherhood and creativity fuel or constrain one another, and how we navigate life as mothers who also want to make art, or artists who want to mother. Links:* Christie George’s Practice Practice* Jijii Jolly’s Time Spent* Christie’s book, The Emergency Was Curiosity * The Mother Artist by Catherine Ricketts* Scrap SF* Ruth Asawa* Designing Motherhood exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design* We Live For The We by

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55:56

Parenthood in the Age of AI with Dr. Dana Suskind

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/10/20

With the (yes, weird to make it a footnote but) footnote that the global environmental, cultural, social and real human costs of AI are massive, today we are zeroing in on just one question about AI: the impact of AI on kids and parents. How will the coming ubiquity of AI tools in our homes, schools and workplaces impact child development, parenthood and the world our children will inherit in their adulthood? Our guest today is Doctor Dana Suskind, founder and Co-Director of the a Center for Early

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24:59

How I Studied ADHD for 15 Years and Didn't Know I Had It

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/10/13

To celebrate ADHD Awareness Month, Sarah is doing a little read aloud for us. Her essay, Call Me By My Name: How I Studied ADHD for 15 Years and Didn’t Know I Had It, remains one of the most read pieces on her newsletter. Listen to an audio recording of the essay — about identity, relationships, and what getting a diagnosis does and doesn’t do for us — read by Sarah. Links:* Call Me By My Name on Mompsreading This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get

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78:09

Dropping the Ball on Purpose with Taylor Harris

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/10/06

Sarah and Miranda are joined by Taylor Harris, the author of a new column, You’ve Always Been This Way, about her later-in-life AuDHD diagnosis. We talk Autistic burnout, empathy for the neurotypical parent, the Enneagram, RFK, and sneaker deals.Links:* Taylor’s column (McSweeney’s)* This Boy We Made (Taylor’s book on our Bookshop storefront)* Holotropic Breathwork* Climbing inside a Tauntaun * Spoon Instagram* Celebrity Height Instagram* Follow Taylor on Instagram This is a public episode. If you'd

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4:41

Midlife self-discovery, running late, neurotypes,...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/09/29

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comHey hey paid subscribers! This one is for you! It’s just the two of us, today, your trusty hosts with the mosts, Sarah Wheeler and Miranda Rake, chatting about what’s on our parent-minds. We meander our way into deep and not-so-deep topics like: Self-perception, dirty floors, recent parenting challenges, neurodiversity, personal values and personal spac…

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64:59

Motherhood Around the World with Abigail Leonard

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/09/22

Sarah and Miranda talk to journalist Abigail Leonard, author of Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries, about the social, cultural, and political forces that shape what it unfolds when women become mothers in Kenya, Finland, Japan, and the U.S. Would Leonard have had a third child if she hadn’t been living in Japan at the time? What is it about Finland that makes an ambivalent dad stick around? We explore what’s harder, what’s different, and what

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84:15

Nerding Out About 'Bluey' with Kathryn VanArendonk

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/09/08

Kathryn Van Arendonk is a critic at New York Magazine who writes about TV and comedy, and I (Miranda) have loved her work for a long time. I was watching a lot of Bluey when I first started realizing that all my favorite TV reviews on New York Magazine’s Vulture site were written by the same person, and that person was Kathryn! It felt like magic when she started writing about Bluey and like even MORE magic when Kathryn announced that she will be writing a book (a “cultural deep-dive”) about Bluey

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58:16

Smurf Guns & Surrogate Fantasies

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/08/11

One last summer check-in to tide us all over until Season 3! Sarah and Miranda dive into the chaos and comedy of back-to-school season, teen babysitter economics, toy gun ethics, and of course, the emotional calculus of modern parenting (and Miranda accidentally makes Sarah cry). We unpack whether Stepbrothers is misogyny at its most insidious, why we are selling kids pink AK-47s, our crone fantasies, and the weird beauty of watching your kids become people.Not relevant to the episode at all, but

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42:20

How's Your Summer?

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/07/15

Hi! We’re alive out here! (Whether we are truly more alive than usual or merely feeling like we should be because it’s summer remains unclear.) Tune in for a meandering summer catch up between seasons in which we cover vacation nonsense (like asking for an hour to yourself and then waiting for someone to offer it to you), summer illness, whether or not it’s a good idea to throw your phone into the river, a little bit of camp gossip and more. We’re also letting you see our faces, because apparently

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59:55

Spreading Joy One Dinorama At A Time, with Rachael...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/06/30

Today, we’re kicking off our summer bonus episodes with a little ode to sidewalk art installations! We’re not just talking about little free libraries (though those are awesome!) we’re talking about the weird, wild and creative ways people express themselves and spread joy through artistic, playful, interactive installations on their sidewalks, stoops and fences, and the unique, important role these little joy blips have in building stronger communities.I first stumbled across the PDX Dinorama

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8:37

What We're Summer-Reading Right Now

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/06/16

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comIt’s a just-the-two-of-us episode for our beautiful paid subscribers. We chat about the parenting books currently in our TBR piles (so many good books on motherhood lately, so little time) and the ones we’re most obsessed with, the pitfalls of comparing ourselves to Ursula K. LeGuin, making peace with not being a person who writes a slew of culture-chan…

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68:14

Angela Garbes Gets Better with Age

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/06/09

“You're going to spend, if you're lucky, a quarter or a third of your life ‘in menopause.’ And we need dialogue about it. We need to talk about it.”Angela Garbes returns to explore the pains and delights of middle age. Angela schools us on the sex lives of menopausal orcas, why Carl Jung wants us all to become more selfish as we age, and her pitch for a rebrand of the “crone” stage. Links:* Angela in Romper on The Morning Rush* Angela’s Guardian column, Halfway There * Angela’s great books,

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7:14

I Think We're Changing Schools. Help!

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/06/06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comDid you know that Sarah Wheeler is actually a real live professional educational psychologist and parent coach? Today, Miranda asks Sarah to put on her Dr. hat and give some professional advice about changing schools. When you start to think about sending your kid to a different school, how can you know that you’re making the right choice? What if the new school isn…

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8:55

To melatonin or not to melatonin, our '90s playlists,...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/05/30

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit motherofitall.substack.comIt’s Friday and we’re taking it easy & talking it through! All of it. It’s just the two of us, Miranda and Sarah, checking in about our parenting lives and LIFE lives. We’re talking about everything that’s been going on for us lately, from teaching our kids tongue twisters, checking Reddit for each other, adventures in toddler asthma, motherhood and vig…

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76:14

The WNBA's Baller Moms with Frankie de la Cretaz

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/05/26

Journalist Frankie de la Cretaz joins us to talk women’s sports and all things WNBA! We dig into player and WAG fashion, the visibility of queer families on and off the court, the truth about trans athletes, and mother-athletes past, present and future. Links:* Frankie De La Cretaz on Substack* Frankie’s book, Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League* Molly Dickens’ the Maternal Stress Project* WNBA Documentaries 144 and The Power of the Dream* Basketball Wives* Angel

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57:38

What We Have To Learn From Other Mothering Animals...

The Mother Of It All ·

2025/05/12

British author Helen Jukes joins us to talk about motherhood in the animal kingdom, and what human mothers can learn from mothers from other species. What is “natural” about motherhood, what is the true nature of motherhood across species? What can we learn by allowing ourselves to truly see and examine the many roles of the mother in nature? At one poetic and rigorous, Helen Jukes’ beautiful new book, Mother / Animal, is an illuminating exploration of her own matrescence through the lens of

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