On this episode of The Great Equalizer, we continue to unpack maternal mental health in South Africa, against the backdrop of the trial and sentencing of Lauren Dickason and, more specifically, the IVF journey. Lauren Dickason is a mom of three and fellow South African who was convicted in the New Zealand courts for the murder of her three daughters, Liane (6) and Karla and Maya (2). At the time of the tragedy, the South African mom had recently emigrated to New Zealand with her family. Her...

In this episode of The Great Equalizer, we focus on maternal mental health in the context of the Dickason tragedy. Lauren Dickason has been in the news for the last two or so years, but more so in recent months when the mom of three and fellow South African was convicted in the New Zealand courts for the murder of her three daughters, Liane (6) and Karla and Maya (2). At the time of the tragedy, the South African mom had recently emigrated to New Zealand with her family. Her husband,...

We have another all-new BONUS episode out today featuring the phenomenal Minna Dubin. Minna is a US-based journalist and author whose essays and articles on motherhood and identity have been featured across all the best known outlets, including the New York Times, The Times, The Philadelphia Enquirer, LitHub, and so much more. Minna is a leading feminist voice on mom rage and she talks to The Great Equalizer's Sam Herbst about her debut book, MOM RAGE: The Everyday Crisis of Modern...

In this BONUS episode of The Great Equalizer / TGE's Current Read, your host Samantha Herbst sits down with award-winning animator Daniel Snaddon. Daniel has worked on several highly acclaimed (and well loved) animations, including Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, and a host of animations based on the beloved books of children's book author Julia Donaldson. Daniel already has two BAFTAs under his belt, as well as two International Emmy Kids Awards, the most recent being an iEmmy for Best Kids...

It’s been a hot damn minute, guys and dolls! And not because we’ve been beaching. Nope, our fate has us suffering cold showers, walking in flats, considering the inescapable fate of death, drowning in a few existential crises, and pondering the fact that the patriarchy isn’t actually about horses. In this episode of The Great Equalizer, we’re finally unpacking Barbie (the movie) and how it reflects the very messy contradictions of being a mother. As author Eliane Glaser put it, motherhood...

On this episode of The Great Equalizer, Sam’s lost faith in humanity, Charlene’s gone VIRAL (for all the wrong reasons) and we chat with author Pamela Power about being sober curious and the memoir she wrote about her year of not getting sh*tfaced (aptly titled My Year of Not Getting Sh*tfaced). For Pamela, Mother’s Day 2021 was one for the books (literally), and not in the best way. The brownout she experienced that fateful day, which was in no way related to diarrhoea, prompted Pam to...

The Great Equalizer is back with another What’s Your Binge? episode, mostly because we wish to give our most tender brains a break from the world’s ugly chaos. You in? Let’s go. Folks, we are GATVOL (tot HIERso) of all the things that have made parenting particularly brutal over the last few months. Things that, btw, have had nothing to do with our kids and everything to do with all that other kak. So we decided to – quite literally – talk about television (and Charlene’s passion for...

In this final instalment of our three-part Friends series (sponsored by LEGO South Africa), we chat about being good :) kind :) sweet :) pleasant :) amicable :) good natured :) a pleasure to work with :) and everything else that underscores the damaging ‘Good Girl’ archetype that’s been bored into the minds of millennial moms everywhere.   At the heart of this episode, we re-evaluate kindness and how we teach it to our kids. Part of this is considering where we draw the line between being...

Our three-part series on friendship with LEGO South Africa continues as we tackle BULLYING! and SELF-ESTEEM! with Sandton-based educational psychologist Naledi Mokoena. In this episode we focus on bullies and victims, and we talk about the different nuances that bullying can take on, from the more overt, obvious abuse to subtle, insidious forms of bullying. Naledi advises parents from a professional standpoint, and we chat about the role that the school can play in tackling peer abuse at...

BUILDING MULTICULTURAL FRIENDSHIPS IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY On this episode of The Great Equalizer we’re celebrating F R I E N D S H I P, with a focus on helping our children navigate new connections from foundation phase to the teenage years. Joining us in studio is parent, author and social worker Joey Dlamini, a self-proclaimed “imperfect parent”, who is on a mission to equip parents and their families for a fast-changing world. Joey is founder of teen empowerment nonprofit Be...

It’s a brand new year, folks! Replete with brand new anxieties (along with all the old ones) 😃👍🏼 First off the block is back-to-school anxiety, which we’ll be tackling on all fronts with the help of the loveliest parent-child expert around, the incredibly smart and sweet powerhouse, @drjennyrose. Jenny is a clinical psychologist and a mom of three who is on a mission to make information accessible to parents by providing resources, tools and strategies for everyday living. This includes...

Make no mistake, folks. The amount of device time our kids are going to have this festive season is bordering on criminal. But everyone knows we at TGE love ourselves some good picture books, so we thought we'd share a bit more about the books we’ve been enjoying in our home lately. TGE's got you covered, with a range of books now available such as David Walliam's adventure books, Slime and Spaceboy, and some more festive books like Ben Miller's Diary of a Christmas Elf. And, while there's...

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all mothers fair and foul, swore and sobbed and threatened to throw in the towel. (Stay tuned till January to see if we survived this ‘Dezemba’ show down) Folks, the division of labour issue is no more obvious than at Christmas time, when all of us work our tails off to make that festive season magic. And so, on this month’s episode of The Great Equalizer, we’re taking that infamous mother load and adding some tinsel 😌 We realise that we’re the ones...

On this episode of The Great Equalizer, Sam is jonesing for a demotion (and a breakdown on the side), Charlene is larger than life (and in a really great space), and we chat about how our children’s mental health is on the knife-edge at the moment. There’s been a marked increase in teen suicides and, worryingly, children as young as 8, 9 and 10 are struggling with anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. As parents of small children, Team TGE realises that we have a lot to learn about...

The gals from The Great Equalizer are BACK and finally together IN PERSON in our newly minted studio (whoop whoop). On this episode, Sam and Charlene acknowledge how hard it’s been to stick to our #nojudgies policy, especially when it comes to Other People’s Kids (blegh). Why does no-one tell you about this shit!? Parenting does NOT get easier (for anyone wondering), and we get proper stuck into why this is the case, in our limited experience. This episode harks back to our origins. We...

This ain’t your everyday ‘self-care’ podcast episode. Nope. On this episode of The Great Equalizer, we’re deep diving into the realities of Fit Living, Fat Phobia and Fearless Family Feeding. As always, your hosts, Sam Herbst and Charlene Armstrong are by no means experts on the topic, which is why we always like to bring in the big guns. Meanwhile, Sam talks about forgetting everything she's ever learnt about parenting, Charlene chats about how she's navigating a new year, a new school...

Our 2021 Christmas episode is OUT and this year we are honouring the magic that moms bring to the festive season. It's a pretty nuanced discussion as we wonder if The Patriarchy (aargh) has lumped us with the job of Mother Christmas, or if we've taken on that load ourselves. What do you think? We also chat about Santa logistics, Elf on the Shelf and whether or not the naughty/nice list should still be a thing. The jury's also out on whether Santa takes credit for the magic of Christmas, or...

We catch up after a long hiatus (and a tough year, if we're honest). Amid Covid, money troubles, postpartum depression and losing ourselves in the shitshow that is 2021, Team TGE makes our way back to the microphone. We've decided that it's better to talk about the shit – the poo that no-one likes to talk about but everyone can relate to. It's not always pleasant, but it's in the talk-talk-talking that we find grace and healing. This is why we came back and brought guest Shana Fife with....

In this bonus episode of The Great Equalizer, Sam chats to mom-of-two Natasha Kisten. With two teenage boys of her own, Natasha has discovered how letting go isn't a once-off process that happens when our kids are old enough to fly the coup. Rather, there are different levels of letting go throughout parenthood, each one harder than the next. Natasha also chats about how to navigate when your child has traits you may not have expected from them (or even like about them), and reiterates how...

In this bonus episode Sam talks to clinical psychologist Slindile Mbatha about Intergenerational Trauma and how it intersects with motherhood. Mbatha explains what generational trauma is, how it can be recognised and how we break the cycle of trauma. The pair also deep-dive into postpartum depression, anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Mbatha outlines common symptoms and normalises some often overpathologised traits of a woman navigating new motherhood.

Sexual health has always been an important part of the TGE Wheelhouse, but always in the context of a relationship. So, in the spirit of women empowerment and inclusivity (considering same-sex couples, single parents and everyone in between), our next episode focuses on self-pleasure and Ye Olde Vagina (as our guest, Fran Bushe would say). If alcohol were still accessible, we’d tell you guys to have a little fun with this episode and take a shot each time Sam or Charlene say vagina, vulva,...

With news last night from our DP (Dear President), there is no better time to put out our latest episode. C*vid fatigue has hit us all hard this time round, and the never-ending stream of mismanaged funds, poor system rollout and fake news (looking at you, #Tembisa10) has us all sticking our heads in the sand. It’s tough to put on a brave face, guys. BUT, we’re all parents (well, most of us on this platform are) and this week we’re wrestling with the concept that we might need to keep...

This week on The Great Equalizer, we’re talking BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS, looking at the latest children's books that the country’s major publishers currently have on offer. Our special guest is remedial therapist and founder of Raising Readers, Marian Bailey, who unpacks how these books might benefit our children in the long run, instilling a love for reading that will last a lifetime. LISTEN. LIKE. SHARE. SUBSCRIBE. Are you raising little readers? Have you got a favourite author or book...

CAREER SHIFT If we thought we struggled to have it all pre-C*vid, the year 2020 showed us that entertaining the idea of a work/family/life is still a laughable offence. Millions of working moms have had to pivot in the last year. Many of us have had to find alternative or additional ways to support our families while ramping up our role as primary caregiver, and many more have had to deal with a sudden career shift way sooner than we thought we’d need to. One such woman is former @5fm...