#312 | THE REBUBLIC OF PARENTHOOD | WITH RHIANNON LUCY COSSLETT

Welcome, dear listener, to this week’s episode of The Happy Mama Movement Podcast.

In this conversation, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz speaks with Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett — journalist, author, and columnist for The Guardian and Vogue — about the profound emotional and political layers of motherhood. Through her own journey, Rhiannon reflects on the uncertainty of choosing to have children, the unspoken vulnerability that follows, and the urgent need for better systems of care and community support for parents everywhere.

Together, they explore the tension between personal transformation and societal expectation — how motherhood reshapes identity, challenges old narratives, and reveals how deeply entwined the personal is with the political.

We talk about:

• 🌸 The tender uncertainty of becoming a mother — how few of us ever feel entirely “ready,” and how the decision to have children is layered with love, doubt, and longing.
• 🌿 The lifelong vulnerability motherhood brings, and how stepping into this role opens us to both immense joy and profound change.
• 🏠 Why the nuclear family no longer serves us, and how true support is found in wider circles of care — in community, friendship, and shared responsibility.
• 💗 The importance of mental health and open conversation, breaking the silence around the realities of matrescence and the emotional demands of caregiving.
• 🔥 The political awakening of motherhood, and how naming these challenges can become a radical act of truth-telling and transformation.

This episode is an invitation to see motherhood not just as a private journey, but as a deeply collective experience — one that calls for compassion, honesty, and courageous change.

If this conversation resonates, please share it with another mama who may need to hear that she is not alone. Together, we can rewrite the story of what it means to mother in today’s world.

ABOUT RHIANNON LUCY COSSLETT

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a journalist and writer. She is the co-author of The Vagenda, and the author of the novel The Tyranny of Lost Things, and the critically acclaimed memoir, The Year of the Cat, about deciding whether or not to have a baby. She is a columnist for the Guardian and Vogue, and has written for Elle, Stylist, the New Statesman, the Independent and Time. 

CONNECT WITH RHIANNON

📸 Instagram: @rhiannonlucycosslett

✖️ X (Twitter): @rhiannonlucyc

CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Journey to Motherhood: A Personal Exploration

05:55 The Reality of Motherhood vs. Expectations

11:43 Navigating Mental Health Postpartum

17:46 The Need for Support Systems in Parenting

23:41 Motherhood as a Political Experience

29:40 Hope and Change in Parenting Dynamics

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