Joeli Brearley on debilitating childcare cost...

It’s an extra special episode where we meet the newest member of the Dirty Mother Pukka family as Polly chats to Anna for the first time since baby Lola arrives and maternity leave begins. 

Anna and Polly are joined by Jess Joy and Charlotte Mia co-authors of How Not to Fit In: An Unapologetic Guide to Autism and ADHD. They delve into everything from masking, diagnosis relief and grief plus the difficulties with official diagnosis. 

The United States hates mothers. At least, their woefully inadequate policies, like no federally mandated paid parental leave, lack of access to affordable childcare, and increased criminalization of women’s health care and reproductive rights, seem to suggest so. It’s no wonder ...  Show more

The price of nursery can be more than a mortgage. In fact, to send a two-year-old to nursery for 50 hours a week, allowing you to work full time, can set you back more than £14,000 a year according to Coram the children's charity.But, from April this year, working parents in Engl ...  Show more

Jenny and her partner are planning to have a baby but, beyond forking out for nappies and a pushchair, she has no idea how much becoming a parent will cost. How big a budget will the couple need to cover parental leave, childcare costs, and other unexpected expenses? Claer talks ...  Show more

Caitlyn Collins, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis, conducted interviews with mothers in four countries -- the United States, Italy, Germany, and Sweden -- who have jobs outside the home to better understand the pressures they felt. She found that American moms ...  Show more