What happens when a journalist travels to 10 different countries, across cultures and continents, to gather the best lessons about parenting? From the way Swedish parents share the mental load, to the way Brazilian grandmothers descend on a new motherโs hospital room, to the way Mozambican villages raise children as a community โ each culture holds a piece of wisdom that challenges how we think about raising the next generation.
In this episode, I sit down with Marina Lopes โ longtime journalist, foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, and most recently the author of Please Yell At My Kids. In her book, Marina does just that: capturing stories and insights from around the world to reframe how we think about parenting and community.
For Marina, this journey began with her own contrasting experiences: an emergency C-section in Brazil, surrounded by forty relatives and neighbors in the hospital roomโฆ and later, the complete isolation of raising her second baby during COVID in the United States. ๐๐
As a Brazilian-American married to an Asian-American diplomat, Marina has witnessed how families around the world nurture children, share responsibility, and create belonging. Her book reminds us that parenting was never meant to be done alone โ and that building our โvillageโ may be the most important parenting skill of all.
In this intimate conversation, we explored:
๐ถ Why the โrosyโ picture of motherhood can leave first-time moms feeling broken
๐ What cultures from Brazil to Mozambique can teach us about raising children together
๐ก How to split the โmental loadโ in marriage without resentment
๐คฑ Why your second child can sometimes heal the traumas of the first
๐ Why building your โvillageโ might be the most important parenting skill of all
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:24 Welcome to Make It Work
03:12 Covering Headlines While Navigating Home Life
06:03 Motherhood Struggles No One Talks About
13:25 What Parenting Across 10 Countries Taught Me
26:13 Why Moms Get Stuck in the Cycle of Frustration
27:23 Marriage Isnโt 50/50 โ So What Works Instead?
29:13 Is Modern Life Killing Our Sense of Community?
37:51 Working Mom or Just Mom? The Identity Tug-of-War
48:25 Why Parents Canโt Survive Without a Village
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Connect with Marina here:
๐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinalopes1/
๐ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marinalopesauthor/
๐Purchase Book โPlease Yell At My Kidsโ: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/marina-lopes/please-yell-at-my-kids/9780306834417/?fbclid=PAT01DUANAssdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABp63kJM3AhmsWu96m7Y6kf4eAaOxsqIUe6gauPOSkRvyry4jrZLv_OVfU_rlV_aem_7Zz03NqkzG-UImCA6Y03pw
Follow and connect with Sarah & Make It Work! โ https://linktr.ee/makeitwork.podcastโ
๐ท โ Instagram:โ https://www.instagram.com/makeitwork.asia/
๐ผโ LinkedInโ : https://www.linkedin.com/company/make-it-work-asia-podcast/
๐ต โ Facebookโ : https://www.facebook.com/people/Make-It-Work/61566472637714/
๐Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-it-work/id1701442085
๐ตSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78ulY0B27nYxGB6jPCABPI?si=abfc48d037d943be
๐ฅโ Emailโ : makeitwork.asia@gmail.com
Join our free โ Mommas Making It Work whatsapp communityโ to find a group of like-minded mommas:ย
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โค Thank you for your support!๐งก๐
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