Parents We've Met

Parents We've Met

Kia ora and welcome to Parents We've Met, where we wade into the magical, messy depths of parenthood to uncover the moments and learnings that keep us coming back for more. We're your hosts, Jenny Hale and Dayna Galloway, and together we share candid and inspiring conversations with well-known New Zealand parents - and experts - who, just like us, are navigating the wild and wonderful terrain that is parenthood. With Jenny 's 'Parent Coach' hat on, we delve into a wide range of topics, from neurodiversity, to co-parenting, tricky teen behaviours, sleep struggles, grief, loss, big emotions and SO much more. While most of these chats are light-hearted, at times we also dip our toes into some big topics of conversation that are aimed at a parent audience – and not suitable for little ears! Parents We’ve Met is brought to you by Parenting Place – a charity with a heart for New Zealand families. Explore our self-guided online courses and hundreds of free parenting articles and ideas at parentingplace.nz

Episodes

Vasa Fia Collins: Finding strength in the face of grief

December 15, 2025 • 44 mins
Dayna and Jenny are joined this week by a very special guest, Vasa Fia Collins. Fia is the wife of the late Fa'anānā Efeso Collins - a deeply respected Samoan community leader, Auckland politician, educator and advocate - whose sudden passing in February 2024 had a profound impact on his family and the communities he served. Fia shares what it’s been like to walk through deep loss and grief, supporting her two daughters while also...
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Coaches’ couch: Does your kid want tech for Christmas?

December 8, 2025 • 20 mins
Is a new phone or gaming console topping your kid’s Christmas wish list? Or is tech already a part of daily life? Either way, this chat’s for you.  Jenny and Dayna are joined by Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone for a deep dive into navigating screens and the digital world without meltdowns, battles or bribery.  In this episode, we cover everything from setting kids up for safety before they hop online, to modelling the digital habit...
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Will I ever get a full nights’ sleep? with Dan Ford, sleep psychologist

December 1, 2025 • 44 mins
If you’re feeling defeated by sleep, or lack thereof, this episode is for you. Sleep psychologist Dan Ford, founder of The Better Sleep Clinic, joins Dayna for a straight-up chat on sleep, stress, melatonin and magnesium, and how genetics might have a role to play in your bedtime struggles. From snoring to nightmares, insomnia to 3am wakeups, Dan unpacks some common sleep challenges and sheds light on how our kids' sleep habits mig...
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Coaches’ couch: What is your anger trying to tell you?

November 24, 2025 • 23 mins
This episode is a reassuring reminder that anger isn’t a parenting failure - it’s a message! In this coaches’ couch episode, Jenny and Dayna sit down with Parent Coach Kristin Ward to unpack what might be going on beneath those fiery ‘red-brain’ moments that sometimes sneak up on us parents. We talk about why anger shows up, why some of us meet it with shame or self-condemnation, and how understanding its purpose can completely ch...
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Shaping teen brains with Kathryn Berkett, neuroscience educator

November 17, 2025 • 40 mins
Neuroscience educator ⁠Kathryn Berkett⁠ joins Jenny and Dayna for a deep dive into our kids’ brain development, with tips on how we can support them through every leap, wobble and wild moment that these changes bring. In the first three years of life, babies’ brains form an astonishing thousand trillion connections - and then, just when we’ve caught our breath, the second massive brain upgrade arrives in early adolescence. In th...
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Coaches’ couch: Parenting on the same page (even when you’re not!)

November 10, 2025 • 22 mins
In our first-ever coaches’ couch episode, Jenny and Dayna pick the brains of parenting expert Sheridan Eketone to find out how we can maintain a united front in parenting – even when we disagree with our partner.   From balancing differences in parenting styles and upbringings, managing fallout and disagreements, to finding common ground and consistency between households in co-parenting situations, Sheridan offers hot tips and ta...
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Jack Tame: From newsroom to nursery

November 3, 2025 • 43 mins
Jenny and Dayna are joined by the inimitable Jack Tame, a dad, stepdad, journo and familiar voice of New Zealand media, for an honest kōrero about the ups, downs, joys and ‘marrow-deep’ exhaustion that make up modern dad-hood.  Jack shares about the wave of love that struck the moment his newborn entered the world - the kind that gets you in the guts as well as the heart. He shares the challenges of the work/whānau juggle, the sec...
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Season 3 is (almost) here!

November 2, 2025 • 1 min
Kicking off on Tuesday 4th November, Season 3 of Parents We've Met brings new goodness to your listening ears. This season, we’re shaking things up a little! We have new episode formats 'From the coaches' couch' where our Parent Coaches unpack your real-world parenting challenges and offer hot tips and tools to try at home. Alongside seasoned experts, Jenny and Dayna will take a dive deep into some meaty parenting topics like sle...
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Olympian Lucy Spoors: Gold, grit and the greatness of grandparents

March 2, 2025 • 45 mins
“Rowing is my job; my autopilot. Being a mum is the hard part,” says gold-medal-winning Olympic rower, mum and newlywed Lucy Spoors.  Rowing legend Lucy Spoors joins Dayna and Jenny for an inspiring and honest chat about what it takes to be a new parent in high-performance sport.   Not long after giving birth to her son Rupert – and after a nine-month battle with hyperemesis gravidarum – the ever-determined athlete was back on th...
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Clint Randell: Fun, family and tackling life’s curveballs

February 23, 2025 • 45 mins
Today on the couch we’re joined by Dayna’s friend Clint Randell. He’s one-third of The Edge breakfast show team, a content creator, devoted husband and dad to two—who somehow manages to juggle it all while finding time for fun. (Could be thanks to the great advice he got from Dayna when she was his peer support leader in high school 😉)  In this funny, honest and thoughtful conversation Clint opens up about the mess and magic of h...
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Jo Robertson: Sex and relationships in tricky seasons (including parenthood!)

February 16, 2025 • 46 mins
If you're in the thick of parenting and want to protect and strengthen your relationships – and improve intimacy with your partner – this one is for you! Sex and relationship therapist Jo Robertson (recently an expert on Married at First Sight New Zealand) is back on the Parents We’ve Met couch to answer some questions from our podcast community (and a few from us) around sex, communication, blended families and making relationship...
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Leigh Hart: Co-parenting, horse-bites and harnessing humour

February 9, 2025 • 49 mins
Join Jenny and Dayna for a heartwarming conversation with New Zealand entertainer, funny guy, dad, entrepreneur and the man behind the perfect Wakachangi beer and chip combo, Leigh Hart.  In this episode, we dive into Leigh’s journey as a dad to two kids, the lessons he’s carried through from his intrepid childhood and how he’s created his own unique, inimitable role of ‘dad’ in his youngsters’ lives.  From keeping humour at the ...
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Dr Jin Russell: The power of reading

February 2, 2025 • 47 mins
We're into a new year and to start things off on a high, we're chatting with Dr. Jin Russell - a consultant developmental paediatrician at Auckland's Starship Children’s Health, a Growing Up in New Zealand researcher and tireless champion of better health and developmental outcomes for New Zealand kids.  In this episode Jin touches on some of the findings of her PhD thesis into the effects of health inequities on kids’ development...
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Kylie DellaBarca Steel: Cancer, courage and making the days count

December 15, 2024 • 53 mins
Today's episode features a deeply personal conversation with Dayna’s long-time friend Kylie DellaBarca-Steel, a writer, film producer and mum to three young boys.  Diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) at 40 years of age, Kylie began writing a blog called Courage, Love and Legacy, where she shares openly about her cancer journey and the winding road ‘through both dark valleys and along sun-lit streams’ that she’s curr...
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Parent Coach Sheridan Eketone: Navigating tricky stuff at Christmas

December 8, 2024 • 43 mins
‘Tis the season to be jolly but also ‘tis the season to be tired and bumping into big feelings and behaviours! This week we’ve doubled down on parenting experts and invited parent coach Sheridan Eketone to join Jenny and Dayna on the couch to answer all your crunchy Christmas and holiday-related questions.  Tune in for stacks of handy tips, thoughts, stories and a whole lotta light relief as we delve into topics including:  How ...
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Jackie Clarke: Big dreams and diva energy

December 1, 2024 • 49 mins
Today on the couch, Jenny and Dayna enjoy a conversation full of laughs and good feels with Jackie Clarke, a legendary New Zealand entertainer, singer and ‘diva’ (in all the best ways!)  In this delightful chat, Jenny and Dayna are treated to the odd spontaneous musical cameo from Jackie herself as she recalls her formative childhood memories and some of the soundtracks that inspired a life-long love of music and theatre.  A ‘boy...
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Scott Parry: Fishing, fatherhood and the ultimate Kiwi childhood

November 24, 2024 • 33 mins
We’ve reeled in a fantastic guest for this episode - Scott Parry from the New Zealand TV show Fishing and Adventure (now in its 12th season) is here for a chat through his other favourite gig – being a dad!  First off though, we challenge Scott to a quick-fire round of fishing questions to get to know him a little better before digging into some of the highlights of his fatherhood journey to date (him and his wife have just added ...
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Dr Melanie Woodfield: Big, bold feelings

November 17, 2024 • 45 mins
In this episode, Jenny and Dayna shed some light on childhood anxiety with the guidance of Dr Melanie Woodfield, a mum to two teenage boys and a highly regarded clinical psychologist of over 20 years.   As key contributors to Parenting Place’s latest self-guided online course, Untangling Anxiety: Supporting kids through worry and fear Dr Melanie and Jenny chat about the increase in anxiety in primary and intermediate-aged New Zeal...
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Rebekah Randell: Loss, love and letting go of expectations

November 10, 2024 • 39 mins
Today on the couch we have actor, content producer and mum, Rebecca Randell, though to most of New Zealand she would be better known as Dawn Robinson from the country's longest running drama, Shortland Street.  Rebekah is refreshingly open as she shares with Dayna and Jenny the emotional journey that her and her hubby Bevan went on to become parents, hunkering down in those exhausting first months with a colicky newborn and the de...
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Richie Hardcore: Boys, boxing and cultivating resilience

November 3, 2024 • 55 mins
Having uncomfortable conversations, recognising blind spots and saying sorry well –  this meaty episode is equal parts earnest and fun. A small disclaimer  - this episode contains mention of sensitive topics around mental health and includes a sprinkle of mild swearing so just be aware if the kids’ are around.  Richie Hardcore is a dad to two boys, a social activist with a Masters in Sociology, a Muay Thai trainer, speaker, advoca...
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