'That's Incredible is the podcast every parent needs to listen to with their kids.'

A friend recently asked me how I get my 12-year-old to talk because her tween merely gives her grunts.

I told her I couldn’t relate; because my son tells me everything. He’s a big talker, especially in the car, where I’m his hostage/captive audience.

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I get to hear about what happened at lunch, all the jokes he told during the day (because he thinks he’s hilarious), what David Dobrik is doing on Tik Tok and how he plans to do the same for his four followers (one of which is me).

The only thing he won’t talk about is homework *insert eye roll.*

But, my kid doesn’t just talk about himself; he’ll ask me questions about Trump. About World War II. About Cancer. About the property market. About drugs (I am quizzed incessantly about those!). About sport. About Greta Thunberg.

Like his mum, this child’s curiosity about the world around him is limitless. He’s always trying to make sense of something – of everything. He loves the news, and he loves facts.

And I love that I’m his walking, talking Google. I love that he thinks I’m so smart that I’ll have all the answers. I’ll continue to love that stuff until he becomes an attitude-filled teenager who thinks he knows everything and pegs his mum as a clueless old person.

The truth is, I am already a clueless old-person. There are so many things that he asks me that I really don’t have the answers to. Stuff about science, space, the human body. Stuff that maybe I once knew at school, and has been replaced by knowledge about how to do your own taxes and make allergy-friendly brownies.

Even though I’m a big believer in not lying to my son, and demonstrating that it’s ok to not know everything, I’ll admit, there are times when I ‘fake it til I make it’, because I’m so keen to keep being his go-to sage.

Yes, this means I improvise answers. And yes, by ‘improvise’ I mean deflect and lie.

Son: “Mum, will there ever be an earthquake in Sydney?”

Me, knowing he’s a worrier: “No, of course not…but don’t Google it.”

If I can’t come up with a speedy and legitimate-sounding response, I occasionally fake listen. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the question, and respond with a question of my own.

This is where being a former lawyer really comes in handy.

“Mum, can you have a heart attack when you’re a kid?”

“Oh, did I tell you your order from EB Games arrived?” Genius.

 

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LAST EVER BOOK WEEK! He wouldn’t let me take a pic with him at first, then I bribed him and got one. ????????????#bookweek2019

A post shared by Nama Winston (@namawinston) on Aug 19, 2019 at 5:46pm PDT

The other thing I do when I don’t have the answers is…cheat. I put on podcasts that provide answers as they raise discussion points – which totally lets me off the hook.

The other day, we were listening to a pod that was discussing climate change, and it perfectly explained why the world’s in the state that it’s in, in a way that I couldn’t; that is, with the best facts.

After listening to it, I then swooped in to talk about how different the reaction to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has been to Greta Thunberg; and voilà, another interesting discussion courtesy of mum, without me doing the heavy lifting.

That’s why I’m excited about the new Mamamia podcast That’s Incredible, hosted by the wise and hilarious Andrew Daddo. It’s going to cover lots of amazing facts and stuff about life that’s going to teach us both a lot of interesting things, by talking to different people – and still make me look like the cool and smart mum we both know I am.

The best thing is that each episode is bite-sized; perfect for the car ride to or from school, or sports, or the shops.

That’s Incredible will also be great for any parent out there, like my friend, who struggles to get their kid engaged in meaningful conversation beyond grunts.

Listen to the very first episode of That’s Incredible below and let us know what you think in the comments…