Oman Magazine sits down with Co-Founder of Mother Tongue, Maryanne Peacock, to explore all-things-parenthood as an expat. Based in Dubai, with mums from across the world as a part of their community, we get to know the uplifting, humorous, practical and parental mom-hacks, to help us all through the journey of raising kids.
Tell us, what is Mother Tongue?
Mother Tongue is a podcast and community based in the UAE with listeners around the world. We are two mums navigating parenthood as expats in Dubai, sharing (our very honest!) journey on everything we have learned along the way in an attempt to create unity between mothers who might be away from their families and friends.
It is an all-inclusive, supportive podcast – no judgement, just lots of love, laughs and honest home truths – after all, we should all be able to laugh through the madness of keeping little humans alive! There is no such thing as the perfect parent – Mother Tongue tells it like it is – we are not going to beat around the bush – in fact,
we plan on doing the complete opposite. In each episode, we will (honestly!) tell you about our parenting journey, sharing what we have learnt along the way.
We speak to experts and influential figures, both from the region and abroad, about their parenting experiences, hoping to help, guide and support you on this wonderful journey.
What inspired you to create this podcast and community?
When I became pregnant, I quickly realized there was no resource for expat mums living away from home. After months of morning walks with my neighbor – she suggested we start a podcast as we liked talking so much (she had recently had a little boy) and the rest is history as they say. Two co-hosts and three years later, here we are growing and hopefully, going more global!
What has been the most enlightening project or moment?
There have been so many incredible moments during this journey – seeing our first season on Emirates ICE Entertainment was a big day for us! However, we have been lucky enough to have incredible conversations with people from around the world and meet lots of wonderful people from the MT community at events we have hosted throughout the UAE.
How did it feel when your podcast was added to Emirates Airlines?
Surreal!! It still shocks me every time I see Mother Tongue on a plane!
How can mothers and women in Oman and GCC get involved?
Definitely follow us on Instagram – we share loads of fun, informative and interesting content from recipes, workouts, parenting tips and travel! If you love a podcast, you can find us on all major podcast platforms – we speak to a mixture of experts and celebrities about everything related to parenthood plus throw in some of our own motherhood experiences.
What are your plans for 2024 and beyond?
We have so many exciting plans for 2024! Firstly we will be launching a podbook! The Mother Tongue podbook is a collection of interviews with experts on everything you need to know about parenthood from pre-conception all the way through to when your kids start school. Over the course of 40 chapters the podbook delves into the topics that all mums and mums to be want the answers to.Think everything from egg freezing to birth plans to mental health and recovery, all the way to moving your little one into a toddler bed and starting nursery or school – the best experts in their fields offer up their insight and advice to make your life as a parent easier. The Mother Tongue team has squeezed every ounce of insight out of their well known contacts and added in all the tips and stories they’ve learned along the way to create the ultimate guide to motherhood.
Tune into the chapters that are relevant to you whatever stage you’re at or listen to the whole thing to educate yourself on topics you might need to know in the future. This is your pod-book to listen to at your own pace.
We will also be launching a website this year where you will be able to shop all our favourite products, listen to all our content and watch all our videos!
How can we stay in touch with you?
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mother-tongue/id1548131054
