Podcasting Advice From Mom
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One of the most powerful qualities about motherhood is our voice. Our voice will be heard by our children, long past the time they’ve left home.
I know that I still hear my Mother’s voice somewhere deep inside me, sometimes it’s great, and other times, not so much 😉
As more and more mother’s offer their voices through the medium of podcasting, we all get the benefit of listening to the intelligent, driven, grounded, creative and nurturing voices of mothers.
We asked just a few female podcasters, that happen to be mothers to share some of their voices with us and offer some motherly advice and insight into the podcasting world.
Below you’ll get a chance to read their thoughts as well as how to apply their advice to podcasting in general.
Stephanie Ravenscraft from Family From The Heart and Authentic Life Radio
“I have two favorite things about being a podcasting mom. First, all of my podcast relate to my personal life, so I have so many stories forever recorded. I love knowing that my kids whole childhood is archived in those episodes. And if I ever need to remember “the good ole days” they are there for my listening.
Second, I love to get my kids involved in the podcasting. Teaching them to share their stories and interests with others. This has several different parts that make me so happy as a mom. It gives them a healthy outlet to share their view of the world. It gives me a little deeper glimpse into their world. What are they willing to share with others that they may not be ready to share with me? This is especially true for my oldest daughter who is 12.
And lastly, and probably most special, is that their voices are archived as well. I LOVE to go back and hear Meagan’s five year old voice. Or Matthew at three. Life speeds by so fast and I have a small time capsule to take be back to those precious times as my oldest two move on into the teen years.”
Podcasting is remembering and sharing and timeless– The moments when we captured our audio/video now live in their own special magical time that is beyond the time and space continuum. 😉
May we as podcasters respect the power that our media has to inspire, educate and entertain others far beyond the moment we created and released it.
Jen Swanson from Communication Diva
“My kids are aged 10, 12, 18 and 20yrs, and think it’s ”cool” that I have a podcast. They are often offering topic suggestions and ideas about who I could interview. I spent yesterday morning teaching a Leadership class at the high-school my son graduated from last year…and the topic was all about my blog, podcast and my e-book. The class was wonderful…they were engaged, they asked questions, they wanted to know more, and they stayed with me for the whole hour and 15 mins!
I have involved my kids in one episode of the podcast where I asked them about communication from their perspective. It was a fun experience and I think they were pretty pleased to be involved.
My advice for moms, particularly of older kids, would be to be sure that if you are going to tell stories about your kids and their escapades in your show, that you first ask their permission. Once published, a podcast is out there forever. I would not want to tell any stories that might be funny or amusing or cute to me, but potentially embarrassing to my kids, unless they were in agreement.
I think it’s good communication, it’s respectful, and it’s really important to be conscious of their feelings, given that people all over the world will be listening.”
Podcasting is communication and permission– Although it may be your podcast, if you involve anyone else, particularly when doing interviews, be mindful of communicating clearly with your guest your show’s intention.
As a podcaster mindfully communicating what podcasting is with your guest ie. how it’s distributed, the possible world wide reach as well as the myriad of ways in which it can be consumed goes a long way to educate not only your guest about podcasting, but also all those that your guest shares your work with.
PJ Jonas from Busy Mom’s Survival Guide
“Make your podcast something that your children can listen to and wouldn’t be embarrassed to have their friends hear. While your podcast probably isn’t focused toward them as listeners, you never know when they’ll tune in and you want them to be proud of your efforts.”
Podcast your best…always– You never know who is going to listen to your podcast. You never know if the one person that needs to hear what you are sharing will be listening.
When those files are out in the wild and downloaded into someone’s device, there’s nothing you can do. There’s no fixing, no editing, no apologies. That file is a gift you have offered out and there’s no taking it back. Might as well take the time to offer your best.
Make sure you consciously do the optimal job you can given your current situation and circumstances.
I suppose that a good litmus test could be, would you be ok listening to your podcast with your mother? 😉
Mur Lafferty from I Should Be Writing and more…
“When my kid shows interest in my podcasting, I let her sit with me in the room. Sometimes she ends up making noise or giggling or jumping on the bed behind me, which I worry about ruining my professional illusion, but the listeners love it. So let the kids see you create things, and maybe it will get them interested as well.”
Podcasting is empowering
Creativity is empowering. Self expression is empowering. Play is empowering. Individuality is empowering. Innovation is empowering. Podcasting is all that.
Libsyn Loves Podcasting Mamas!
Our very own new Mommy Sarah Morio states it best:
“I have found more inspiring mommies in new media and podcasting while at Libsyn then most anywhere else. Kudos to all moms out there somehow finding enough energy to fuel the passion required for both parenthood and podcasting!”
Here here! Happy Mother’s Day to all creative and empowering Moms! Keep on letting your voice be heard!
Image credit via CC hug me mom! by Sorgul
Podcast Hall of Famer, co-founder of She Podcasts, podcasting advocate, pundit + mentor. Co-host + producer of The Feed and Libsyn’s Community Expert.
