Tabitha Webb on Parenting Through the Teen Years

0:00Georgia Tennant: At Boar's Head, we've been going back to school for over 115 years. And this year, every school lunch is reason to celebrate with the flavors your kids love and the exceptional quality you expect. Helping you make school lunch fresh, easy, and delicious. Ring the bell. The deli is open. Boar's Head. Committed to craft since 1905.

0:30Tabitha Webb: Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Hello and welcome to Made by Mamas, the podcast. I'm Zoe Hardman. And I'm Georgia Dayton. And this is your parenting safe space where no conversation is off limits. With five kids between G and I, we have seen a lot. We really have. Each week we'll be joined by some famous faces and experts and we'll chat about the brands and products that have saved us along the way.

1:07Tabitha Webb: In short, we're the parenting podcast for you. Before we get started, hit subscribe or follow so you're the first to know when each episode lands. And they're on Tuesdays and Fridays. And it really helps if you leave a rating and a review. You can also find us on Instagram. We're on at Made by Mamas. But for now, George, should we get into it? Happy summer holidays. For most of you and apart from maybe if you're in Scotland are your school holidays over if you're in Scotland I'm not sure um but for me anyway this is actually week three of the school holidays and as you're listening to this I'm hopefully currently signing myself um at a hotel that I have been desperate to go to for I want to say about five years and I think I must have spoken about the hotel on this podcast and the PR from there actually reached out to me and to see if I wanted to go.

2:04Tabitha Webb: Now, I know it's really annoying when you see people having freebie holidays and I say I get the same feeling of jealousy, but of course I couldn't turn this down. But it's not free anyway, because I am actually paying quite a substantial amount of money as well to go. We've just got a couple of free nights um but we are staying at the hillside beach club and i'm so excited um and just so happy that i get to go um but anyway enough of that um it's just me today zo is working her socks off opposite to me at the moment um and is in bed after djing in a beef through at the weekend so there we go and she actually wasn't in this interview which i'm gutted about because I know she would have loved this chat.

2:50Tabitha Webb: Now, we've really evolved on this podcast over the last nine years and where we used to talk a lot about sleep and weaning, and we still do to a certain extent, but we also love to hear from guests with older children. And it gives us a little insight into what life might be like. And also it's good to hear like the things that they've messed up on or the things that they wish they'd done different. I feel like I learned so much on this chat. It was really funny as well. It wasn't a serious chat. We talked about the guest's approach to alcohol. We spoke about Snapchat, which I literally know nothing about.

3:33Tabitha Webb: Teenagers and how they get real proper FOMO and how that even dictates where you might go on holiday. But anyway, I think we should get into the chat because it's a really fun one. um so today we chatted to tabitha webb joining us on the podcast today is tabitha webb how are you i'm really good how are you yeah i'm good i'm really good how how's your morning been you mentioned you had an eight-year-old in your bed all night yes my eight-year-old really hates

3:59Georgia Tennant: sleeping on her own it's just not her thing in fact she just doesn't sleep she's like she doesn't believe she should go to sleep for like 11 12 at night is absolutely crucifying she's just not up I am not tired. Why are you tired? And I'm like, oh my God, because I'm dying. Please go to sleep. So then I just let her into my bed. So she comes in with three of the most gargantuan teddy bears you've ever seen. They are enormous, enormous bear and enormous dog. She kind of suffocates me, lies on me with all the bears. And then she kind of snuggles in and goes to sleep for about six hours. And then she'll lie in the morning.

4:32Georgia Tennant: So I feel like I'm about 90. I'm already an old mum. Like I'm older than the average mother. So this is like, this breaks me.

4:38Tabitha Webb: It's too much. It's too much, yeah.

4:40Georgia Tennant: Don't come at me with stuff advice. She is never going to sleep. Oh, God.

4:45Tabitha Webb: Just before we get into the chat, just for those who don't know your background, do you want to just give us a little insight? And also, like, how many kids you've got and all that kind of thing?

4:54Georgia Tennant: Yeah, so I've got two kids, an eight-year-old and a 14-year-old. I consider myself like an old mother, actually. So when I had the 14-year-old, I absolutely swore I was never going to have another child. I was like, one and done. Like, I don't really love, love kids. Can I say that? Of course you can. And we say that all the time. If other people come at me with their kids, I'm like, stand down. Don't come any closer. And then I had my eldest and I was like, God, I'm obsessed with you. You are incredible. You're amazing. But I really don't want another one. I mean, my mother always said she never thought I'd have kids.

5:25Georgia Tennant: I was like, yeah, I was that person. And then the eldest kept saying, but why don't I have a sibling? Why don't I have one? Everyone else has one. I don't have one. Then she started like throwing coins into wishing pools, saying little prayers. I was like, shit, I'm being really like mean. So then we said, well, we'll try for like six months.

5:47Tabitha Webb: Yeah.

5:47Georgia Tennant: I hate to use the word try because then obviously you have to have these horrific visuals of me.

5:51Tabitha Webb: Yeah.

5:53Georgia Tennant: So I tried like six months and then I got pregnant really quickly, but I was 42 when I had her, nearly 43. So I was like a geriatric, super old mum.

6:05Tabitha Webb: I don't feel like that's that.

6:07Georgia Tennant: Really?

6:08Tabitha Webb: No, no, not now. I don't think so.

6:10Georgia Tennant: It felt quite old.

6:12Tabitha Webb: Yeah.

6:12Georgia Tennant: And because we don't live in London and we live in the countryside. Right. I definitely am an old mum down there.

6:17Tabitha Webb: I was going to say, out of London, people do have kids a lot younger.

6:21Georgia Tennant: Yeah, so I like have to pretend I'm not my age. So I turned 50 last year and I kind of had to not say anything at school. I nearly had to not have a 50th. Because I couldn't tell all the really young, cool mums that I was actually 50. because I was like, even though I look at, I was still pretending. I'm like, yeah, no, I'm your age. I'm like 40 as they all go to 40th. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But none of them are going to invite me on holiday with my eight-year-old. I don't think, well, I feel like the old mum. Do you? I do.

6:47Tabitha Webb: Do you think there's like a stigma around that? Yeah, I do. Because there's also a stigma around younger mums as well.

6:54Georgia Tennant: Yeah, true.

6:55Tabitha Webb: So because I, when I had my first, I fell pregnant in 26, which I think is like a normal age, like would be a normal age. Yeah, that feels really young to me. It's how old my mum was when she had me. So to me, that was normal. And then I didn't realise when I started like, you know, work and things. Yeah. But like, oh my God. You've got a child. What, you're having a baby now? And so then I did. You're like a teenage boy. Yes, it did feel like, it felt like that. But then now you're saying on the flip of that, you feel the same.

7:23Georgia Tennant: I do. But the other way around. I do. And my husband's quite old. So we feel like, I mean, he's literally going to be a grandpa at the gates. He's going to be like going in with his walking stick. But no, I do. I feel like an old mum. And I feel like, I mean, I don't know. Do people judge? Everyone judges. We all judge. There's definitely judgment.

7:41Tabitha Webb: Yeah, I don't know. I don't think I judge it from the other way. That's really weird. I feel like I judge younger mums.

7:49Georgia Tennant: So we had like my 14 year old had her leaving primary school last year or her first school had the mum's netball match. right and I was like right I'm gonna go in come on yeah I might be the oldest but I mean and I got so aggro and competitive did you yeah I was really trying to prove a point and my daughter's really good and at one point I was like can you just move away from me just get away just let me get a goal but I actually like pushed and fell and I actually had it I fell and I couldn't walk for like four days yeah I mean and I think that was me going might be the oldest but you know I can still hold my own oh my god so i mean i do i mean i went to sports day last week and did you

8:29Tabitha Webb: win no i don't even compete oh my god i'm the mum who's like no i'm not i'm not doing that and then i see some mums in like really lovely beautiful floaty dresses and then they've got lycra underneath shut up whip it off do they actually yeah no joke that's lit incredible yeah i know and then off they go and you're like whoa that's amazing though yeah i've actually never heard of that but slightly obsessed you can do that next year absolutely not i've seen the size of my ass that stays well in a maxi skirt all right so sports genocide what i really want to talk to you about

9:04Georgia Tennant: is what it's like to have a teenage girl i mean the thing is about my 14 year old and i can say this because my eight-year-old was like sent from the devil that my 14 year old is like a dream boat and she wins every kindness award and everyone's like oh my god she's so great you're so lucky but she's still pretty tricky and what did she say to me the other day she went if you don't do this for me I feel like the future me is going to be really disappointed and irritated and just find that really hard I'm like wow the future you I said well that the me now is like finding this really hard that the future you is going to be fucked off you know I mean it's like um I think the demands, they're very self-centered.

9:48Georgia Tennant: They really, you know, and the FOMO, the social media driven FOMO is so hideous to watch. And I feel so sorry for her a lot of the time because she can't actually live in the present anymore. She's like, I am here doing this with you, but everybody else is doing that. Why, why am I not there? I can't enjoy this because I want to be there. And it is so horrible. We've just put this custodian app on her phone, actually, to limit all her screen time and limit all her apps.

10:14Tabitha Webb: Is that what it's called? Custodian app. Custodian, yeah.

10:17Georgia Tennant: So we've cut her down to two hours a day because we were looking at it going, my God, you've been on TikTok for six hours today. Like what, your brain is going to rot. Yeah. And you're a really clever, bright girl. And this is just so awful. They don't, she doesn't even know she's on it.

10:31Tabitha Webb: No, I get that. I totally get that. And then, she's going to kill me.

10:36Georgia Tennant: But I mean, the way they interact with friends just on Snap, you know, they don't talk. There's no speaking. There's no words.

10:41Tabitha Webb: There's streaking.

10:43Georgia Tennant: You're streaking. Yeah, I mean, exactly. That sounds so dodgy, doesn't it? But they send pictures of themselves to each other. So they have to be made up the whole time as well. The makeup's on because they never know if they open a snap, they've got to send a snap straight back. And if you don't, then you've left them opened. And then the problems that that causes and the way the parties gather momentum on Snapchat, you know, like she wanted to go to this party the other night. Of this person, I'm actually a really strict mum. Are you? Yes, I am. Everyone thinks I'm a really fun, cool mum. and you know I'll talk about sex and I'll mess around but bring alcohol into it and I am so strict because I'm like at 14 I don't think you should be drinking you know I don't want all these 14 year olds in my house drinking I just don't think it's right but they're all on it so I say to the parents before any kids come around you know there will be no alcohol in my house and if I find anyone with alcohol they won't come in and I'm really cut and dried about it But I'm in the minority.

11:38Tabitha Webb: Are you? Because I feel like, in my mind, there's two ways to be, isn't there? You can be the mum. I think my mum was a bit like this, where she let me do everything in her sight. Yeah. So she would have drinks at our house, at the party.

11:58Georgia Tennant: From the age of 14, do you think, or older?

12:00Tabitha Webb: Probably about 14.

12:00Georgia Tennant: Yeah. She's like maybe 13. Maybe 12.

12:04Tabitha Webb: No, I'm joking. Yeah, I think I was definitely one of the first people to have a house party, I think.

12:11Georgia Tennant: Slightly love that for you.

12:12Tabitha Webb: But I, yeah, I know.

12:13Georgia Tennant: Great street cred. Great for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great. Super cool. Exactly.

12:17Tabitha Webb: Brilliant. And my mum just watched it all pan out. But it was actually really clever because I never got really drunk because I was in my house and my mum was there. Yeah. And so it gave, I think it made me responsible because I was watching everyone else to make sure they didn't do anything. Were you? Yeah. Which now at the time I didn't know that. But now I look back. So then in my mind, I think, oh, that was really good that she let me do, you know, do that in front of like in front of her.

12:49Georgia Tennant: Because you think you drank less as a result. I think I did.

12:52Tabitha Webb: yeah but then I have friends who had similar parents who were like very free and like did like didn't mind and then they just you know it's like give them an inch take a mile that's yeah so I don't know I think it's just personality like I don't know I think I honestly think it

13:09Georgia Tennant: is the great divider at the moment yeah definitely with parents so um Betts hosted something with a guy the other day and the mum said to me you know how do you feel about them all having a beer about me giving everyone a drink. And I went back and I said, honestly, I said, I don't want to be the party pooper here. But I feel like suddenly I then have to contact all the parents and say, we're going to be offering alcohol. And we're also saying to them to go to a party, you need alcohol.

13:34Tabitha Webb: And I don't want to say it yet.

13:35Georgia Tennant: I feel like I'm a year away from having to say it.

13:38Tabitha Webb: And

13:38Georgia Tennant: it's not that I don't want them to drink, but I kind of don't want the responsibility of taking kids to get their stomach pumped at the age of 14. You know, and that's my kind of like...

13:46Tabitha Webb: I was going to say that. That's the other side of it, isn't it? It's the responsibility. Yes. And if anything happens to them, is it your fault? Yeah, and I'm really vomphobic.

13:56Georgia Tennant: I'm like, if anyone vomits in my house, they are dead to me. Like, you can, you know. So I really don't want that. But if we're out to dinner, I say to her, would you like to try a bit of wine? Yeah. Have a sip of wine, apple spritz, whatever. Like, as we sit here together, try some. But I don't want you taking it to a party or doing shots. Or I know it's going to happen, but I'm just kicking the can down the road. and I think the older they are the more they can cope with it I just think a little 40 some of the boys I know like four foot five yeah they have not grown yeah or gone through puberty I mean

14:25Tabitha Webb: they're minuscule humans yeah no I was gonna say that because a lot of the time girls I think are way more mature they're more developed and then you see the boys and you're like oh god you still

14:36Georgia Tennant: look five I had like 10 of them at my house last night because she likes to throw a party every few nights and she's like five foot ten fully you know ready to go get them yeah and these little boys turn off at my door they're like hi dabs hi dabs my mum was there my mum was like wow this is so weird I was like I know but they're all best mates it's just that some have grown and some haven't we'll be right back after this short break at Boar's Head we've been going back to school for over 115 years. And this year, every school lunch is reason to celebrate with the flavors your kids love and the exceptional quality you expect.

15:18Georgia Tennant: Helping you make school lunch fresh, easy, and delicious. Ring the bell. The deli is open. Boar's Head. Committed to craft since 1905.

15:33Tabitha Webb: This Monday.com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. Reese, our content agent, wrote the copy based on our best practices, like mentioning monday.com three times. That was the second. Johnny, our coordination agent, built the timeline and kept everyone aligned. Olivia, our human creative director, stayed in the loop because agents are great, but they don't always know when a joke lands. She had one note. Tell listeners it only takes minutes to build an agent. So, minutes. Create your own AI agent today on monday.com.

16:03Georgia Tennant: There's never been a better time to get outside and experience the benefits of nature. Discover nearby trails and explore the outdoors with AllTrails. Download the free app today and find your outside.

16:23Tabitha Webb: Welcome back to this episode of Made by Mamas. Now, where were we? Do you see a big divide in how the different rates that people sort of, kids, people go through puberty and how it affects friendships and stuff?

16:36Georgia Tennant: Yeah, and definitely height. Like my daughter has always been really tall. So she's definitely been friends with the tall girls. Like when she was 11, 12, she was the tallest in school and it was a massive issue for her. Like she used to cry about it a lot. She was like, I look so different. I'm so weird. I don't want to be really tall. you know and everybody said to her when we were going for open days you're here for the sixth form you're here for the sixth form and I'd go no she's 13 she's 13 and that over time I think is really tough and we kept saying when you're older you're going to want to be tall you love this is going to be really great for you yeah but at that time it was crap so then of course puberty comes earlier I think when the girls are the first ones to get their periods and no one else has that's really tough I don't think it's cool to get your period first I think it's just really hard Yeah, I agree.

17:21Georgia Tennant: And especially when you have it from like the age of 11, it's really young to kind of suddenly have all this blood everywhere.

17:28Tabitha Webb: I think some are younger. Like I think there's kids in my son's year. So they're year five. That's really young. So that's nine and ten.

17:38Georgia Tennant: Really?

17:39Tabitha Webb: Yeah. I think that is so young. Some girls have got their period that early, have they? I think it's so young to have that. It's almost like a responsibility every month. It is a responsibility. Yeah.

17:49Georgia Tennant: how did you find that um well we went so my sister my older sister has three daughters met all older and that has been like a proper game changer for me so period pants I think are like a game changer for girls so she had we just bought so many of them we just had cascading amount of period pants everywhere and then it was just it's also trying to teach you about hygiene so you can't just wear that for 12 hours you know and it's kind of going you need to put a pad in with that and it's that whole thing but it's so much they don't want to think about it they're with all their friends they don't want to have to think about changing a pad or changing their pants or you know bring you know my husband who's got a house full of women walking around you know kind of like oh my god oh my god um but I do think they've been a game changer yeah I think the swimming's really tough I think like the swimming classes are really tough you know having to go in for that you know having to use do you want to use a Tampax that young no so many of them don't that is a terrifying thing it is like where does that even go what do i do with it no exactly because

18:50Tabitha Webb: i think we as adults you think how could you possibly not know how to use a tampon yeah but i mean but i can you know at where does it go 14 which hole does it go in have a clue yes yeah i

19:02Georgia Tennant: know and then suddenly in fact we were having the conversation at dinner with my best mate the night before last and my daughter and her daughter who's the same age and they were like would you use the plastic ones or is it better with your finger or you know all that thing suddenly and they're also so environmentally friendly as well. I'm like, well, just use your finger. It's much better for the environment. Than the plastic. Just make sure you wash them. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, it is. It's all such a new world. And I think it's really young to deal with it. And, you know, I'm suddenly having those conversations.

19:27Georgia Tennant: And, you know, she's going to be, you're my mother. Like, answer it. Make it simple. And you're like, it just isn't that simple.

19:33Tabitha Webb: No. And also, it's quite a harsh reality as well.

19:36Georgia Tennant: It is a harsh reality. Like, my son just had, I can't think, he's nearly 10.

19:42Tabitha Webb: So whatever the level of chat you have at that age, I don't really know.

19:47Georgia Tennant: Isn't it football if you're a 10-year-old boy?

19:49Tabitha Webb: And he was in on the period chat. Oh, was he? And he's funny because he's like really prim and proper. He's like, I really don't think it's appropriate for boys to be hearing this. And I was like, well, I think it is actually because you've got a sister and you've got a mum. And it's quite good, actually, that you know these things. And he was like, oh, yeah, a girl in our school, she had that. And it was in the toilet. Yeah. I was like, well, yeah. Yeah. And then he's like, but, you know, lucky for her, that's it now. It's all over. That's it. It was one and done. Yeah, I was like, no, no, Axel, it's not.

20:20Tabitha Webb: It's every month. And I think, God, actually, at that age, to get your head around for a girl, that's every month for the rest of your, not the rest of your life, but for, what, 30 years?

20:32Georgia Tennant: Yeah, listen, it's the only good thing about menopause, right? Yeah. That that finally goes.

20:36Tabitha Webb: I know.

20:37Georgia Tennant: But, I mean, my daughter was saying to me at the weekend, she said, it's so unfair. she's like this is so unfair that we get this and boys don't that we get this every month she feels shit she's crampy she's grumpy it's shit for us everyone's crossing the house it's a nightmare but my eight-year-old came home from school last week and she went oh I think I might be getting my pubic soon I went what's your pubic I was like my god is she thinking pubic hair she went my pubic we've been learning about pubic at school and then I worked out because it's pubic they've started teaching them at eight yeah you know all about it it's really young yeah that

21:06Tabitha Webb: that and that's the thing isn't it because you don't want to be negative like because he said actually I was like oh my god who's gonna tell Gigi about this this is the end of her life this is gonna happen to her yeah and and I I didn't want to be negative so I was like well you know mommy's had that you know I have it every month and that's just the way it is and but I equally don't want to dress it up into like oh it's amazing we're so lucky we get this we get cleansed Yeah, because it's not. It's actually really rubbish. It's still shit.

21:37Georgia Tennant: Like, you still don't want to go on a holiday and have your period, do you? No. I mean, I'm like, I still don't want to go away. I still look at my diary and go, oh, my God, am I going on a holiday and I'm going to have my period? Yeah. That is so rubbish.

21:46Tabitha Webb: It is.

21:47Georgia Tennant: And that never goes away and boys don't have that.

21:49Tabitha Webb: No, it doesn't. And you don't want to scare girls, young girls, and say, oh, this is horrific. Yeah, that's right. This is like the worst thing that will ever happen to you. But equally, you don't want to dress it up. I know. Into like, oh, it's great because it means you're healthy. because it doesn't feel like that at the time.

22:06Georgia Tennant: No, it's awful. It's grim for them. You know, they didn't want to go on holiday. Like she had her first big party the other day and she got it and she was like, oh God, of course I've got it just to go to this big party. And it feels like a punishment.

22:17Tabitha Webb: It does. And quite often like, you know, when you're like 14, you get a massive spot. Yeah, spots everywhere. At the time. I know. It's all so unattractive. I know. As if this wasn't worth it.

22:27Georgia Tennant: I remember being like, I mean, 13, 14 were like the worst years. I mean, I look back and I say to my mother, why did you let that happen to me you know like hair out here such minging clothes it's such a dark time I feel now that we're much more invested mothers like I am I want her to look great I want her to have the clothes that she wants I want her to look the best that she can look so that she feels good about herself yeah and I do feel that a lot more with social media as well now it's hard

22:54Tabitha Webb: isn't it because it's a balancing act of you want them to stay young for us and not care because we all know that we have this these thoughts about image for like the rest of our lives ideally the self-loathing yeah yeah I know we're not allowed to say that we all love ourselves but you know yeah but equally I totally get what you mean because you want them to feel good and especially if they've got this added pressure of social media yes like my eight-year-old keeps saying to me mum I've got a butt chin for the last she's like I've got a little pinhead with a butt

23:23Georgia Tennant: chin I'm like where have you even seen that someone said that to you or have you seen that on youtube like where have you found that out it's awful it's really sad for them that she's already thinking that yeah but um it is i said to my daughter yesterday i was like why are you fully made up when we're just at home today and i said is it because you're on snap because you know you're going to be snapping boys and that makes me sad that they can't just be free even

23:45Tabitha Webb: at home yeah yeah gosh i hadn't even thought of that so do you think she feels like she has to have makeup on yeah yeah actually which i think is quite a new thing she went to a mixed school

23:58Georgia Tennant: about three months ago and i think that the kind of switch from that is is quite immense yeah so

24:03Tabitha Webb: she was she at an all-girls school before no well she was at a mixed school she went to an all-girls

24:08Georgia Tennant: for a couple of terms that wasn't great for her really missed the boys like she just loves friendships with boys and finds girls much easier amongst boys which i think is true yeah i do

24:19Tabitha Webb: actually yeah yeah because i've been having this conversation with a lot of parents recently because so axel will sit all his like entrance exams in september to november time yeah and so then secondary school is next year for him yeah and there's a big divide between parents who think that single sex schools are much better because they don't have the distraction and parents who think that co-ed schools are better much better as well yeah and i actually had hadn't thought about it before these conversations had come up because i just don't know why i hadn't i just had it yeah yeah and um listening you're like oh gosh yeah that's a really good that's a valid point and also so is that and i've got no idea i feel like it really depends on the kid for seven

25:06Georgia Tennant: percent like i had not been gonna go all girls with bets and then the school kind of just worked for us and I thought I'll check you in that's so great you don't have to worry about makeup or boys and hopefully social media kind of becomes irrelevant you can just be girls and skip around and it's all gonna be like whoo and then actually girls together can be super bitchy I'm not saying that this lot were but just when you've got all the girls and no boys in the mix it doesn't take away their desire for boys in any way it just means the boys aren't there ever ready like and And then sending her to a co-ed, it's like there are just loads of boys.

25:40Georgia Tennant: She finds it so much more fun. She says the boys are more fun in the lessons. Everything's a bit more lighthearted. Everyone has more of a laugh. They go on these walks. My God, they terrify me, the walks. Like walk one is holding hands. They go up to walk nine.

25:55Tabitha Webb: You've got to talk to me. Watch this. You're like, talk to me, tell me more, she'll kill me.

25:59Georgia Tennant: I don't know. I think actually walk one is, maybe walk one is just a hug at the end and walk two is holding hands. and then it goes through various grades as you go up the walks I was like what the hell happens on like I also I didn't know there were nine steps I'm like I thought there were like three I'm like there were three or four I need to up my mission in my sex books I'm like wow okay um but I just think that there's a lot more they have a lot more fun you know there are 250 of them in the year and it's just a really good laugh it's less serious okay but not less academic by

26:31Tabitha Webb: the way because they're really competitive i do i think that's good as well girls are around boys and boys are around girls who are competitive i think that's actually really healthy yes for them to see that both sexes have like different you know they're driven in yes maybe in different ways and they handle things in different ways and yeah i think it's really healthy and it's still cool to

26:53Georgia Tennant: work you know that's the really great thing is it's not uncool to be seen to work like everyone's cool by doing well at what they do and I think that's awesome I yeah no that is I hope that's it's like what I kind of hope is if they're around boys more they become less frantic for boys I guess it's a bit like what you say about alcohol if you put it out for them yeah then they're not like let out into the real world because I went to a girl's school and when I was released it was like I mean I went mental for a few years yeah I was at an all-girls school for two years

27:24Tabitha Webb: the beginning and we were mental we used to follow boys on the bus oh my god like stalkers

27:31Georgia Tennant: yeah i pulled some guy on the train a couple on the tube it's like i'd pull one anywhere i could

27:35Tabitha Webb: yeah oh my god it's a mail yeah that's exactly what we were like it's really odd and i look back i'm like god those poor boys they probably were just like oh no she's following me again

27:46Georgia Tennant: i know like we used to climb out over the school walls yeah into the town center down the local I remember snogging a guy who ran the waltzer at the fairground just because I was that desperate

27:58Tabitha Webb: I was like he's male just so you could yeah yeah you mentioned that you're really open about talking about sex and yeah um everything that comes with it with your team yeah how did like how have those conversations started what's your stance I mean I'm just you know I just I'm a general banterer

28:15Georgia Tennant: anyway and I generally overstep the mark with my entire existence so I think that you know as my sister will always say, I'm Marmite. So you're either in or you're out. And Betsy will always say, Betsy's my eldest, she'll always say, you know, I've grown up with her. I'm used to it. This is just like part of my life. I'm used to these conversations. And actually, in my book, I apologize to her. I say, you know, darling Betsy, I really hope this doesn't ruin your life with all your friends and it's not too embarrassing. But I'm just really open. Am I open about sex? I mean, we talk about it kind of freely, not the intimacies of it.

28:48Georgia Tennant: But I don't want it to be something that's kind of silenced and not talked about. You know, and I'm terribly involved with everything that goes on with any boys. I'm like, can I see a picture? Where are you up to? Talk me through the kiss. You know, then what happened? You know, I want to be a part of it. And I want them to feel like sex and romance is a really great thing. It's a positive thing. Yeah, it's not something to be ashamed of or to hide or to be embarrassed by. It's just a really great fun part of life. Yeah. So I guess that's my stance on it. So we just talk about it openly.

29:16Tabitha Webb: That's so good. Is it? No, I do. I really think so. I think a parent who's got older kids than I have, new school actually, she said to me, I wanted to be the mum where when something happened, they didn't go, shit, don't tell mum. They said, shit, I need to tell mum. And that's in my mind now.

29:38Georgia Tennant: do you know what it is like oh she's gonna kill me she said to me don't talk about me but you know when she kisses a guy she comes running out and she goes mom you know after a part of something I'm the first person she wants to tell and she wants to tell every single detail of me in fact the other day I was like oh okay that's enough leave that there you know kind of thing yeah but I love that she wants to tell me and we kind of go through it all together that's amazing to me I I just, I so, you know, she's like my best friend. I want to be there for her and have all those conversations with her.

30:10Georgia Tennant: I mean, I do say to her, you need other best friends, but I need to be the priority. Tell me everything.

30:13Tabitha Webb: Tell you everything. Yeah, I do.

30:14Georgia Tennant: I want to be that person for her.

30:16Tabitha Webb: Yeah, no, I get that.

30:17Georgia Tennant: You know, I want to be that person that she can turn to and ring me if she's in trouble. I don't want her to ever feel that she can't do that.

30:22Tabitha Webb: Yeah.

30:22Georgia Tennant: And so many of my friends say to me, you are so lucky with the friendship you have with her. But I think that, you know, I've really curated that as we've grown up. We've done so much together as buddies and that's been amazing.

30:35Tabitha Webb: Yeah, no, I mean, that's absolutely the relationship that I want to have with my kids. I think with, do you think it would be different if you had a boy?

30:45Georgia Tennant: Yeah, I do. Yeah. I kind of always wanted a boy purely because I just wanted all those hot teenage boys in my house when I was an older lady. I was like not in a not in a paedophilic way obviously but in a my husband would be like it would be a disaster I can see you coming home with a boyfriend and you I remember I had a really hot boyfriend when I was like 20 and I brought him home and my mum saying to me in the kitchen you do not appreciate how hot he is I was like I do she's like no you don't you are not old enough to appreciate his hotness and my husband always says that is what would have happened if you'd had a boy you know you'd have just been like all these friends coming in um yeah but I do I also think that it's about the child like my eight-year-old is so different to my 14-year-old and I think that we'll probably have a really different relationship okay um because she's so scrappy right and so I don't know I feel like we'll be in a very different place when she's I might be in a mental asylum.

31:51Georgia Tennant: I don't know. But I think we'll be in a very different place when she's a teenager. You know, I think I got the first one's just a very chilled, cool, fun vibe. This one's going to be an antsy ride.

32:02Tabitha Webb: Okay. Yeah, because I really wonder with like teenage girls to teenage boys, you've obviously got a really good relationship with your daughter and that's great. And she obviously tells you everything.

32:10Georgia Tennant: Although she does tell me that. Now I get, oh my God, you're so annoying. I mean, she does tick a lot of boxes, you know, the kind of clothes everywhere, food, you know.

32:20Tabitha Webb: Yeah. Yeah. Because I just wonder if boys share as much. They don't. No.

32:25Georgia Tennant: All my mum friends will say that. I was going to say. Yes. Yeah.

32:28Tabitha Webb: So are you the one who brings all the news? All of it. Yeah. Okay.

32:33Georgia Tennant: And mums actually ring me. We were actually saying this last night. One of the boys who came last night, one of the mums will ring me and say, I can't find my son. Can you ask Betsy where he is? Like, because she knows they all tell her everything. And she has all the gossip. So I tell all the boy mums what's going on. They have no idea.

32:48Tabitha Webb: Yeah, because I think this is like a common thing. Do you, common thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think because even now, like, you know, my son's not even 10. I get all of the chat from the mums who have daughters because the daughters tell the mums everything. That you wouldn't know. I get nothing from him. Nothing. Apart from really, like, confusing stuff. Like, they had, like, sex education at school and he's talking about erections. Yeah. And they were all getting it muddled up. You know, I get that chat of like, he said, oh, you know, I've found out about, you know, why your willy goes hard. And I was like, oh, really goes.

33:26Tabitha Webb: Yeah, that's why it happens to me when I'm looking at in class. And I'm like, no, I don't. I don't think that happens. I just don't. And please don't tell her either. Just don't say anything. Ever.

33:42Georgia Tennant: Remain completely silent. Are you very close to him?

33:45Tabitha Webb: Yeah, yeah, yeah. we are close but I think there's there's definitely a change happening now I'd say where he he'll definitely tell me more than he tells my husband about girlfriends and like stuff like that yeah because my husband's more of a joker and he'll just like take the mickey out of him and all of that kind of thing but I can see like when we've got like chats about

34:10Georgia Tennant: wet dreams and erections yeah yeah I couldn't do that by the way I am just so uncomfortable

34:15Tabitha Webb: yeah like I just don't know what to say and now like talking to other mums you've got older boys

34:21Georgia Tennant: they're like don't buy navy sheets and I'm like oh oh my god that I just don't need to hear this

34:26Tabitha Webb: stuff now you wouldn't buy navy sheets anyway would you no no no I actually wouldn't I actually wouldn't but you know when you're like oh like all this stuff that I mean you see when you say

34:38Georgia Tennant: I'm a please I don't have a boy like I did always say I would have been totally freaked out by having to deal with a willy at any age i mean different obviously grown up but you know little

34:46Tabitha Webb: yeah no but just like just the stuff that's gonna come yeah with tissues and all that in bedrooms i

34:53Georgia Tennant: am just like so disgusting not disgusting great but i mean you know it is though it is it is but i mean it might not be that bad yeah let's hope let's hope oh my god hilarious we'll be right back

35:08Tabitha Webb: after this short break Monday.com AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. I stay in the loop only when it matters. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com.

35:27Georgia Tennant: At Boar's Head, we've been going back to school for over 115 years. And this year, every school lunch is reason to celebrate. with the flavors your kids love and the exceptional quality you expect. Helping you make school lunch fresh, easy, and delicious. Ring the bell. The deli is open. Orzette, committed to craft since 1905. Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Summer is here, and with it, the hot and sticky weather. A morning working in the garden, or maybe on the golf course, can leave you more depleted than you realize. And plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance.

36:13Georgia Tennant: That's where Liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV, hydration that goes wherever life takes you.

36:38Georgia Tennant: welcome back to this episode of made by mamas now where were we talk to us about your new book because yep so got a new book coming out called um playing the field which is my second book so my first book came out during covid which was a really weird time for it to come out actually um because obviously everyone's at home and i couldn't do a book we wanted to go out and do any talks but on the flip side i got lots of celeb mates to kind of read you know passages from it for Instagram, which is kind of great. And it did well, considering we were all in lockdown. And then it's taken me like five years to write the next one.

37:11Georgia Tennant: I think my eight-year-old was a very time-consuming human and is not, you know, the first one I had was just such a walk in the park. And in fact, lots of my mum friends have said to me, if you only had Betsy as a child, we would not be your friend because that, that is too easy. So this was kind of like your comeuppance. and so she has devoured a lot of my time and energy she's super anxious little human and so I think that I just kind of found having the fashion line and trying to write the second book a bit too much so last year when I felt like she was a bit more settled I started kind of really getting into the book and we live in the countryside and it's really just about a really hot farmer who does not exist we live above a river and it's about this hot guy just emerging from the river this girl moves to the countryside from the city her boyfriend's been shagging some other woman secretary obviously in the wine cellar so she moves to the country to get healed and on like day three she's walking down by the river and out pops this like god naked you know everything dangling in the wind water cascading down his ripped chest and she's like holy shit what is this and um it's about their journey together their relationship and it's just a fun countryside romp but it's also full of lots of multi-generational relationships so like older people falling in love I love the idea that like people in their 70s and 80s can still fall in love and have sex and have a wild ride and you know live again yeah and it's about winemaking in the British countryside and it's just a bit of a romp actually but it's got what's it called playing the field it's got um quite a lot of sex in it I think it's got the word can I say cock in it 40 times I think as we were just talking about willies um which is why I'm constantly having to apologize to my daughter and uh when she had some friends over a few weeks ago she picked my book up and she started reading some sex scenes and I said to her don't do that I said you're gonna I was like don't that's not cool like you're gonna regret that I was like you know it's that awkward stage of wanting to be cool but um in fact with this new school she started the guy um the head of admission said why don't you start her in the winter term and I said honestly I said I've got a book coming out full of sex and I said I think it would be better for her to get her feet under the table a term before the book comes out just so she can establish herself just before the book comes out.

39:26Tabitha Webb: Does that actually worry you?

39:27Georgia Tennant: A little bit, a little bit. Like I, you know, that isn't, that doesn't totally define me. You know, I've had a fashion brand for 30 years, but it's so interesting with the book. Like if you talk to people about what I've done fashion wise and the book, they'll grab onto the book. Not kind of what I've done for decades. They want to know about the fact that I'm writing a raunchy book. It's so interesting. I would say that to my husband. People are so much more interested in that. So I kind of, yeah, it does worry me a bit for her I don't want to have don't want her to have to fight that battle on top of

39:58Tabitha Webb: everything else what do you think like do you think people I don't know like kids will tease her about it or do you think they'll be I honestly don't know I mean either it's going to give her

40:07Georgia Tennant: street cred yeah and they're going to think it's really cool or they're going to be like I don't know I don't know I just kind of want to protect her just in case if we get a bestseller everyone

40:16Tabitha Webb: will think she's really cool yeah there we go just saying yeah yeah yeah motivation please buy it

40:22Georgia Tennant: I don't know I just you know you want to protect them as much as you can you know I was talking to my sister on the way here and they were just Anne and Paul Zeff you read about that whole Paul Zeff thing with all the teenagers go to Cornwall yes yeah yeah and that whole thing of you put your teen in there but you want to protect them because all the groups that are there and you know they're all kind of trying to find their place in it and it's just soul destroying for so many of them so as cool as it looks from the outside you know you put your kid your teenage kid in amongst the place where they think they want to be but actually they still have to try and find their group in there like it's as a mother you watch and it's just yeah of course it's soul destroying you know like Betsy this year um has only wanted to go to Greece on holiday because it's where they're all going right you know so we're going to Paxos and Corfu which I swore I would never do but here I go you know because it's where all her teenage mates are going to be and there's this need this desire to be where all their friends are even if they don't particularly know them they'll see them on snap maps and know that they're there and they want to be in amongst it so that they can say they were there that's a i hadn't thought of this but

41:31Tabitha Webb: actually that's really interesting yeah because before when we were teenagers you wouldn't know what people were doing in the summer you'd go off yeah and you know i used to go to portugal and had like similar thing but there were like loads of us who all used to meet up and we'd go to clubs and all of that together but none of my friends from school would have known yeah now it's still yeah yeah and in a way it was really good that we had but we didn't have any of that FOMO because you didn't know what see no like our friend you know friends from school were doing there were no none of them were my friends from school yeah they were just friends that I'd met there um um yeah gosh I hadn't I really hadn't felt that yeah and I do think that's the thing so like for

42:15Georgia Tennant: her last week you know she's broken up and the eight-year-old hasn't she's sitting there and everyone's in Cornwall yeah but I'm like but who is everyone you know it's just looking at things lighting up on snap maps and you just watch that and you watch all these other people but you don't even know the people there are having fun it's just that they're there and

42:33Tabitha Webb: you're not it's such a kind of messed up it is actually it's really messed up I think it's a

42:39Georgia Tennant: really tough way to live and I actually feel like the kids who are 13 14 15 at the moment are the

42:45Tabitha Webb: ones having the hardest time with social yeah so I look at my sister's elder kids and they're

42:49Georgia Tennant: actually not that interested and they're out the other side and they're really like living their lives and I hope that we're putting enough rules in place to kind of make it harder for the younger kids growing up like our eight nine ten year olds to kind of be on social so much whereas I feel like these 13 14 15 year olds have been whacked really hard by it almost happened already yeah

43:09Tabitha Webb: so with the social media ban do you think that's going to help or do you think it's

43:14Georgia Tennant: no i mean they're all just like yeah too far for them yeah and for the others they will just get around it i mean i don't even know how it touches the sides no they all get these vpns and these whatever and i'm too inept to even you know know what they're doing so no i don't think it helps we can't even get youtube off our tv like we took it off our tv again yesterday and i went in and the eight-year-olds watching it and I was like yeah I just took that off and she went oh I just

43:35Tabitha Webb: put it back on yeah no no no oh my god no no we did exactly the same thing we did we got a new tv deleted youtube off yeah when the tv in the kitchen is there I said oh we got a new tv the only downside hasn't got youtube right yeah and I swear 20 seconds later they're like I don't have Yeah, you just don't know how to do it. You know, you're like, oh my God. And so now I'm like, oh, oh yeah, okay. I just don't know the pin number for that. And they go, oh no, it's okay. Cause you just go here and you can just delete so you don't need a pin number. And I'm like, right, okay. How do you feel about them watching YouTube?

44:12Tabitha Webb: I hate it. Do you? I really don't want to be that person because there's so much good on there, isn't there? Like, I mean, I like it. There's loads of stuff on YouTube that I like. I have in the background when I'm working. Do you watch it? I never watch YouTube. I watch certain things like maybe podcasts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watch like the sheer luck show. I quite like watching it just as background. But what I hate is the algorithm is that, you know, my son is really into lots of different sports. So Gray like wants to watch football highlights, but it's what he served after that. And then I'm suddenly like, oh, this is rubbish.

44:47Tabitha Webb: This is not appropriate. But you can't put the, it's almost like those parental controls don't work. I agree. He can't watch kids YouTube because he's not. He's a kid. But the football stuff he wants to watch is not for kids.

45:00Georgia Tennant: Yeah, it's for grownups.

45:01Tabitha Webb: Yeah. It's really hard, isn't it? It's so hard. So we do just try and say like you're not allowed to watch it.

45:07Georgia Tennant: But they do anyway. I know. I know. I mean, she sometimes comes out with really good facts like about hurricanes and tornadoes. Like she hit me up with some really great facts. I'm like, that is awesome. Where did you learn that? YouTube. But then I think a lot of the bad stuff I get has come from YouTube as well. Yeah. And even if I put her in the other room and go, okay, just watch this TV, she still finds a way around. So if I've left her for half an hour, I go back in and YouTube's back on. Yeah, anything. Yeah, they can find anything. Yeah, and they just watch the weirdest stuff. And then they watch kids smashing a house up.

45:37Georgia Tennant: And then, you know, I mean, that's not great. No, I know. And the kids on YouTube don't sleep, mum. They never sleep. Oh, God. Yeah, we're like, oh, my God. I know, it's so hard. But then, you know, I feel like we're all just kind of doing the best we can. And each kid is so different. yeah and that's what i feel when i look at my two children i'm like i brought you both up the same

45:57Tabitha Webb: but you are so different yeah you are such different children yeah and it's like you kind of need such different parenting yeah there isn't one rule there isn't no not one slice of it's all just before we finish up because we're running out of time just let down what would be the piece of advice that you would give to actually probably a parent of like kids that you know my age and your younger youngest age going into like the tweens and the teens what

46:23Georgia Tennant: piece of advice would you give them I just think you know that they've got to trust you they've got to trust you and that's the thing it's just like making them your friend like everyone will say no they've got you've got to be a mother not their best friend but you they've also got to feel like you're their friend and you know I sit down on Betsy's bed at the end of the day and I want to hear what's happened and it's something I always refer back to my sisters but they've both been through it and they say you know you want to sit at the dinner table and look into their eyes even if it's for 15 minutes every evening and just check that everything's okay because you can just tell just by looking at them has anything happened are you all right is there anything we need to talk about you know so that you can stop anything bad happening before it might happen you can prevent a spiral and I think um I love that I kind of become the fun house even though I don't allow the bosom for the kids to come and hang out at because then her mates all talk to me and I've got to know her mates and I think that is really important because then I understand more about her and the kind of person she is and what they're doing and what they're after and and also but not letting them do things too soon yeah you know I I still am like reticent about putting her on a train to London I haven't done that whereas lots of other mums have but I don't want her to have too much too soon I want there to be things to look forward to yeah and there's plenty of time yeah there's so much time you know you don't need to go and do all that yet and you know no you're not going to that party that has escalated on snap you don't even know the girl I don't know the mum you know I need that mother to whatsapp me and tell me that you are invited and I will sit outside the house for two hours you know it's up to me to keep you safe yeah and I think that is something that I've really instilled in her and I think that as a parent you can't be ashamed of that and I think you've got to own what you want for your children so I'm sure I've pissed some mothers off by being really strict about the alcohol and they think I'm I'm a bit of a loser on that or that I've been, I know they think I'm really strict about letting Betts go up to London or whatever.

48:16Georgia Tennant: But I'm also like, I brought her up to London three days ago and she didn't look the right way when she crossed the road. She nearly got run over and two cars stopped and shouted at me. But it's because she was so desperate to get too addicted. And I'm like, that's the point. That's what I said to her. It's like, yeah, you are 14, but all you saw was that shop. You didn't see that double decker bus. You know, so there is, I think we give them so much so young and they're going to respect you for holding them back a bit yeah you know like she's still my friend even though i put those boundaries in place so that would be my advice thank you so much really good thanks oh my gosh i absolutely loved it and it's definitely food for thought

48:56Tabitha Webb: isn't it because the whole my approach with alcohol at the moment obviously my kids are not drinking alcohol but in my mind i think oh i'm gonna be like a little bit free and easy about it but then when you hear her talk about how then you're then responsible for other people's children in your house that sort of changes my opinion um and now i need to go away and have a good think about it um but i'd love to know what you guys think and if you know if your parents are teenagers what do you do how do you deal with this sort of thing let us know um drop us a dm on instagram on at made by mothers and we'll be back on friday

49:46Georgia Tennant: We'll be right back.

50:07Georgia Tennant: is open. Orzette, committed to craft since 1905.

50:14Tabitha Webb: This Monday.com ad was created by a team of people and AI agents. Reese, our content agent, wrote the copy based on our best practices, like mentioning Monday.com three times. That was the second. Johnny, our coordination agent, built the timeline and kept everyone aligned. Olivia, our human creative director, stayed in the loop because agents are great, but they don't always know when a joke lands. She had one note. Tell listeners it only takes minutes to build an agent. So, minutes. Create your own AI agent today on Monday.com.

50:44Georgia Tennant: Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Summer is here, and with it, the hot and sticky weather. A morning working in the garden, or maybe on the golf course, can leave you more depleted than you realize. And plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance. That's where Liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV, hydration that goes wherever life takes you.