Dad Mode 2.0: What Modern Dads Are Really Carrying Into the Holidays
After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings
Dear Media and Big Little Feelings
4.7 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The holidays are here… and so is the pressure. In this episode, Kristin and Tyler pull the curtain all the way back on what moms and dads are really carrying into Thanksgiving week: the invisible loads, the silent expectations, the emotional pressure cookers nobody talks about. If you’ve ever felt like you and your partner are walking into the holidays as two overwhelmed people fighting the same fire from opposite corners of the house… this is your reset button.
We’re breaking down:
* Why moms enter the holidays already burnt out (and it’s NOT a personal failure)
* The surprising emotional load dads carry that no one sees
* How “Mom Mode” and “Dad Mode” quietly collide and create a holiday meltdown spiral
* The stats behind why this week feels so damn heavy
* The real reason partners snap, shut down, or suddenly fix random things
* What dads wish they could say but don’t
* And the simple plan that helps couples stay a team instead of turning on each other
This is the conversation that diffuses resentment, increases teamwork, and gives your whole family a calmer, more connected holiday. If you’re heading into the week overwhelmed, resentful, overstimulated, or bracing for impact, listen to this first. It might just change the way your whole house feels.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast is a dear media production. |
| 0:05.6 | Besties, it's Thanksgiving. |
| 0:07.8 | I don't know how this happened, but it is. |
| 0:09.9 | It is Thanksgiving this week. |
| 0:12.0 | And as you're heading into Thanksgiving, we felt my husband and I, since Dean is still |
| 0:17.4 | on Mat leave, we felt we needed to have a little Thanksgiving episode. |
| 0:21.7 | If you're heading into this Thanksgiving already feeling overwhelmed, already annoyed, |
| 0:26.4 | already bracing yourself for the chaos, this is the episode you need. Because here's the truth. |
| 0:32.5 | Most of us walk into the holidays with these very silent expectations, how the day should feel, how the kids should act, |
| 0:39.4 | what our partners should magically just know how to do. I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you over there. |
| 0:45.4 | BP Hyb Squad. He's just staring back at me. And then we get blindsided when reality does what |
| 0:51.9 | reality always does. And suddenly we're overst-stimulated, we're snapping, |
| 0:55.6 | they're shutting down, the kids are melting. And you're thinking, why do the holidays feel so |
| 1:01.0 | much harder than they should? Isn't this supposed to be magical? This episode is your reset button |
| 1:05.6 | before it even happens. It's your game plan. It's the conversation that helps you understand not just your |
| 1:12.7 | load on the holiday, but what your partner is carrying too. It's the stuff that you don't always see. |
| 1:19.6 | Because when you understand the invisible pressure points on both sides, everything can shift. |
| 1:26.5 | The fights go down. The teamwork goes up and the holiday |
| 1:29.3 | becomes survivable and maybe even enjoyable. So if you're tired of walking into this week, |
| 1:35.1 | like two overwhelmed people fighting the same fire from opposite corners of the house, |
| 1:39.7 | same. Okay? Today we're going to change how our whole holiday season feels. Welcome to after bedtime, where the house is |
| 1:48.9 | finally quiet, but the real noise begins. The thoughts, the questions, the wondering if you're doing |
... |
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