Fun: why we've lost it, why it matters and how to get it back

Motherkind

Zoe Blaskey

Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 863 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you miss the lighter, sillier version of yourself you used to be, this episode will help you find her again — even in the chaos of family life. Across thousands of conversations in the Motherkind community, one theme comes up again and again: fun quietly disappears for so many of us. Playfulness slips away. And most mothers aren’t even sure how to begin getting it back. In this uplifting and deeply reassuring episode, I sit down with play researcher and writer Emma Worrollo to explore why fun matters far more than we realise, not as something extra on the to-do list, but as a powerful support for resilience, regulation and connection. Emma explains how we slowly train playfulness out of ourselves as adults, why that leaves us feeling flat or overwhelmed, and what happens when we start to bring back even the tiniest moments of joy. Her “1% rule” is one of my favourite tools, a gentle, doable way to shift your mood without needing more time, childcare or energy. This conversation is your reminder that joy isn’t frivolous. It’s essential. And you absolutely deserve moments of lightness, even in the seasons that feel heavy. In this conversation, you’ll learn: Why fun disappears in motherhood — and how to bring it back The simple shift from play to playfulness that changes everything How playfulness strengthens resilience, regulation and connection Small 1% tweaks that make everyday life feel lighter Remember to subscribe to Motherkind — it helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing. If you liked this episode, listen to a 2021 episode with Emma Worrollo next: The Power of Play Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet Connect with Zoe: Follow Zoe on Instagram Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’ This Motherkind episode is sponsored by: Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply. For a £100 sponsored job credit, visit Indeed.com/ Motherkind Get 40% off a Calm Premium Subscription at calm.com/motherkind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Motherkind. It is me, your host, Zoe. We are proudly sponsored by World Nutrition's Women's Supplements. And this is the show that is about you, the woman behind the mother. All right, so I'm very excited about this week's episode because
0:22.9	it is definitely something I have not had enough of in the last decade since becoming a mother.
0:30.3	And no, it's not that obvious thing. It is fun. Where the hell did all the fun go? The fun gap in motherhood is so real. I feel like
0:41.2	it's so easy to just be facilitating the fun for everyone else. I create so much fun for my kids,
0:46.9	but I am not having enough fun myself. And I'm not alone. When I asked our community,
0:51.5	87% of you said that you don't have enough fun and 93% of you said
0:56.9	you don't even know where to start. So I have bought in my friend who also, luckily for us,
1:03.0	happens to be one of the world's leading play experts. This is the woman that Disney, Nike, Lego, McDonald's call when they want to inject
1:13.8	more play into their products and their marketing. Emma Worello is one of the smartest women
1:19.7	I know and she is here to teach us why fun matters and how to have more of it. And before you
1:26.5	think, but Zoe, there's no time. I get it. And so does
1:30.0	Emma. She has three children. She works full time. And she still has a lot of fun. I would say,
1:37.3	knowing Emma personally, she is the most joyful, relaxed, successful, inspiring woman that I probably know. And I think it might be
1:50.2	to do with how much fun she has. Emma injects fun and play into almost everything that she does.
1:58.4	I've seen it firsthand. It is next level inspiring. So I am here
2:02.7	learning from her. My notebook is out. My pen is ready. And I cannot wait for you to hear this one too.
2:09.5	Oh, and if you haven't subscribed, then what are you doing? This is the podcast you need in your life
2:13.3	as a mother. And I want to make this show better and better but I can only do that when you
2:18.7	subscribe because more subscribers means more listeners which means a bigger show that is the podcast
2:24.8	game that I am in folks if you subscribe it signals to all the algorithms and all the platforms
2:29.7	that this is a show that people want to hear and it shows the show to more people. So subscribe and we can
2:36.1	keep growing and getting bigger and bigger and better and better. Okay, let's have some fun. Here's
	...

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