The Happiest Countries Do Motherhood Completely Differently

Motherkind

Zoe Blaskey

Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 863 Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if motherhood wasn’t meant to be this hard – or this lonely? In this episode of Motherkind, Zoe is joined by journalist and bestselling author Helen Russell to explore how culture shapes the way we experience motherhood. After becoming a mother in Denmark, Helen shares how living in a Nordic system gave her “permission to live differently” – with more rest, trust, parental support and far less guilt. Together, Zoe and Helen unpack why so many mothers in the UK feel under pressure to cope alone, and how much of that is cultural rather than personal. In this conversation, we explore: Why vulnerability in motherhood is normal – not a failure How parental leave, childcare and systems reduce guilt and burnout What Denmark gets right about raising children and supporting mothers Why happiness doesn’t mean feeling good all the time The power of community during big life transitions This episode is a gentle but powerful reminder that if motherhood feels overwhelming, it’s not because you’re doing it wrong – it’s because you were never meant to do it alone. Remember to subscribe to Motherkind — it helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing. Feeling different since becoming a mother? Get clarity on who you’re becoming now and download your FREE Matrescence Cheat Sheet If you liked this episode, listen to this next: Motherhood transformed me into who I was meant to be all along | Megan Rose Lane 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 Sonic Rooms from Pop That Mumma is a guided audio album designed to help mums find moments of calm in everyday life – use code MOTHERKIND for 30% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Matherkind. It is me, your host, Zoe Blaski. We are proudly sponsored by Wild Nutrition's Women's Supplements.
0:15.0	Have you ever thought about how your experience of motherhood might be different if you raised your children in a different country.
0:22.9	It's something I have thought about a lot.
0:25.0	We are so shaped and formed by the politics and the culture and the structure that is around us.
0:30.7	So I cannot wait for you to hear this fascinating episode today.
0:34.9	Helen Russell is an author and speaker about her experience of when she raised
0:39.5	her family in Denmark. So Helen tells us in this episode how wildly different her experience
0:45.8	was, how it helped her, how it formed how she parents, and what culturally we can learn from
0:52.8	other environments so that we can make in the UK our experience
0:57.5	a little bit easier. Now, if you ever thought, I wonder what the different experiences of mothers
1:02.5	are around the world, then this is an episode that you are going to want to listen to. Remember
1:07.0	to subscribe. It helps me and it helps you. Here's the episode.
1:19.1	I'd like to take this moment to thank our headline sponsor, Wild Nutrition, who are offering Motherkind listeners 50% off for the first three months. When I was pregnant with my first 10 years ago,
1:26.6	I asked a few nutritionists friends,
1:28.5	what's the best pregnancy supplement? And they all said the same thing, wild nutrition.
1:33.8	So I listened. And these incredible supplements have kept me feeling great through two pregnancies,
1:39.0	starting this podcast, writing a book, a relocation, and everything in between for the last decade.
1:44.6	So it's magical to me that I now get to tell you about this incredible woman-founded brand every week.
1:51.0	So the food-grown pregnancy and new mother-multe is expertly formulated to support you from conception
1:56.0	right through to postpartum and beyond.
1:58.9	And food-grown magnesium is backed by a gold standard scientific
2:02.9	study that shows it has the potential to help you sleep an extra 42 minutes a night and increase
	...

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