FAQs

Who can share a First2Years story?

First:
Are you someone who is intimately involved with the care of a small child?

Second:
Have you faced any significant challenges?

Third:
Have you overcome (or at least started to overcome) those challenges?

If you answered YES to all three questions, you are the kind of person we would like to speak to! We are especially interested in sharing real-life, regular-person stories. You don’t have to have special experiences to share on our podcast. We especially want to talk about the things that people don’t talk about much, because by not talking about them we isolate ourselves and feel alone in our experiences. But by sharing we are able to reach other people who share the same experiences. By talking about how we overcome those challenges, we draw lessons that resonate with all kinds of diverse parenting experiences.

How do I tell you that I have a story to share?
Please start by filling out this quick Interest Form online. We will follow up with you to discuss the next steps!

Where do you do your recording?
Currently, we do most of our recording online. Renée & Molly do not live in the same state, and getting in the same room with the people we are interviewing can be just as challenging.

We work with a website that sets up a private, online “recording studio” for us. We send you the link and make an appointment for when we will meet there. At the appointed time, you meet us in the studio where we can record our conversation.

Do I need special equipment to be recorded for the podcast?
The real answer is yes, but the equipment needed is fairly minimal.
1) You will need to have access to a computer (such as a laptop or desktop), since our recording website doesn’t work with mobile devices.
2) Your computer needs to have internet access, and you need to be running Chrome or Firefox as the browser.
3) It is helpful if you have a mic. Typically we are able to get good sound from a typical pair of earbuds – for example, the kind you might use while making phone calls.

How long does it take?
We usually like to arrange for a telephone conversation with the people we are interviewing before the actual interview, and that call can take between 30 minutes and 1 hour. A typical recorded interview can take between 60 and 90 minutes.

What questions will you ask me?
The main questions we will ask will be related to, “What are the challenges you’ve faced, and how did you overcome those challenges?” We might ask you about resources you used or communities that supported you. We will get an idea about your story from the Interest Form or from conversations we have before we are actually recording, and questions we ask during the conversation will be geared towards drawing out that story. You can always learn more about the type of questions we ask by listening to our podcast episodes, too!