Tania Zaetta and Andy Leonard: Designer babies, online critics and more
TV presenter Tania Zaetta and actor Andy Leonard join Shevonne Hunt to share their opinions and experiences as parents.
On this episode they discuss:
- Choosing the gender of your baby
- Online critics who are quick to shame parents
- Parental lists of things they don’t do
- Farmyard animals and good gut health
Listen to Tania Zaetta and Andy Leonard on The Parent Panel:
Would you choose your baby’s sex?
An Australian woman has told the ABC her story about travelling overseas for IVF treatment where she could choose the sex of her baby.
After having three boys Stacey Hughes didn’t want to leave it to chance. It’s illegal to select the sex of your child in Australia, though groups like the Legalise Family Balancing group would like that to change.
Bernadette Tobin from the Plunket Centre for Ethics argues the ban should remain because the concept of unconditional love would change if we could start determining what children we are willing to parent.
If you were to have another child, would you choose their gender? Do you think other couples should have the right to choose the gender of their babies?
Parent shaming celebrities online
This week The Bachelor’s Sam Wood took his kids out on a very brisk Melbourne day.
Posting a photo of his little cherubs all rugged up, he copped a lot of flack from followers online. Apparently, it was irresponsible to take out small children into the cold.
Public shaming of media personalities is rife, which does little to make the rest of us feel confident about parenting in public.
What is the most ridiculous example of parenting shaming you’ve ever seen (online or IRL)? How do you respond?
What’s on your ‘I don’t’ list?
This week The Parent Panel guest and head of content at Mamamia Holly Wainwright wrote an article about all the things she doesn’t.
It’s like she’s starting the anti-parental-perfection revolution. Among the things that Holly doesn’t do – cooking during the week, ironing or entertaining. What’s on your ‘I don’t’ list?
Keeping your child’s microbiome healthy
Researchers at Ohio State University have found that keeping a goat in your backyard is good for your child’s gut health.
By studying the stools of Amish babies, and those that live in metropolitan areas, they found that babies that live in close proximity to farm animals have a stronger microbiome that city-dwellers. Good gut health has been linked to having a more robust immune system.
In the spirit of keeping your child’s gut healthy, what farm animal would you consider bringing into your family? What other aspects of the Amish lifestyle would you like to adopt?
GUESTS
Tania Zaetta – on Instagram @taniazaetta or her website is taniazaetta.com.au
Andy Leonard – on Instagram @gaydadandakid or his website andyleonard.com.au and his new show in Sydney is called Nine
HOST
Shevonne Hunt – @shevonnehunt
PRODUCER
Debby Ng – @debbyrachel
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