Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance | Preview (W)

Comedian Katherine Ryan explores out of the box parenting ideas, by meeting families across the UK who are living and breathing them.

Along the journey we meet Katherine’s own family and discover why she thinks more parents should listen to their own instincts instead of following the crowd. Katherine has a 14-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old and a 7- month-old baby and juggling their childcare and a busy work life as a stand-up comedian and TV host is becoming too much to manage.

Worse – she knows how she WANTS to bring up her babies, and that’s by being there the whole time, and not outsourcing childcare, but that is impossible with her work schedule, if she still wants to be able to provide for her family.

Through the families she meets, she attempts to answer the problems she is facing at home. Throughout the whole series Katherine is also wrestling with the biggest problem of all – whether or not to have another baby. Which Bobby and her can’t seem to agree on!

In the first episode, Katherine Ryan’s work / life balance is not working out. She needs to work to provide for her family, but being out at work means she is not able to look after her toddler Fred and her 7-month-old baby Fenna herself; she needs help. Katherine’s husband Bobby is a stay-at-home dad, but the 2 babies are still a handful, and ideally both need 1 on 1 supervision.

And parenting teenager 14-year-old Violet brings its own set of modern challenges to navigate. In this episode, Katherine is searching for ways to try to feel less guilty about taking on help and trying to free up more time in her schedule to focus on her career.

She visits her friend Luisa Zissman, and ends up hearing a few home truths, has a consultation with specialist ‘fixer nanny’ Brenda Hart who advises Katherine and Bobby to try to get Fred’s sleep routine under control, and a call to her mum in Canada results in an offer to come over to help with the kids.

Katherine visits the Smith Family, who have all 4 grandparents involved in the childcare so that they can both work to pay the mortgage. Katherine also chats to fellow comedians London Hughes and Stephen Bailey.

Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance begins Monday 5th February at 9pm on W.