That Twin Mama Podcast

In December 1991, my dad took me to Walt Disney World and filmed every single thing — including a 3D movie, in 2D. Thirty-five years later, I took my twins. Plus: you could win a trip for up to four to Walt Disney World — details below.

My twin girls are the age I was on that tape. This is what actually happened.

My husband Ryan and I do our Magic & Mayhem recap of the trip — the rain, Rider Switch, the stroller my twin never left. I sit down with Mickey, who signed my autograph book in 1991 and signs it again. Debbi, 33 years with Walt Disney World, on why food is the memory that sticks. Jamila Boyd on Celebrate Soulfully, and the moment Ever met Tiana. And my dad, on the other side of the camera this time, on what he was thinking when he pointed a camcorder at everything.

Watch the video version on YouTube for the 1991 footage and the insider pop-up tips.

IN THIS EPISODE
00:54 — Why kids can't step into your childhood (except here)
02:07 — Mickey signs the book again
03:19 — Real talk: what the trip was actually like
05:26 — Ryan: Magic & Mayhem
12:22 — Three vacations in one week
13:19 — Debbi: 33 years, and why food sticks
15:46 — The croissant
16:41 — The Magic of Disney Animation, Nikkolas Smith, Jamila Boyd
18:01 — Ever meets Tiana
20:44 — My dad
22:25 — Captain EO, in 2D
27:43 — The Lion King refusal
32:13 — Will they remember?

WALT DISNEY WORLD IS HOSTING A SWEEPSTAKES — and you could win a trip for up to four people to Walt Disney World. Enter for your chance to experience the magic for yourself: https://FallAndHolidaysSweepstakes.disneyexperiences.com/

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 10/3/26 at 11:59pm ET. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., who are 18+ at time of entry. Limit 1 entry per person per day. Visit https://FallAndHolidaysSweepstakes.disneyexperiences.com/ for Official Rules including details on how to enter, eligibility requirements, odds of winning, prize description and limitations. Void where prohibited.

#WDWMagicalSeasons2026 #WaltDisneyWorld #hostedbydisney

This trip was gifted and provided by Walt Disney World.

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Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThatTwinMama/podcasts
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Credits:
Production: Berty Enterprises
Editing: Brian Allen
Music: Berty Enterprises
Design: Erin Fox Creative

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

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I threw my 16-year-old's phone out the window of a moving minivan. Then I sat down with the founder of conscious parenting and asked her what I actually did.
Dr. Shefali — clinical psychologist, NYT bestselling author, and the person whose book changed how I parent when I was 23 — joins me the week her two new books drop, Raising Conscious Sons and Raising Conscious Daughters. She tells me why taking the phone backfires, what "becoming a light" looks like when you're exhausted, how to have the porn conversation with a teenage boy, and why most of us apologize to ease our own guilt. I tell her about the apology to my son that finally worked. She roasts twin moms. I deserved it.
Get the books: https://www.drshefali.com/raisingconscious-daughters-sons/
Dr. Shefali: https://www.drshefali.com
Follow her: https://www.instagram.com/doctorshefali

New episodes of That Twin Mama every week — follow so you don't miss one.
Shop That Twin Mama merch: https://thattwinmama.store/
Follow That Twin Mama Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmamapodcast/
Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThatTwinMama/podcasts
Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmama_/
Follow Lauren on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thattwinmama_

Credits:
Production: Berty Enterprises
Editing: Nomadic Orca
Music: Berty Enterprises
Design: Erin Fox Creative

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lauren sits down with licensed clinical psychologist, professor, researcher, and podcaster Dr. Raquel Martin for a candid conversation about what it really means to raise children “the hard way”: without hitting, fear, or blind obedience.
Because once you tell children you value their voices, they will absolutely use them. Constantly.
Lauren and Dr. Raquel unpack the exhausting, deeply intentional work of raising critical thinkers while trying to break the parenting patterns many of us grew up with. They talk about respectful parenting, setting firm boundaries without shame, repairing after we lose our cool, and remembering that the goal is not to control our children—it is to raise healthy, safe, thoughtful humans who trust us enough to tell us the truth.
They also get honest about motherhood, mental health, choosing a parenting partner, the invisible weight carried by the default parent, and why taking care of yourself is not selfish—it is part of taking care of your children.
In This Episode, You’ll Hear:
Why Dr. Raquel says she raises her children “the hard way.”
The difference between raising obedient children and raising critical thinkers.
How racism-related fear shaped obedience-based parenting in many Black families.
Why understanding where our parents’ choices came from does not mean repeating them.
What respectful parenting actually looks like—and why it is not permissive parenting.
The simple question that changed Lauren’s parenting: “What is Mommy’s most important job?”
How to set limits based on health and safety without entering an endless power struggle.
Why “we’ll try again” can be more effective than shame or permanent punishment.
What to do when you yell, lose your patience, or react in a way you regret.
Why a real apology does not include “but you made me mad.”
How repair and changed behavior teach children what accountability looks like.
Why the urge to hit can be a sign that the parent is overwhelmed and needs to step away.
How choosing the right parenting partner can completely change the experience of motherhood.
Practical ways couples can prevent one person from becoming the default parent.
The difference between a partner doing something “wrong” and simply doing it differently.
Why clarity about your values should begin before you have children together.
How taking time away from your children can strengthen your ability to connect with them.
Why parents need community—and how to begin building a family of choice when traditional support is not available.

Why You’ll Love It:
This episode feels less like a parenting lecture and more like listening to two smart, funny friends tell the truth about raising children while internally screaming.
Lauren and Dr. Raquel make space for the contradictions: you can adore your children and desperately need a break. You can believe in respectful parenting and still lose your patience. You can understand why previous generations parented from fear while choosing to build something healthier.
It is honest, hilarious, validating, and full of language you can actually use the next time your child challenges a boundary—or asks why the clothes in the washing machine are still wet.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Learn more about Dr. Raquel Martin and explore her mental health resources: https://www.raquelmartinphd.com/
Follow Dr. Raquel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raquelmartinphd/
Learn more about The Sanctuary, Dr. Raquel’s mental health and education community for Black women, through her website and social channels. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc53INc5H15dlT-pnxpG1Pgb71UI6tFvsKe4k05zLLkg2amDA/viewform
Shop That Twin Mama merch: https://thattwinmama.store/
Follow That Twin Mama Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmamapodcast/
Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThatTwinMamaPodcast
Follow Lauren on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmama_/
Follow Lauren on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thattwinmama_

Credits:
Production: Berty Enterprises
Editing: Nomadic Orca
Music: Berty Enterprises
Design: Erin Fox Creative

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Raising mixed race kids means handing them language nobody ever handed you. Lauren was raised on the rule that if you're a little bit Black, you're all Black. It was pride and it was survival. But her three kids are mixed, her twins look nothing alike, and the binary she inherited doesn't stretch to fit them.
She was five or six the first time a kid made her race a punchline. On the school bus, in front of everyone, a boy asked whether she was Black because she'd rubbed poop on her face. She laughed along, went home, closed her bedroom door, and never told a single person. Not her babysitter. Not her mother, who is hearing this story for the first time on this episode.
Her family talked about race constantly. That wasn't the gap. The gap was that it always came as a comparison, one side up and one side down. And her kids are literally both.
Dr. Jennifer Noble is a licensed psychologist and the founder of Free To Be Collective, an organization dedicated to helping interracial couples and non-traditional families raise mixed race children with a secure, confident identity. She works specifically with mixed race teens and their parents, and she knows this territory personally as well as clinically, because she's mixed race herself.
Dr. Jenn tells Lauren what's missing from identifying her kids as solely black and what happens the afternoon a classmate says "but I saw your white dad drop you off."

YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT
• What "monoracial parent" means, and why naming yourself is the first step toward closing the gap
• Why saying "mixed race" out loud matters more than any speech you're planning
• Adding "and mixed" without subtracting an ounce of Black pride
• Phenotype, white presenting kids, and why siblings in the same house move through the world differently
• How early to start, and how to talk to a five-year-old about race without dropping the whole history on them
• How to turn a stranger's double take at the restaurant into your kid's lesson
• The family drawing where Lauren's daughter gave her dad an X, and what Dr. Jenn says to do before you react
• "That's your white side" jokes, and the question that tells you whether they're coming from connection or ignorance
• Why racial identity resurfaces hard at fourteen, and why teenagers rebel against it the same way they rebel against church
• The thing Dr. Jenn stops the conversation to correct at the very end

TAKEAWAYS
Name it to close it. If you're monoracial, say so, out loud, to yourself first. You could walk into either grandmother's house and know the rules. Your child cannot.
Add, don't replace. "You're Black" grounds a kid. "You're Black and mixed" grounds them and arms them for the day someone tries to disqualify them.
Your discomfort is the assignment. Feeling like an outsider in a room is a small taste of what your child navigates constantly.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
"Chocolate Me" by Taye Diggs https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250068010/?coliid=I39N3HPSJ4NNP0&colid=PWBSW17T2J62&psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_lstpd_FVHVKNAKAE6F5A66XKR2
Dr. Jenn's book list, 30+ Books You Need for Your Mixed Race Kid: https://freetobe.myflodesk.com/booklist30
Chicago Non-profit for Hair Lessons https://styles4kidz.org/join

WITH THANKS
Cold open footage featured with permission from @dennyelizabethwalker.

FIND DR. JENNIFER NOBLE
Instagram: instagram.com/drjennpsych
Website: FreeToBeCollective.com

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Stay Connected:
Podcast Website: www.thattwinmama.com
Follow on Instagram: @thattwinmamapodcast

Episode Credits:
Production: Berty Productions
Editing: Nomadic Orca
Photo: Birch Thomas
Design: Erin Fox Creative

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Before Codie Elaine Oliver ever had her twins, she had names picked out for the ones she didn't have yet — Mariah and Shania. Before I had mine, I used to joke that if I ever got pregnant again, I'd "pull a Beyoncé" and have twins. Neither of us believed it would actually happen. Then a doctor told me I likely couldn't have more kids at all. And then it was twins — for both of us.
This week I'm sharing my interview on the Mama's Den Podcast — a conversation recorded in person with Codie on the Disney Destiny, the first time we'd ever actually been in the same room after she'd already been a guest on my own show. By the time we sat down on the deck of that amazing cruise ship, we were deep into confessions: manifestation, motherhood, and the stuff twin moms don't usually say out loud.
We get into it: my doctor's exact words before the twins that changed everything, the "joke" that came true — for both of us — what it's really like going from one kid to three, and the stage of twin parenting nobody warns you about.
Normal episodes return in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, go check out the Mama's Den Podcast wherever you listen.

In this episode:
How Lauren became "That Twin Mama" — including being told by a doctor she likely couldn't have more kids, then finding out she was pregnant with twins
Manifesting twins — both hosts had jokingly "called" twins before it happened (Lauren's "pull a Beyoncé" bit; Codie's imaginary twin girls Mariah and Shania)
Going from one kid to three — navigating the 10-year age gap between Lauren's son Jackson and her twin girls
Being diagnosed/told you can't conceive — then defying the odds
The stages of twin parenting — what gets easier and when (holding their own bottles, independent eating, walking stairs, playing independently)
Protecting the older sibling's identity — not making Jackson a built-in babysitter; keeping him from being overshadowed
Postpartum mental health awareness — how the conversation has evolved since Lauren had Jackson in 2010
Going from career to content creator — Lauren's 10-year run at Teach For America and how the pandemic sparked her pivot
Raising grounded kids despite elevated experiences — gratitude, values, and the Disney Destiny cruise
The mother-daughter healing dynamic — how Lauren's twin girls are mirroring and healing her own complicated relationship with her mother

Lauren's first interview with Codie: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/72-navigating-motherhood-and-marriage-with/id1720436427?i=1000701676585
The Mama's Den Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mamas-den/id1616159115
Lauren's podcast episodes from the Disney Destiny:
https://youtu.be/9bM4SZfWSBE?si=BBLf-D6ey86YVUhz
https://youtu.be/c_2ugErZMQY?si=VUxqjLK4Tw62_Q6h

📺 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThatTwinMama/videos
🎧 Podcast Website: www.thattwinmama.com/podcast
📲 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmamapodcast/
https://www.instagram.com/thattwinmama_/

Credits:
Production, Editing, & Music: Berty Enterprises
Photo: Birch Thomas
Design: Erin Fox Creative

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy