Mairead Ronan says it's hard to strike a balance on how much to share about her children

1 month ago 5

Mairead Ronan has said she is "real and honest" about parenthood when discussing her children publicly, but admits it can be hard to strike a balance when it comes to how much she wants to share.

The podcaster and author tries hard to be respectful of both her children's privacy and of being real and open with listeners and readers.

Mairead hosts the Jenny and Mairead Now podcast along with Jenny Kelly, and the pair released their debut book together this year, What We Know Now.

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The memoir delves in the pair's friendship, which spans over 20 years, and touches on subjects like motherhood, grief and more. Between Mairead's career in broadcasting, the podcast and the book, she told RSVP Live that it can be hard to figure out what to share and what not to share, especially when it comes to her family.

Speaking at the An Post Book Awards, the mum-of-three told us: "It is hard. But I think, even on radio as well, I've always been real about it. I'm very real and very honest about it [parenting].

"The fun things they say, the silly things they say, the sometimes exhausting things they do and you have to do. We have our podcast now and we share those things with our listeners and of course they can relate to that. If we kept all of that behind a thick velvet curtain, they wouldn't feel like they could share their stories with us. I think you do have to get a bit away."

Mairead has three children, teenager Dara and two younger daughters, Eliza and Bonnie.

"I don't tell everything about them, but I do share a little bit," she said. "I know anything I share about Dara, he's comfortable with me sharing.

"At the same time, it's being respectful to our listeners of the podcast and the readers of the book, that they can get a little insight into what our lives are like. Our children are the very same as their children too."

Mairead and her family

Mairead and her family

She also revealed that Dara did get final approval on any mentions in the new book, which was shortlisted for the Bookstation Lifestyle Book of the Year.

"I did have to be careful because I wrote a piece on teenagers," said Mairead. "I only have one teenager and two up-and-comings. I had to be very careful around that but he really liked it."

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