U.S. Maternity leave, toddler tantrums & why do we call it “football”?! episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 11, 2026 · 1H 5M

U.S. Maternity leave, toddler tantrums & why do we call it “football”?!

from Two Parents & A Podcast · host Alex & Harrison Fugman

This week on Two Parents & A Podcast, we go DEEP on the US maternity leave problem (did you know in 1919, 37 out of 38 industrialized nations adopted 14 weeks of paid leave… and the US was the ONE that held out?! And 100 years later, 1 in 4 American moms will go back to work within 2 weeks of giving birth?!). We learned SO much prepping for this episode & we're excited to figure out what we can do about this. Before we get into that, we start with Harrison's potentially fake World Cup jersey from an Instagram ad (also the CRAZY way he brought up this topic), Alex's mahjong charity event for the Jeremiah Program, and a new idea we’re floating: living abroad for a year in 2028?! (Alex is NOT here for hypotheticals). Plus, the #1 unexpected change going from 1 to 2 kids (the CAR is officially a 9 out of 10 in messiness) and the listener Q we've been thinking about all week: how does your heart grow for baby #2?! 🥹 SPORTS! We talk about the Knicks game (the West Village was crazy??) and go down an actual rabbit hole on why we call it football?! (a question we didn't know we needed an answer to). Which somehow brought us to the Summer House reunion (Bravo is having an absolute MASTERCLASS moment with this rollout). Finally we get into our maternity leave deep dive, the toddler tantrum dynamic everyone's been DMing us about (why do they meltdown with mom & dad but be ANGELS with teachers/grandparents?!), TWO Tweets of the Week that are living rent-free in our brains, and the great postpartum husband mystery - why do they all get in the BEST shape of their lives while their wives are pregnant?! LOVE YOU GUYS! Timestamps:  00:00:00 Welcome back to Two Parents & A Podcast! 01:01:46 When sports become pop culture…  00:05:36 Alex's mahjong charity event for the Jeremiah Program 00:08:14 Living abroad for a year… in 2028?! 00:10:34 #1 unexpected change going from 1 to 2 kids (the CAR?!) 00:15:08 Why do we call it football?! (a rabbit hole) 00:20:51 Summer House reunion analysis (skip if you must!!) 00:36:06 LISTENER Q: how did your heart grow for baby #2? 00:39:15 A deeper dive into US maternity leave  00:52:12 Why do toddlers tantrum with mom & dad but not teachers/grandparents?! 00:56:07 TWEET OF THE WEEK: “Everything is a win when the goal is experience" 00:57:38 TWEET OF THE WEEK PT. 2: “Your current life is an honest readout of who you've been" 01:01:14 Why are dads getting in the BEST shape postpartum?! 01:03:40 LOVE YOU GUYS! #twoparentsandapod -------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you to our sponsors this week: *Quince: Go to https://www.quince.com/alex for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! *Right now, new customers can get 15% off sitewide at https://www.magneticme.com *Veracity: For up to 65% off your order, head to https://www.VeracityHealth.co and use code TWOPARENTS *Lil’ Dude Wipes: Grab Lil’ DUDE Wipes at Target today! -------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to the pod on YouTube/Spotify/Apple: https://www.youtube.com/@twoparentsandapod https://open.spotify.com/show/7BxuZnHmNzOX9MdnzyU4bD?si=5e715ebaf9014fac https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/two-parents-a-podcast/id1737442386 -------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Two Parents & A Podcast: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/twoparentsandapod TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@twoparentsandapod Follow Alex Bennett: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/justalexbennett TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@justalexbennett Follow Harrison Fugman: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/harrisonfugman TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@harrisonfugman -------------------------------------------------------------- Powered by: Just Media House – https://www.justmediahouse.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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U.S. Maternity leave, toddler tantrums & why do we call it “football”?!

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