Which Guide is Right For Me?

Each of our six guides covers one part of early parenthood, from pregnancy to age five. You don't need all of them. Start with the one that matches where you are now, and come back when things change.

If you're planning a pregnancy or expecting

Start with: Becoming and Sharing

The months before a baby arrives are the easiest time to decide how the load will be shared, because nothing has defaulted to you yet. Becoming prepares you for matrescence and the early weeks. Sharing helps you and your partner work out who owns what before sleepless nights make that conversation harder. If work and money are on your mind, Handling covers parental leave, super, and planning your return.

Also useful: The Shared Checklist, a before-the-baby-comes list you work through together.

If you have a new baby

Start with: Becoming: The Guide for Early Motherhood

The first year can change your body, your sleep, your relationships and your sense of who you are, often all at once. Becoming covers matrescence and early motherhood in one place. It has scripts, check-ins and practical tools for the stretch when you have the least time to go looking for answers.

If you're carrying most of the mental load

Start with: Sharing: The Guide for Rebalancing the Load

Maybe you're the one who remembers the vaccinations, notices the nappies running low and buys the birthday presents. That imbalance is a structural default, not a personal failing. Sharing gives you the language, conversations and systems to shift ownership of household work, not only the tasks.

If you're going back to work, or thinking about it

Start with: Handling: The Guide for Tackling the Motherhood Penalty

The motherhood penalty shows up in pay, promotions, super, and who gets the call when daycare rings. Handling walks you through your rights, your options, and the conversations to have with your employer and your partner. It uses current Australian policy throughout.

If the house feels like it's running you

Start with: Managing: The Guide for Home Organization

Meals, laundry, paperwork and the constant churn of stuff grow with every child. Managing helps you set up home systems that keep working without you having to hold them together.

If you're raising toddlers and preschoolers

Start with: Raising: The Guide to Parenting & Raising Good Humans

Big feelings, screen time, everyday skills and the question of what kind of people you're raising all arrive in these years. Raising covers each stage with research-backed approaches to connection, regulation and confidence. That includes your own regulation as well as your child's.

If your partner wants to do more, or you'd like them to

Start with: Showing Up: The Guide to Modern Fatherhood

Showing Up is written for dads and partners. It covers the same five themes from their side: what early motherhood asks of her, how to take real ownership at home, and how to parent as an equal rather than a helper.

If more than one of these sounds like you

Start with the situation that's costing you the most right now. Each guide cross-references the others, so you'll know where to go next.