Two Comedians Tackle Mean Girls, Shy Toddlers, and When Kids Should Wipe Their Own Butt

Parenting podcasts usually fall into two camps: the ones that make you feel like a terrible parent and the ones that make you feel like nobody actually knows what they’re doing either. Good Enough falls firmly in the second camp. 

This week, hosts Natasha Leggero and Sabrina Jalees answer audience questions about interrupting kids, mean girls, shy toddlers, and when your kid should start wiping their own butt. So whether you’re in the thick of it or just grateful it’s not you yet, this convo delivers. 

4 Parenting Questions That Range From Mean Girls to Bathroom Boundaries

How do I get my friend’s kids to stop interrupting our phone calls?

A childless listener called in asking how parents get their kids to stop talking over them during calls. “I am constantly letting my daughter interrupt me because I really want her to feel heard,” Leggero confesses. Jalees gets why, pointing out that kids under eight basically lack the maturity to understand why it’s a problem. “Asking a six-year-old not to interrupt is like telling the cast of Love on the Spectrum they need to be smoother when they flirt,” she says. “It’s not in the wheelhouse.”

Still, Leggero’s “parenting guru” has a move that’s worth trying:

• Put your hand up in front of the kid’s face while you finish your conversation
• When you’re done, remove the hand and ask what they needed
• Repeat until they start to understand that interrupting is annoying

“Remember, this is the universal sign for shut the f*ck up,” Jalees quips. 

My 11-year-old daughter might be a mean girl—my wife and I can’t agree on what to do

A dad calls in saying his daughter bosses her friends around during playdates and he’s worried she has “prisoners, not friends.” He wants to intervene. His wife thinks it’s a phase.

Leggero and Jalees both think action is the right call but disagree on when. Jalees says do it in the moment: “If your daughter has friends over and she’s bossing them around, that’s a perfect moment to say, ‘I don’t think that’s the way we do things in our family.'” Leggero prefers pulling them aside privately afterward. “In our family, kindness is really important” is the framing she’d use.

Where they fully agree: the bigger problem is that the parents are debating with each other while the behavior keeps going. “Agreeing to disagree, but agreeing to take action is probably the answer,” Jalees points out.

My three-year-old hides behind me every time she meets someone new

A mom called in worried about her toddler’s shyness, and Jalees flips the whole framing on its head. Adults spend years in therapy trying to feel more present and less like they’re performing for everyone around them, and kids are already naturally doing that. “Your three-year-old is in their body being like, ‘I’m not ready for this. Let’s take it slower. Why don’t you just be around for a bit and let me come to you?'” she says.

When should you teach your kid to wipe their own butt?

A mom wants to know when kids should start handling bathroom duties solo and Leggero immediately throws out age two. Shocked, Jalees says, “Two? I’ve lost track of time, but my kid is two and still poops in a diaper.” Leggero corrects herself to three and Jalees then says four. Unable to settle it themselves, they ask their AI assistant for a tiebreaker. The AI suggests “somewhere between when they stop believing in the tooth fairy and when they start rolling their eyes at you. So let’s say around age five or six.” Jalees is charmed. “Isn’t he so cool?” Leggero is not. “No, he is not. And he’s wrong.”

Listen to the full episode on Good Enough with Natasha Leggero and Sabrina Jalees, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read Next

• A Parenting Checklist for Raising Confident Kids, Not Just Obedient Ones
• Why Trying to Give Kids a Stress-Free Life Might Backfire
• The Fastest Way to Make Kids Take You Seriously, According to a Child Psychologist