How Well Do We Really Know Our Parents?
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed We know our parents as Mom and Dad. We know the stories they’ve told us, the family history, the traditions, the big moments.
But how well do we really know the people they were before they became our parents?
In this episode of Message in the Middle, I’m talking with Neil Taylor, founder of Me and My Old Man, about the conversations we so often put off with our aging parents and the stories we may never get to hear if we wait too long.
Neil’s own journey into this work began in 2021, when he lost his dad, Patrick, after a long struggle with dementia. Six days later, his son was born. In that space between losing his father and becoming a father, Neil found himself thinking about all the questions he still had for his dad and could no longer ask.
That realization led him to create Me and My Old Man, a 12-week guided experience that helps adult children sit down with their parents and talk about the things that really matter. The conversations are recorded and turned into a life story audiobook the family can keep.
Neil has now recorded more than 350 hours of life stories with families across six countries.
We talk about why we often know our parents through the role they played in our lives, but may never take the time to know the whole person behind that role. We talk about the ordinary stories that can turn out to be the most meaningful, why we keep waiting for the “right” time to have these conversations, what dementia can teach us about not waiting, and what adult children often wish they had asked.
And we go somewhere a little more personal too. I ask Neil what he would ask his own dad if he had one more hour.
This conversation left me thinking about my own grandparents and parents, and about all the stories sitting inside the people we love that we may never think to ask about.
Because sometimes the question isn’t whether we love our parents.
It’s whether we’ve taken the time to really know them.
Connect with Neil:
Connect with Marianne:
- Website: Message In The Middle with Marianne
- Message In the Middle Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/422430469323847/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MessageInTheMiddle/playlists
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne-demello-smith-678b9966
- Email: Contact | Message In The Middle with Marianne
Subscribe to Message In the Middle:
Leave Us a Review: If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaway. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and bring you even more valuable content.
Keep the conversation going - Join us for more insightful conversations in the Message in the Middle Private Facebook Community & subscribe to Message in the Middle podcas...