Ep. 414: Sad Doll Disease

Ep. 414: Sad Doll Disease

From Big Fat Positive: Pregnancy and Parenting (BFP) by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko

June 8, 2026 · 52 min

About this episode

Laura and Shanna discuss unusual things they've learned, navigate parenting challenges, and share their weekly highlights.

In the special segment "Today I Learned," Laura and Shanna discuss the fascinating or unusual things they have learned about recently, including the story of how a mom on maternity leave saved a major motion picture and a disturbing phenomenon involving a beloved children's toy. Also, Shanna navigates her daughter's last-minute wardrobe crisis, and Laura spends Mother's Day doing exactly what she wanted. Finally, the moms share their BFPs and BFNs for the week, including events that provided some big laughs. Shanna's kids are 7 and 10 years old, and Laura's kids are 7 years old and 5 years old. Topics discussed in this episode: • Planning a Mother's Day outing with your kids • Validating your child's feelings vs. gaslighting them into positivity • Reclaiming hobbies after having kids • How a mom saved Toy Story 2 • Why your Owala (and other plastic items) may be melting • Surprising your partner: tips for keeping a secret in the age of smartphones • The Netflix Is a Joke Festival: a good excuse to see live comedy in LA Products, links, resources mentioned in this episode: • The Next Web article: "How Pixar’s Toy Story 2 was deleted twice, once by technology and again for its own…

People in this episode

Hosts: Laura Birek, Shanna Micko

Topics covered

  • Mother's Day planning
  • validating children's feelings
  • reclaiming hobbies
  • Toy Story 2 story
  • melting plastic
  • surprising partners
  • live comedy events

Keywords

  • Mother's Day
  • children's toys
  • Toy Story 2
  • Owala
  • parenting
  • comedy
  • hobbies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Next Web, New Scientist

Products: Owala water bottle

Books & works: Toy Story 2

Places: LA, The Wiltern, Largo at the Coronet

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