About this episode

The episode discusses sibling estrangement, birth order, and how parents can help their children get along, featuring guest Catherine Carr.

How common is sibling estrangement? Does birth order really determine your destiny? And is there anything we can do to make our kids get along? Helping us to answer all these questions is the awesome author Catherine Carr.  It's a big episode for Ellie, as she talks publicly for the first time about being estranged from her brother - why it's happened, and how she's learned to make peace with it.  Catherine shares what she's learned about the subject in the course of writing her excellent book, Who's the Favourite ? We also discuss whether the myths about elder and younger siblings are true, and the role gender plays in family dynamics. Plus, we ask Catherine whether there's anything parents can do to help their kids' relationships run smoothly.  We finish of course with Scummy Mummy Confessions. This week: a sweaty incident, school admin stress, and Ellie's husband's peen.  Catherine's book is out now. Her podcast is called Relatively , and do check out her episode on Woman's Hour . You can follow her on Instagram @tall.lady.carr .  We are on tour! See you soon, Tiverton, Watford, Manchester and Eastleigh! Then we're visiting all sorts of venues all over…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ellie Gibson, Helen Thorn

Guest: Catherine Carr

Topics covered

• sibling estrangement
• birth order
• family dynamics
• parenting
• relationships

Keywords

• sibling estrangement
• birth order
• family dynamics
• parenting
• Catherine Carr

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Relatively, Woman's Hour

Books & works: Who's the Favourite ?

More episodes of The Scummy Mummies Podcast

• 337: Rachel Bright on writing, air hostessing, verrucas and hats · June 3, 2026 · 58 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Scummy Mummies Podcast podcast page.