Airdate: Crash Test Mummies & Daddies

This week ABC2 begins a new 6 part series, Crash Test Mummies & Daddies, which follows five couples as they adjust to life after the birth of their first baby.

The show provides a snapshot of the contemporary experience of Australian parenting and focuses on the adults in particular, as they discover and reveal the impact the baby has on their lives, relationships and self image.

The series unfolds sequentially, but each episode also contains distinct themes. Episode One features the birth experience, initial bonding reactions as well as first attempts at breastfeeding and nappy changing. The issue of parental leave is also raised.

Crash Test Mummies & Daddies provides a snapshot of contemporary Australian parenting as five couples set out on the biggest adventure of their lives – the birth of their first child. Funny and poignant, this six-part documentary series follows the parents’ first four months at home and the impact of a new baby on their lives and relationships. as the parents’ needs are put on hold to cope with the demands of their newborn, the series explores the stresses and strains this in turn puts on relationships.

Priorities and values shift and compromises are negotiated as the couples find themselves on the emotional ride of their lives. In the ‘confessional’ of separate mothers’ and fathers’ groups, secret parent business is exposed as the different sexes reveal their true feelings about themselves, their baby and their partner.

Each couple shares their unique and intimate experiences of life after birth within the context of broader issues such as breastfeeding, financial pressures, changing roles, familial obligations, self-esteem, body image and the elusive work-life balance. The transition to becoming a parent and the day-to-day discoveries about parenthood can be a joyful experience, but it can also be a relentless and emotionally draining time of insecurity, fear and loneliness.

By sharing their experiences at this vulnerable and emotionally volatile time, these parents offer a rare insight into what really happens when that ‘bundle of joy’ comes home.

Begins 9:30pm Wednesday September 10 ABC2.