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Talking about having kids

Episode 260213 / 13 Feb 2026

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Beth and Phil have a real conversation in easy English about having kids – what to expect when you're a parent. Learn to talk about toddlers, tantrums and raising a child.

Vocabulary

pregnant
having a baby growing inside you

raise a child
take care of and support a child while they grow

parenting
being a parent; the act of raising a child 

toddler
young child who is just beginning to walk

tantrum
uncontrolled outburst of angry screaming and shouting

Transcript

Beth
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Beth.
 
Phil
And I'm Phil, and you can find a video version of this podcast with subtitles to help you on our website. And that's bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Beth
Hi Phil, how are you doing?
 
Phil
I'm doing very well. What about you, Beth? How's your day?
 
Beth
I'm OK. I am a little bit tired. As you know, I'm pregnant and my baby is kicking me right now, as we record this. And it's funny because today we're talking about having children and being parents.
 
Phil
Oh, yes.
 
Beth
So, you have children, don't you?
 
Phil
Yes, I have two. I've got a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old.
 
Beth
So, you almost have two teenagers, which sounds a bit stressful.
 
Phil
It can be sometimes, but... yeah, it can be sometimes, because it might be that they have a problem and you can see they've got a problem, but they don't want to tell you what it is.
 
Beth
OK.
 
Phil
So, that can be stressful.
 
Beth
I think that's a problem I won't have yet. Although a baby crying – they can't really tell you what the problem is.
 
Phil
No. No, I think it's probably... it's probably much more tiring when children are younger, I think.
 
Beth
Yeah. So, what would you say are the positives of raising children? When you raise a child, that means you take care of them and support them while they grow. So, what are the benefits of raising children?
 
Phil
So, I think one of the best things about parenting is just it is so rewarding when you see them doing something new, something they've learned to do. And when they get to the age of my kids, they start doing things that I can't do. So, it's like, "Wow! You're doing better than me. This is good."
 
Beth
What can your children do that you can't do?
 
Phil
Play the saxophone, speak Chinese really well, speak Japanese...
 
Beth
Wow.
 
Phil
...all these things. I can't do those – not to that level.

Beth
OK. Amazing. Great. So, what are the difficulties of being a new parent?
 
Phil
It's a long time ago for me. I'm trying to remember. But when you have very young children, it can be very intense. There's not much of a break because you have to do everything for them, so you don't get much of a rest. It gets a bit easier when they become toddlers, when they're, sort of, two or three and running around, although that has its own problems!
 
Beth
Don't they have a lot of tantrums when they are toddlers? So, lying on the floor screaming.
 
Phil
Yeah, I mean, toddlers do have lots of tantrums, but you learn to deal with those.
 
Beth
So, what advice do you have for me as a new parent?
 
Phil
OK. I think I've got two big pieces of advice. And the first one is that when you have kids, things change very quickly as they grow and they get different, and everything gets different and you can't go back, so enjoy what's happening when it's happening. And the second piece of advice is don't give them your phone!
 
Beth
Those are two very good pieces of advice, I think. Thank you. Especially living in the moment – I think that's very important. OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we heard during the podcast. We heard the word pregnant. If you are pregnant, then you have a baby growing inside you, like me – I am pregnant.
 
Phil
If you raise a child, you take care of them and support them while they grow.
 
Beth
Parenting is the act of raising a child and that comes from the verb to parent. Phil said that parenting can be very rewarding but very stressful.
 
Phil
We also had toddler. Now, a toddler is a young child who's just starting to walk, and we also said that they often have tantrums, which is when they get angry and scream and shout a lot.
 
Beth
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Why not try the worksheet on our website to test what you've learnt? That's at bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Phil
And we'll be back next week with another conversation in easy English. See you then.
 
Beth
Goodbye!
 
Phil
Bye!

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