“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

That quote — made famous by supermodel Kate Moss — shaped an entire generation of women. And if we’re honest? Parts of it still live in our heads.

In this episode of After the Drop Off, we ask the uncomfortable question:

Did diet culture ever actually go away — or did it just rebrand itself as “wellness”?

We’re talking body image, weight loss pressure, gym culture, “clean eating”, and the quiet ways mums still shrink themselves — physically and metaphorically.

We unpack:

• Growing up in peak 90s and 2000s diet culture
• Why “heroin chic” never really left
• The moral language we use around food (“being good”, “being bad”)
• Post-baby body image and the pressure to “bounce back”
• The contradiction of wanting to feel confident without becoming obsessed
• Raising sons and daughters in a world still obsessed with appearance
• Whether body positivity has helped — or just added another standard to live up to

We also admit the messy bits:

The calorie counting.

The comparison spiral.

The gym guilt.

The jeans that don’t fit.

The thoughts we’re trying not to pass on.

This isn’t a body positivity lecture.

It’s not anti-weight loss.

And it’s definitely not us pretending we’ve figured it out.

It’s a real conversation about body image in Australia — and what it takes to unlearn decades of messaging while raising kids who are watching everything.

Because maybe the problem was never the quote.

Maybe it’s how deeply we believed it.

After the Drop Off is a podcast for parents navigating the primary school years — real, raw and funny conversations about modern motherhood, identity, friendships and the cultural stuff we’re still unpacking.

Welcome to After the Drop Off!

This is episode one — and before we get into the conversations we’ll be having, we thought we should probably introduce ourselves.

After the Drop Off lives in that moment once the kids are finally through the gate. You’re back in the car, your brain’s already half full, and you’re trying to switch gears into the rest of your day — work, life, logistics, all of it.

In this pilot episode, Beth and Jess share where they’re at right now — very different seasons of motherhood, very real tensions, and the messy middle years of raising school-aged kids while still caring about your work, your friendships, and yourself.

We talk about:

• ​Why this stage of motherhood feels so different to the daycare years
• ​The shift that happens once you become a “school gate mum”
• ​The gap we felt in conversations for working mums of primary-aged kids
• ​Why we wanted a space that’s honest, grounded, funny — and not about fixing anything

This podcast isn’t about advice, hacks, or having it all figured out. It’s about the conversations you usually have after drop-off — the ones that make you feel seen, lighter, and a little more normal heading into the day.

If you’re listening in the car, post drop-off, we hope this feels like sitting next to that friend who just gets it.

Follow us @afterthedropoff

HOSTS

Beth Stanford Brown @bethstanfordbrown

Jess Ashworth @jashworth_

LISTENER NOTE

If something in this episode resonated, we’d love you to share it with a friend who might need to hear it — or send us a message. We’re being real with you so you feel less alone.

LINKS

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231127044-mad-mabel

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57937453-all-her-fault

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/alone-australia