the moms matter, too.

Just in time for Mother's Day, Spark Strategic Solutions and Gallup have released a new report on mothers in Idaho.

Here to discuss is Shannon McGuire of Sparks Strategic Solutions.

Shannon, thank you so much for joining me.

I'm so excited about this report.

What prompted it?

Shannon McGuire: Oh, the pandemic.

So, before the pandemic started, I was always already on this quest of thinking about moms.

And when everything hit and I watched, I went, oh my goodness, how are moms?

And so most of the data and insights that we were hearing were not localized to Idaho.

And I thought, let's go talk to Idaho moms and called up Gallup and said, this is data that's missing not only for Idaho, but the nation.

And they were in and off we went.

Davlin: And so what did you look at?

McGuire: Yeah, we looked at so many things.

We really honed down on aspirations.

We honed in on barriers.

What are the well-being indicators and metrics of moms and what do they want?

How are they feeling?

And so we looked at all of this.

We talked to Idahoans, and we drilled down even further and said, don't forget about moms and just exploded from there.

Davlin: You spoke to more than 4000 Idaho moms for this.

McGuire: Oh, 4000 Idahoans, but out of over 4000 of those, excuse me, 4000 Idahoans and 1700 plus moms were a part of that.

So, yeah.

Davlin: That's fantastic.

That it, When we talk about this, What stood out to you?

McGuire: To me, the biggest thing, the emotions.

I mean it put in perspective the paradox of emotions that moms go through from day to day and the stress and the burnout, but the emotional undercurrent of the stress.

I feel like it was laid bare there.

From gratitude and hope and joy to the stress and the loneliness and the anger, all within one day.

So moms are not this monolith that are just stress.

They have gratitude and joy and hope too.

And I think that's missing in the conversation.

Davlin: And I think what a lot of people don't understand, if they're not in this specific position of being a mother during stressful times, is that those things aren't mutually exclusive.

You can have gratitude and you can have extreme stress, and you can have anxiety and joy.

McGuire: Yes, all within a day.

And it does impact the people around you and the conversations and how you approach things.

But that's why community so important.

Davlin: Let's talk about community a little bit more.

When we talk about community support for mothers, what does that look like?

McGuire: Yeah, first and foremost it starts with the mom.

So I know that most people go outward and they think of the macro.

I like to start at the micro, moms taking care of moms, moms taking care of themselves, and then within the family unit in the home.

And then as we go outside of that, how are we being neighborly?

How are we checking in with each other?

Do we offer help and support?

And then societally, from the policy and systems piece, do we even understand the mom angle, perspective and voice?

So in order to get into that space, that's why we needed to lay this data bare here in Idaho and start a conversation about moms, about moms.

Davlin: When we're talking about this report, it is Idaho specific.

There is limited national data on moms, which is astounding to me.

McGuire: Yes.

And the interesting thing about this report, because it's pioneering, it does open up more conversations that we need to have and the national comparison that we have.

There's good and there's some bad, right?

The good is that we have access to outdoor recreation and parks, and we have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and things like that.

Davlin: Higher than the national average.

McGuire: Higher, thank you.

Higher than the national average.

But yet when it comes to education, mental health services, things like that, housing, childcare, it's pretty stark.

Idaho is falling behind.

Davlin: Yeah.

That that stood out to me too, that the percentage of mothers who say that they have access to affordable childcare, quality health care, mental health services in Idaho is lower than the national average.

And I imagine, too, that depending where you are in the state, whether you're in Boise or Orafino or Bear Lake or Chalice, that those numbers would probably be different too.

McGuire: Absolutely, and what is missed is that we're often not labeled as a rural and frontier state.

So our population levels were roughly 2 million, almost.

And when we compare that to larger metropolitan areas, it's wild.

So the rural environments do struggle a little bit more with access to jobs and health care in those things, for sure, versus the Treasure Valley.

Which opens up conversation about even more localized data and why it's so needed.

Davlin: So there are obvious policy implications here I imagine, when we're talking about things like health care and mental health services.

McGuire: Yes, and child care as well.

And I think the conversation needs to start with understanding the perspective and the why.

And there's a lot of data in this report, and it's almost a 30 page report.

And the voice of mothers and their experiences are there.

So we can localize the conversation in those communities with those elected officials.

It's awesome.

Davlin: What can citizens do?

McGuire: Oh, check on moms and like this hashtag check on moms and be there and be a guide.

Because one of the notes in here that also surprised me, where almost half of mothers are not asking for help, they're not comfortable.

And there's many reasons.

I've talked to many moms, whether it's rejection.

I did ask I don't get but community as citizens, be good neighbors and check on moms and offer support and offer an ear.

Ask them how they are.

And really not the grocery store, How are you?

I'm good.

Like how are you?

And really listen.

Davlin: And that's you talked about the macro level versus the micro level.

That is such a micro thing to do.

Just check in on your neighbor.

Absolutely.

What are you looking at next.

McGuire: Yes.

Next.

We're going national to take this data and Idaho as a catalyst to look at deeper mom insights around well-being and their aspirations and what we can do to support them.

So Idaho went first and I get really excited about that, I'm gonna keep my voice low because I could scream it.

And it's so important because I think the fabric of Idaho community, the connection, the people, the kindness, the ethos of who Idaho is at its core is there.

And we can inspire a movement that moms, if we want healthy kids, we have to have healthy moms.

So we're going to go nationally and start looking at this data.

And Idaho went first.

Davlin: It's fantastic.

Well, we will make sure to link to this report on our website.

Built with Care Unifying Communities Through Motherhood.

Shannon McGuire, thank you so much for joining us today.

McGuire: Thank you.

Davlin: And thank you for watching.