The highs and lows of 'motherhood'

Motherhood comes in all shapes and sizes. It's a tough job that comes with its share of wonderful and worrying moments. So, in honour of Mother's Day, we're asking: how did you navigate the challenges of motherhood? 

On this week's show:

Sook-Yin Lee hits the streets and asks moms to dish on the worst things their kids have ever done... and how they tackled those tough situations. 

What happens when your mother is the one who needs to be mothered? That's the focus of Lena Macdonald's critically acclaimed new documentary, Mom and Me. Lena and her mother, Harriet, tell Sook-Yin about Harriet's life on the streets and how Lena looked after her.

Eli was an 11-year-old when he first discovered the wild side of Toronto's Yonge Street...unfortunately, neither he nor his Mom ever expected him to be there. Hear Eli's mom Diane Flacks describe the phone call she received letting her know that her son was lost... on Yonge Street... in an area with billboards of 'half-naked women.' How she dealt with it once they were all home will have you re-evaluating what it means to be a mother.

You may know Bunmi Laditan as her Twitter alter-ego, The Honest Toddler. It's a hilarious online parody of what really goes on in the mind of a young 'un. Bunmi joins us with her own toddler Felix to share some of her hard-won parenting reality checks.

We'll tell you the untold story behind two Manitoba mothers, Lou Ogston and Penny Flatt. When Lou accidentally learned that she was the adoptive mother of Penny's child, she faced a touch choice with enormous consequences: whether to reveal her true identity or not. 

Amanda Martinez is a singer-songwriter and actress based in Toronto. She's also got three kids at home, so she knows what it's like to balance kids and a career. But Amanda got a whole new perspective this past January, when she left her life behind to care for eight young children in Namibia - part of a program through SOS Children Villages. 

When Stephanie Wesley found out she was pregnant, the timing couldn't have been worse. She was addicted to alcohol, prescription pills and crack cocaine. Luckily, she found help from a groundbreaking program in Winnipeg's North End called The Mothering Project. Thanks to our friends at CBC Manitoba for drawing our attention to Stephanie's inspiring story.

Poland born Canadian Jowita Bydlowska was still drinking in 2013 when she started to write her memoir 'Drunk Mom'. At first she was writing it as a work of fiction. She soon realized it was a story about her own life. Some people praised the book for being honest and raw. Others criticized the author for her ruthless behavior. A year later it was reviewed in the New York Times. These days Yowita is writing a column on mental health for the Toronto Star.

Every year in the Philippines, thousands of mothers leave their children behind to find work as domestic caregivers in other countries. We'll hear the story of Myrna Fernandez and her daughter Haniely Pableo, who now live in Toronto.

When Tyler Clark Burke's daughter was nine months old, her daughter had difficulty napping. So Tyler gave her daughter a beaver doll and told her that the doll was also tired and would nap with her. It worked and the two became inseparable. Life carried on, until one day her daughter lost her beloved doll.

Not long ago, Baraa Diab and her six children were forced to leave their beautiful, six-bedroom house in Iraq behind. But after fleeing the political turmoil and resettling in Canada, they found themselves in a two bedroom apartment... with bedbugs.

Oliver Masemann-Gray has a bad habit: at age 7, he's still sucking his thumb! His mom, Alison Masemann, is worried that he faces years of teenaged orthodontal work, so she's trying to ween him off his thumb. Find out about Alison's somewhat controversial incentive plan for her son and whether or not it works.