Catherine Belknap and Natalie Telfer, aka Canadian comedy duo Cat & Nat, have seven children, ages three and four, and when I passed When we spoke to them on Zoom, they were all still spending their summer vacation at home…which is why we were doing the interview in the front seat of the car. They film a lot of content for their millions of followers on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, all in the same location, which gave our conversation the feel of a parent pick-up line.
“This is our private studio,” Telfer (hereafter referred to as “Nat”) told me. “This is literally the office.”
The two were friends in high school, “but not best friends.” It wasn’t until they were both mothers of young children looking for empathy that they reconnected on Facebook and began to build a rapport. Soon it developed into a friendship and sometimes I would forget that I was talking to two people. They didn’t finish each other’s sentences—their sentences flowed into each other. It’s not hard to see why they’ve built such a strong following among moms who crave similar friendships, especially in the often socially isolated world of motherhood.
I spoke with the two about the community they’ve built online, orthodontics (something no parent of teenagers would have thought at least), and the chaos of trying to do anything before the kids go back to school.
You two raise your children together. Watching several videos featuring your children, I wasn’t always sure who was who: it was like a cute little commune of kids.
Nat: deliberately. Wouldn’t that be great? commune? Those people are right.
It was your children that reconnected you: you had children around the same time.
Nat: When I had my baby I felt very alone and I didn’t know anyone else who was having babies. I would go to mom groups, but I just thought, I don’t know if I have anything in common. I just feel overwhelmed. I could barely leave the house. Then I saw the cat had a baby and I was like, “Oh my God, are you having a baby too? You have to come over here!”
cat: Bring the puppy! “Do you have one too?”
Nat: How about we have to train these puppies together? Thank God she came over because it was like being from the past and feeling less judged and feeling comfortable and there was already a history there.
cat: You don’t have to think about friendship.
Nat: Well, you don’t have to know her. I already know everything.
cat: It’s nice to have an adult with you who won’t judge you, and then you have to take care of your baby and they’re doing the same thing.
Nat: As a mom, you have a lot of things going on in your head, and when you sit down with your baby, you feel like you have no one to talk to about it. But when people are present, you can “send a touch of charisma” to every topic.
Especially in those early days when mother takes up all your time…
Nat: It’s exhausting, stressful, and you’re literally like… Before I started hanging out with her every day, I was counting down the days until my husband would come home so I wouldn’t have to be alone.
cat: Even that’s different. They’re different because you’re weighing the chores, or “You don’t know what it’s like.” He said, “You don’t know what it’s like to go to work.” So, there’s one that doesn’t want anything from you and just wants to be with you. It’s such a wonderful thing to be together.
You’ve obviously parlayed that friendship into an amazing online community and career, one of which is your work with Invisalign. Did you or any of your many children need correction before working with this company?
cat: I actually got Invisalign as an adult. I started it a year ago; I’m done now. I started talking about my journey online.
Nat: Then my son joined. He also received Invisalign treatment.
cat: So we got in touch with them and they let us know that this new technology was coming, did we have kids at an age who were getting orthodontics to enlarge their mouths? I was like, I actually know what that is because my oldest has a metal one…
Nat: ….with the key…
cat: …that thing goes in their mouth and you have to turn it! She is much easier to live with than our third or seventh child, my child who needed a palatal expander. she swore to me that she would no way She got one because she saw what her sister was going through. I don’t know if you have a youngest child like this, but they can be pretty scary. They do what they say, bribes don’t work for them.
So when Invisalign showed me that they had actual expanders that they could make themselves, that could go in and out of their mouth and be changed every day, so they didn’t have something bulky in their mouth, I was super excited and it worked Perfect. Every child is different, but for her, it was so easy, painless, and quick, so it didn’t have to be a power struggle.
Speaking of struggles, everyone has an opinion on it, but I feel like you’re in a good position to really have an opinion on it because your kids are teenagers now. What age do you think is the most difficult age?
cat: I believe there is no such age as a challenge. This is a challenge for you. I think everyone’s going to have a tough season, and I don’t think there’s one specific season.
Nat: Our kids are still not out of the woods. … What’s a little scary for teenagers is that they don’t have as much time with you at home, and the mistakes they make can be much bigger and have an impact on their lives beyond just the fact that they’ve violated their own rules .
cat: When they get into their teenage years, you really see how you raised them. Like, did we put everything in? Where are the limits? Do you know your etiquette? Can you keep your job?
Nat: It’s also scary because teenagers hypothesis Make mistakes, experiment and try things. Most of the time, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s like, “Oh my God, is this how they’re going to end up?” But being able to get to know them as people and hang out with them and gain experiences with them, it’s also Really happy… Now when I talk to my teenager, I often feel like she has insight into things, a better insight into things than I do.
You start this when your kids are little, and I feel like it can be challenging from a content standpoint and getting the material out there, but it can also be really fun because the things you’re experiencing and talking about are always there Keep evolving. Your content cannot be stagnant in nature. How did you experience this trajectory?
cat: As content creators, we do what feels natural and organic to us, rather than trends, because the motherhood space is well taken care of. We remind moms to have fun, find joy and laughter – find moments for yourself and steal moments of joy. It will be different when you grow up! We used to be able to build our schedule around our kids, which meant where us Want to go, what? us What you want to do and who you want to do us Want to hang out together. where is it now them Want to go, who them What do you want to play with? them Want to do it. So I think as your kids get older, you almost find yourself trying harder and getting more involved because you quickly get overwhelmed with their lives. I think our job is to regain time in some way.
Nat: From a content perspective, there’s enough content to create with what we’re going through as mothers and women growing up with children. We have a lot to talk about. We just started a brand new podcast after the summer break and have a lot to say.
I’m glad to hear it. When will it be launched?
Nat: We can start recording while they are at school. *sigh* As a mom, you’re like… I asked another mom recently, “Okay, when does school start next week?” and she said, “That’s next week’s question.” That’s it The case for podcasts. But it’s a brand new set and it’s brand new content, and it’s going to be… I mean, we need it. This is our therapy.
cat: Now, we’re just filling out forms, and I think it’s actually easier to fill out paper forms than digital forms. “Oh, let’s email this. Oh, another email. Oh, another email. Oh, wait…” Got about 40 emails in the past week. For example, I don’t go to school! Can’t you tell them when they get there? I have no control over this! Isn’t this their responsibility?
You’re going on tour in October…
Nat: What a small reminder of what we must do…
That’s next month’s question. You’ll deal with it next month.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
