A Mother's Day special about the mum who can't stop helping.

The problem with Mum is that she cannot run past anything that needs fixing. Not won't. Cannot. Her legs simply refuse to keep going if someone, somewhere, might need help. She signed up for the marathon in January, bought fluorescent pink trainers in February, and by March has managed to run forty three consecutive steps.

Marathon day arrives. The starting pistol fires. Five hundred runners surge forward. Mum makes it nine seconds before Mrs Dottridge's eleven chickens stage a poultry revolution and escape across the route. Every other runner dodges around them. Mum's legs make the executive decision to veer left.

Twenty minutes of chicken wrangling later, Mum continues the race with a Rhode Island Red nesting on her head and another chicken sleeping under her arm like a feathery handbag. The sleeping chicken wakes at mile seven and lays an egg. Mid-run. Mum catches it one-handed without breaking stride.

Then things escalate. Gerald the cat is up another tree with four feline friends. An escaped goose terrorizes a runner. Washing decorates the route like boring bunting. A toddler's balloon escapes. Garden gnomes create a ceramic obstacle course. Mum does not think. Her body just acts. She rescues everything simultaneously whilst maintaining that she is still technically running.

By mile fifteen, word has spread and crowds line the route specifically to watch her. By mile twenty three she has collected two more cats, a rabbit from nowhere, a lost dog, and is somehow delivering packages. The chicken has laid two more eggs. The goose has become her official bodyguard. Gerald is asleep and drooling on her shoulder.

She crosses the finish line in dead last, six hours and forty three minutes later, covered in feathers and triumph.

This Mother's Day special celebrates every mum who cannot walk past someone who needs help, who derails every plan to assist a neighbour, who arrives home three hours late covered in paint and cat hair. Children will adore the escalating animal chaos and the magnificently ridiculous image of someone running a marathon with a chicken nesting in their hair. Parents will recognise themselves or someone they love in every gloriously derailed minute.

A joyful kids story podcast for families who appreciate mums who help too much, dads who love them anyway, and the beautiful chaos of being unable to ignore anyone who might possibly need assistance. Perfect for Mother's Day listening, for celebrating the helpful people in your life, or just for laughing at the spectacular disaster of trying to do one thing whilst helping everyone else.

If you want fun kids stories that celebrate real family dynamics, a kids storytelling podcast that honours the gloriously imperfect parents we love, or funny bedtime stories that land somewhere warm and true, this marathon is for you.

More stories celebrating families at MrMortonsBarmyBook.com where every tale lands with heart.

Episode length: approximately 10 minutes
Ages: 4 to 400
Best enjoyed: Mother's Day, bedtime, car journeys, after school wind down

If this made your household smile, follow the show for more fun children's stories that celebrate the people who make life beautifully chaotic.