Sam Kelly was making a Saturday morning to-do list for her kids on a Friday night when it hit her. She’d just spent a year teaching her husband not to rely on her to notice what needed to be done — and here she was, about to hand her children the same broken script. She dropped the marker, went to bed, and the next morning introduced her family to Notice and Do.

Two years later she has a book deal with Harper Collins, a viral online platform, and a method that’s helping burned-out mothers around the world finally get their families off the sidelines. In this conversation, Ashley and Sam talk about the mental load, the burnout loop, intergenerational cycle-breaking, and what it actually looks like to teach kids — including neurodivergent ones — to be a real part of the family team.

In This Episode

1. The Friday night moment that sparked the Notice and Do method
2. What Notice and Do actually is — and how it differs from a chore chart
3. The Big Three — Sam’s daily structure for kids of any age or ability
4. The learning ladder — why perfection isn’t the point and every rung counts
5. Teaching neurodivergent kids to notice — and why it works even when nothing else has
6. The five cycle-breaking conversations — age-appropriate language for mental load, burnout, and equity
7. Why rage cleaning is never really about the messy kitchen
8. The burnout loop — quarterly mommy meltdowns, putting your head down, and repeat
9. Why self care isn’t enough — and why supportive care needs to be the new conversation
10. What it’s like to teach an adult partner versus teaching kids — and why those are completely separate things
11. The full circle moment: how Notice and Do liberated Sam enough to write the book
12. How to approach this when your kids just don’t care — and why that’s actually fine
13. What she hopes the next generation looks like when this work takes hold

Quotes From This Episode

“Mental load is a whole family issue. Whole family issues require whole family solutions.”

— Sam Kelly

“Supportive care needs to be the new self care. Who is caring for the mom?”

— Sam Kelly

“It’s not about the messy kitchen. It’s about what that mess is triggering underneath — feeling taken for granted, feeling lonely, feeling unseen.”

— Sam Kelly

“This pain ends with us. This ends here and now.”

— Sam Kelly

“Notice and Do liberated me enough to create this book. And if it can liberate me at that level, it can liberate anyone.”

— Sam Kelly

Resources & Links

1. Notice and Do (Harper Collins, pre-order now)
2. Instagram: @samkelly_world
3. Audio course: available via Sam’s Instagram link
4. Request at your local library and indie bookstore

Connect with Ashley:

Website: https://www.ashleyblackington.com

Podcast website: https://www.andbothpodcast.com/

Dovetail® App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dovetail-app/id6744341822

Instagram: @mydovetail.app

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyblackington/