Episode 20: Katie
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In Episode 20, we talk to Katie who has 4 primary school aged children and works as an art teacher. We talk about the realities of a 2 teacher family, learning to say no as an act of self care and which parent the school rings when a child is sick.
The Lowdown
– Family of 6
– 1 parent working full-time
– 1 parent working part-time
– 4 school-aged children
1:45 How much sleep are you getting?
9:46 You handled a bad sleeper, let’s see what else you can handle
10:26 Away from family when having young children
10:50 Who are the members of your family?
11:20 Setting the mum bar high
12:00 Maybe we were really good when we growing up?
12:30 Paid workload
13:40 2 teachers, ideal or harder?
14:00 3 different schools
14:46 Kids schools hours are always shorter than parents hours
19:04 Parent teacher interviews with children and parent’s schools
16:12 Husband travelled for work when children young
17:04 Took more family-friendly teaching jobs
17:36 Kids not doing sport have too much energy
17:52 Parenting superpowers? – Death stares!
18:12 Multitasking
18:20 Saying no
20:30 Husband’s parenting superpowers?
20:38 Discipline
21:26 The rock
22:00 Setting standards
22:22 Setting the standard when another parent is doing the leg work.
23:00 Standards slipping
24:10 What standards are achievable?
24:36 Expectations for parents these days
28:00 Children starting to get more freedom.
31:44 Having a day when you don’t need to rush off
33:155 Moving to Australia
33:44 Going back to work earlier than expected
34:05 The year of 3 drops offs
34:22 So much energy
35:10 Getting an ironing board into the car
36:22 Being able to get to own children’s events in school hours
37:10 Husband encouraged to apply for high-level jobs
37:36 Women told to stay in their lane and not expect much career-wise
39:10 Go for the job!
41:00 Only half the population has to consider being away from your family more to work full time
41:42 Know my limits
41:48 Priorities
42:40 What works well?
42:52 Husband working full time but can still do some pickups and dropoffs
43:28 Need to renegotiate hours every year
44:06 Found a decent balance now
45:04 Maxed out
45:26 Downsides?
45:40 Crazy messy house
45:52 One-on-one time with kids
46:25 Most of the downsides relate to home life
47:00 Next steps
47:05 Eligible for long service leave soon
48:00 Would like husband to want to slow down and work less hours at some stage
48:12 Another career, won’t necessarily be teaching anymore
49:22 Being creative and being a parent
50:16 Doing art at school all day and kids then want to do art at home after school
51:00 Having a creative mindset 51:54 Birthday cakes are a blind spot in the creative department
52:40 Time and freedom to be creative is hard
54:54 Are your family responsibilities catered for?
54:26 Part-time grey zone
55:24 There are opportunities to negotiate
56:04 Working part-time as a teacher, can’t necessarily be 4 days a week
57:10 Don’t have the ability to rearrange your work day, need to be in front of the classroom
57:44 Husbands work environment
58:02 Expectation that mothers are required when kids are sick
58:44 Is the pressure on the husband more because he is a dad and working full time?
58:58 Full-time workers have a greater capacity to take a bit of time out during the working week
1:00:26 Don’t want to let other co-workers down
1:00:36 Who does the school call?
1:02:10 Assume dad is at work but not mum or grandmother
1:02:40 Disastrous moments with pregnant bellies
1:04:42 Nothing like I thought it would be
1:05:12 Didn’t expect to come back to teaching and enjoy it so much after having kids
1:05:28 Showing children example and standard for working mothers
1:07:10 Any advice?
1:07:16 Benefits from jumping in the deep end with work earlier than expected
1:08:12 Getting that job has opened up opportunities to grow and learn
1:08:30 Take a risk!! Apply for things above your level
1:08:20 Expanding relationships
1:09:02 Don’t underestimate your skills
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