Episode 20: Katie Head of a Codfish: A podcast about modern working families

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

: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