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This episode is Part 1 of my chat with Cathy, HQ of a family of 4. Her family unit includes 2 kids and a partner who is unable to be in the paid workforce at this point, and we talk about parenting kryptonite, mental health and some impromptu role reversal.
The Lowdown
– Family of 4 – 1 parent working part-time (3 days) – 1 parent not currently able to work (recovery from workplace injury) – 1 at school – 1 at kindy
2:30 Sleep 3:02 Self-inflicted lack of sleep 3:20 Enjoying the silence when everyone else is asleep 4:06 Enjoying the time when no one is wanting anything from me 4:30 Trashy TV and intelligence (the podcast I was referring to here was Ep 6 of Bang On with Myf Warhurst & Zan Rowe (which was in turn talking about this article: Enjoyment of trash films linked to high intelligence, study finds) 5:22 Overspending alone time 5:44 Who are the people in your family and how are they occupied? 6:36 Past arrangements 6:53 Workplace injury and the fallout from that 7:22 Thinking of taking a package then plans changed due to partners injury 7:56 Looked for a new job instead 8:08 New role called for full time and it provided some certainty at an uncertain time 9:14 A really difficult and challenging time 9:58 Parenting super powers 10:02 Parenting kryptonite! 10:18 Being family HQ 10:36 Being across everyone's needs 11:10 Partners parenting superpower? 11:28 Dad knows everything 12:38 Superpowers? Or super glue? 12:50 Has the switch to being full time at home evolved his super powers? 12:10 Yes! 13:20 Was a shift worker so previously missing at key parts of the day 13:54 Parenting role has played a large part in the healing process 14:08 Can now take the lead in after school activities 14:34 Coming to terms with 'losing' a job/career 15:10 Parenting with a shift worker 17:44 Really important to have positives to focus on during time of healing and recovery 18:30 Blossoming as a parent 19:46 Taking over the home life reigns while at an acute stage of a mental health issue 20:14 A blessing and a curse 20:42 Focusing on day to day functioning to help recovery 22:18 Being the only dad at school drop off 23:16 Hats off to him! 24:38 Embracing the 'home with the kids role' 26:00 How are drop offs and pick ups managed 26:18 Have good resources for this at the moment. 27:02 OSHC 28:04 Keeping OSHC days to prepare for the future 30:06 Keeping OSHC days to keep routine and normality in difficult times 30:32 Knowing how the kids are travelling during the difficult times 32:38 I think we've done pretty well with guiding the kids through it 34:54 Have you been able to choose your own path? 35:00 Yes and no 35:14 Work now is more the direction I was initially heading 35:46 Situation actually created options 36:00 Going from facing redundancy to having choices 36:36 Making a decision because I had to, but options meant I felt empowered 37:46 Looking for the positives, I have many more opportunities at work 38:34 The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb 39:42 You got a wife! 40:06 I bring the experience of being a wife then getting a wife 40:30 I am very considerate of my wife! 41:12 Enjoyed the benefits in professional life of having a wife
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