December 30, 2024 • 16 mins
On this episode, we uncover how a mystery rash is actually tied to last night’s dinner, a parent who’s taking "work from home" to a whole new level, and meet a mum who’s embracing sleep deprivation—for a surprising new reason.
You can share your best worst parenting stories by leaving us a voice note, email us at tgm@mamamia.com.au or for super shame super anonymous you can pop them in this form.
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CREDITS:
Host: Annaliese Todd & Stacey Hicks
Producer: Grace Rouvray
Audio Producer: Lu Hill
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
You're listening to another mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Mumma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. We
have recorded this podcast on the Gadigul people of the
Eor nation. We pay our respects to their elders past
and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and
Torres Rate islander cultures.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi, it's Anal's Todd here from this Glorious Mess, introducing
hot Pod Summer, one hundred hours of curated listening across
the Mummamere network, just for you to escape the chaos
and enjoy with the kids at home and the weather
warming up. We've got episodes of Parents Anonymous to share.
(01:03):
Parents Anonymous is part game show, part church confessional. You
share your deepest parenting shame and myself and Stacey Hicks
rate you, but the worst parenting wins the most points,
so really you can't lose. And if you want more,
there's a link in the show. Enjoy Parents Anonymous. Welcome
(01:29):
to this Glorious Mess. I'm Analie's todd, single mother with
fifty to fifty shared custody of two tween boys. I
work full time and I am currently behind on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
My tax Thanks for all the admissions there, and I'm
Stacy Hicks. I'm the deputy editor here at MoMA Meyer
and this week I ticked not one, but two daycare
bugs off my big go card. As you can probably hear,
I'm still dealing with the second one, but where fluids
ended up coming out both ends and my nose simultaneously.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And I'm just so happy to be sitting with you
in a studio. Yeah, are you loving this? I'm a
little cuddlef No, thank you, Okay, welcome back to parents Anonymous.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, this is our favorite time of week where we
hear your parenting confessions and basically just feel better about
being hot messes together.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Group therapy, you know. So you share your story, you
get the guilt of your chest, and we give you
points based on our very serious and scientific grading system. Yes,
otherwise known as a vibe check.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Vibe checks only. So it's part church confessional, part game show.
So we give you our points, but basically the worst
it is, the more points you get, so there's no losers.
It is the best worst parenting. Absolutely, it's the best. Well,
my daughter is three, so this is my confession this week.
Thank you, Thank you. Three going on four Primetime for tantrums,
and this week she was having one of her little
(02:53):
meltdowns over something I'm sure was very very important to her.
I can't I think I peeled the banana wrong or something.
And while she was having a meltdown, now she stomps
her foot for emphasis on a certain word, so she'll
say that was not done the right way, and she'll
stop on that word, and her dad and I just
think that that's so funny, and we were trying to
take it very seriously, but we both ended up with
the giggles. And the more funny we thought it was,
(03:15):
the more upset she got by us thinking that it
was funny.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I am very serious little issue. Yeah, I'm with her.
If I was really annoyed about something and then someone
was laughing at me, that would just make me so
much angry.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Before we were trying to stifle the laughs, but it
was just too funny watching her try and be very
serious about a very silly little issue.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I reckon next time, instead of laughing, you could just
pretend you're crying.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That is what we should have done. I think we're
here with you, we feel we feel you on.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
This, and pretend that you're crying. Instead of laughing, and
that would be better for her feelings. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, the way a banana is peeled is very important.
You're right, I should have been more serious about that.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Now, this show does not exist without your guilty confession,
so please leave us a voice to note, or if
you want to be fully anonymous, you can email us
and we'll even read them out for you.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And on today's show, our mystery confessions are called my
baby doubles up as a plate. My office is daycare
and it's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
All right, let's go. Let's go. Confession one, my baby
doubles as a plate. I found a rash on my
daughter's head and immediately panicked. Of course, I jumped onto
Google and found the worst possible scenarios, terrible diseases, contagious infections,
And after working myself up for well over an hour,
(04:35):
I investigated the rash further with my phone torch, even
touching the rash il and it moved. I wiped it
again and it slid around. That deadly rash was tomato
sauce from a pie I had eaten over the top
of my daughter's head literally hours earlier. I feel like
(04:58):
it's not the fact that she panicked over the rash.
That's very responsible parenting. Checking DODR Google can be dangerous,
but you know she was very responsible. My concern is
using a baby's head while eating what I would assume
to be a hot meat pie probably not the safest,
(05:20):
best recommended practice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Look, you saying this means that you did not have
what I had, which is what we call a velcrow child,
which is that you can't so much a step one
foot away from them without them screaming, and so you
get to the point where they just live on your chest.
My daughter, for the first three to four months of
her life, was permanently in a carrier on my chest
(05:43):
or my husband's chest, so every meal was eaten over
the top of her. Look, should there be a barrier,
probably lay a napkin down on their head.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
That's a good little tissue. That's a nice little.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Accessory for them too. You know, keep so busy, do
what you gotta do, and when mama's hungry, like she's
looking after a little human life, you just got to
eat when you can.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
It's all character resilience training. It's all resilience training. That's
exactly right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's fine, like they learned to deal with the elements.
Then anything could strike.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And she was on guard for the baby's health because
she was concerned it was a ration. Immediately acted. Yeah,
and it turns out to just be a little dribble
of tomato sauce.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Lucky she touched it. Imagine if she'd gone all the
way to the doctors.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh, that would be so embarrassing, Like you.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When you don't want to touch a rash, I would
be all up in there.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
So lucky she did.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
She'd rocked up and be like, my baby's got necrotizing
fashi ITAs or one of the weird diseases she's googled,
and then she gets there and it's tomato sauce.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That would be so embarrassing. All right, So in terms
of scoring this out of ten, what are we thinking? Stace?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Look, I think you are able to laugh at yourself
about it, which is great, and no harm done. The
baby's fine. It was just the sauce. It wasn't the
piping hot meat from the middle of the pie. So
we're fine. I'm giving you nine tommy sauces out of ten.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I think that you're right. It wasn't hot meat pie.
It was cold tomato sauce. So I'd like to retract
my concerning statements from previously discussed concerns. And I think
that it's a funny story. It would have been funny
if she actually went to the doctor, So I'll take
off a few points for that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, if you've gone all the way ended up at
the er, that would have been oh ideal for us.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That would have been the storytelling purposes and out of
ten for drama. So for that, I'll remove some points
and just give you a cheeky seven party pies out
of ten. Love it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So next we have my office is daycare. I'm currently
in my final week of maternity leave and go back
next week full time. During my leave, my husband and
I have moved, so we weren't able to get on
any daycare waiting lists early enough. All the reputable ones
in this area required an in person visit, and so
(08:08):
daycare won't start for our son for another six weeks
when his spot opens up. Since we both work from home,
have relatively flexible jobs, and a couple of family members
nearby ISH who can help for a few hours here
and there, we decided to lie to my work and
say the baby is at daycare. I'd rather get paid
than have to take another six weeks and risk losing
my job.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Okay, the confession is that she's lied.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
She's lying to work, so she's got to make it
work for six weeks with this baby at home. We
don't know how old this baby is. This baby might
be six months of which might be a little bit
easier a one year old. A one year old's trickier. Oh,
they're not napping as much.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And they do like to move around. Yeah, and they like.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
To squeal at random time. So if you're on a
very serious meeting, that will be hard to contain. Yes,
but between the two of them, and between family members
coming and being able to help out at important times,
they'll be able to do it. You know what, Actually,
this kid will at least be well for the first
six weeks of her time back at work, because that
is the hardest part for working parents when you go
(09:12):
back to work, then your child immediately gets sick at
daycare and you end up having to take a week
sick leave anyway, like you right now, yeah, right now,
back to back daycare bugs. So really, tactically, maybe this
is a good ease end the back to work situation.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I also, I don't advocate for lying to your work,
but I would like to question the workplace if she
feels the need to lie, Like hear it, Mamma Mia,
we wouldn't need to lie. Yeah, I could just say,
very very honestly, this is the situation, and Mama Mia
would say, don't worry, We'll make it work.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Everyone knows that I've had it coming out both ends
for weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And we can all hear it now. So I just
feel like that the issue is in the workplace culture.
It is not fostering parent friendly terms of honesty and communication.
So points off for the workplace, not for the.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Lie, but not for her. No, she's making your work.
This is life as a working parent, really, isn't it.
Like it's the juggle and it's real.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So I think, look, you're not permanently lying, You're not
trying to get away with it in the long term.
It's just a means to an end. So I think
for six weeks it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
No, oh god, no, no, you're in for a world
of pain. We're not gonna lie about that. This is
not going to be fun.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Working at home with toddler's is a worst Like.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I actually think you're better off with a baby or
a one year old or whatever this baby is rather
than a toddler. That would just be a no go altogether. Yeah,
because there's only so much Bluey can do for you
in terms of parenting.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Because then once they get to that age where they
can sit on an iPad when they're sick for hours
and you can work next to them with the only
interruptions being the snacks. Yeah, that's the phase I'm in.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, much easier for you, So much easier. I could
just work from home and pretend that kids weren't there.
And so what are we rating her for this one?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I think we're just going to have to really add
points on for the terrible workplace that she works in
where she cannot tell the truth, And for that, I
give her eight and a half white lies out of ten.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And I'm giving her a few bonus points for being
so optimistic and thinking that she can do it the
first six weeks back at work, where you're trying to
get your brain into gear while you are parenting a
little bubba that to you all the time. So I
am giving you nine lives out of ten. And I
want to make it clear when I said about it
coming out both ends, it was not in my workplace.
(11:30):
I mean, I've been away from the work.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Thanks doing that. Goodness, thank you for that caveat, And
to our very very delulu dilemma Confession three, it's not
that bad. I woke up at five point thirty this
(11:55):
morning to my baby, who is in the middle of
that fabled four month sleep regression, screaming her head off
again because she's tired and frustrated that she's having such
a hard time falling asleep. My husband, who was awake
with me the entire time, is back at work, and
I have this cranky, restless baby all by myself today.
(12:17):
Then a thought popped into my head, but this is
the least amount of responsibility I've ever had. My job
before maternity leave was awful, and I was responsible for
so much and always on the clock. I was on
call for all my friends and work dramas constantly, which
I loved, but it did get draining. But now they
(12:40):
started pulling back on phone calls because they assume I'm
overwhelmed when they ask me how I am I play
up how bad it is because I am enjoying this
freedom so much? Wow, is it bad that sleep deprivation
is better than my old life?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Look, you're a better girl than me, because I quite
frankly found sleep deprivation horrendous. I felt like there was
nothing worse in the world than the sleep deprivation. But
I love the way that she's looking at this, because
really it is all about perspective, isn't it. If you're
thinking that that's the hardest thing in the world, then
it does feel like it is.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
But really she's right. Every baby's different because you know,
sleep regression if that's sort of the worst thing, and
she's not struggling too badly with it. I had this
experience with my first. My second was a nightmare and
I had a newborn Anna toddler don't recommend, But with
my first, it was just like looking after a little
worm that just I would go and go for walks,
(13:35):
go and get coffee and cake. I would just watch
TV because it's not too early for screen time. You
could just sit there and feed in front of the
TV and binge watch TV shows. I actually bloody loved it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I actually have forgotten this part until we've spoken about
it now, just how much Gray's anatomy I got through
in the early days of feeding. Like, you never get
that time back. No, you never get to sit on
the lounge for hours on end again until they're out
of the house, I assume. But that's a long way
off for me.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So you're right, I know that's really happening. But yeah,
I mean, she won't be thinking this if she does
have a second or third or fourth, because then you're
looking after too many people.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yes, you don't get that time.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No, you don't just get to sit around and watch TV.
Your first it's just a little cheeky walk. It's a
coffee and a cake. You know. You can just live
in pajamas.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That is the best bit is that you can be
in an elasticized waistband at all times. Jeans don't have
to come anywhere near you. Quite frankly, that was my
favorite part of maternity leave actually.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So I think that this person is very very well
versed in silver lining syndrome, which is my brand, and
I respect that all about this. Yeah, and I think
that she's not even looking at it in the rear
view mirror. She's in it, and she realizes that working
is actually worse than having just that little newbie worm
(14:58):
time and TV binge watching time. Yeah, because then it
does get worse again than working, and then by the
time the end of your mat leave comes around, you
want to go back to work because they're hard. Then,
whereas this little worm phase, it's like the fourth trimester,
it's like glorious. So how many worms are you giving
this one? Out of ten? I'm actually going to go
really high. I'm going to go ten worms out of
(15:19):
ten because she's in the silver lining and she's in
the gratitude phase in the trenches, and that is very evolved. Yeah.
For that, my little breastfeeding hat or bottlefeeding hat goes
off to you, yep, because this is glorious and you
have completely owned it and realized it. You are very evolved.
And it's ten worms out of ten. Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's taken me until now to think about this, so
you're doing much better than me. So for that, I
feel like I have to give you ten seasons of
Gray's Anatomy out of ten.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Enjoy. Are we united on who we feel is the winner?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, I feel like we were quite generous this week
with all three yes, you're sick.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I'm just yeah, just do stup on medications. I think
everyone's wonderful. So we've got the tomato sauce on the head. Yes,
I took points off because she didn't actually go to
the doctor and that would have been a funnier story.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And I added some because I just think.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You got to eat when you got to eat, and
lying to your work about having daycare, My office is
a daycare. I mean, I feel for her because, as
I said, I feel like that's her work places. Yet yeah,
hers for having to lie. I really think that this
highly evolved confession, the fact that she realized at what
everyone does describe as the worst stage, it is actually
(16:32):
a little bit easier than all of the other stages
with hindsight.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It really is with hindsight, but she's in the moment
and has figured that out, and that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It's highly evolved, and so she's definitely the most winner, resilient,
brilliant winner. Congratulations, well done, well done, enjoy that little
worm time designing downhill from here.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And if you've got a confession, we'd love to hear it.
Please send us your secret chams. All the details are
in the show notes.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
See you next time. Bye. If you're looking for something
else to listen to, Mama Mia is officially presenting one
hundred hours of summer listens, from meaningful conversations to incredible stories, fashion, beauty,
and more. There's a link in the show notes
You're listening to another mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Mumma Mea acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. We
have recorded this podcast on the Gadigul people of the
Eor nation. We pay our respects to their elders past
and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and
Torres Rate islander cultures.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi, it's Anal's Todd here from this Glorious Mess, introducing
hot Pod Summer, one hundred hours of curated listening across
the Mummamere network, just for you to escape the chaos
and enjoy with the kids at home and the weather
warming up. We've got episodes of Parents Anonymous to share.
(01:03):
Parents Anonymous is part game show, part church confessional. You
share your deepest parenting shame and myself and Stacey Hicks
rate you, but the worst parenting wins the most points,
so really you can't lose. And if you want more,
there's a link in the show. Enjoy Parents Anonymous. Welcome
(01:29):
to this Glorious Mess. I'm Analie's todd, single mother with
fifty to fifty shared custody of two tween boys. I
work full time and I am currently behind on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
My tax Thanks for all the admissions there, and I'm
Stacy Hicks. I'm the deputy editor here at MoMA Meyer
and this week I ticked not one, but two daycare
bugs off my big go card. As you can probably hear,
I'm still dealing with the second one, but where fluids
ended up coming out both ends and my nose simultaneously.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And I'm just so happy to be sitting with you
in a studio. Yeah, are you loving this? I'm a
little cuddlef No, thank you, Okay, welcome back to parents Anonymous.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yes, this is our favorite time of week where we
hear your parenting confessions and basically just feel better about
being hot messes together.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Group therapy, you know. So you share your story, you
get the guilt of your chest, and we give you
points based on our very serious and scientific grading system. Yes,
otherwise known as a vibe check.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Vibe checks only. So it's part church confessional, part game show.
So we give you our points, but basically the worst
it is, the more points you get, so there's no losers.
It is the best worst parenting. Absolutely, it's the best. Well,
my daughter is three, so this is my confession this week.
Thank you, Thank you. Three going on four Primetime for tantrums,
and this week she was having one of her little
(02:53):
meltdowns over something I'm sure was very very important to her.
I can't I think I peeled the banana wrong or something.
And while she was having a meltdown, now she stomps
her foot for emphasis on a certain word, so she'll
say that was not done the right way, and she'll
stop on that word, and her dad and I just
think that that's so funny, and we were trying to
take it very seriously, but we both ended up with
the giggles. And the more funny we thought it was,
(03:15):
the more upset she got by us thinking that it
was funny.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I am very serious little issue. Yeah, I'm with her.
If I was really annoyed about something and then someone
was laughing at me, that would just make me so
much angry.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Before we were trying to stifle the laughs, but it
was just too funny watching her try and be very
serious about a very silly little issue.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I reckon next time, instead of laughing, you could just
pretend you're crying.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That is what we should have done. I think we're
here with you, we feel we feel you on.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
This, and pretend that you're crying. Instead of laughing, and
that would be better for her feelings. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, the way a banana is peeled is very important.
You're right, I should have been more serious about that.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Now, this show does not exist without your guilty confession,
so please leave us a voice to note, or if
you want to be fully anonymous, you can email us
and we'll even read them out for you.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And on today's show, our mystery confessions are called my
baby doubles up as a plate. My office is daycare
and it's not that bad.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
All right, let's go. Let's go. Confession one, my baby
doubles as a plate. I found a rash on my
daughter's head and immediately panicked. Of course, I jumped onto
Google and found the worst possible scenarios, terrible diseases, contagious infections,
And after working myself up for well over an hour,
(04:35):
I investigated the rash further with my phone torch, even
touching the rash il and it moved. I wiped it
again and it slid around. That deadly rash was tomato
sauce from a pie I had eaten over the top
of my daughter's head literally hours earlier. I feel like
(04:58):
it's not the fact that she panicked over the rash.
That's very responsible parenting. Checking DODR Google can be dangerous,
but you know she was very responsible. My concern is
using a baby's head while eating what I would assume
to be a hot meat pie probably not the safest,
(05:20):
best recommended practice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Look, you saying this means that you did not have
what I had, which is what we call a velcrow child,
which is that you can't so much a step one
foot away from them without them screaming, and so you
get to the point where they just live on your chest.
My daughter, for the first three to four months of
her life, was permanently in a carrier on my chest
(05:43):
or my husband's chest, so every meal was eaten over
the top of her. Look, should there be a barrier,
probably lay a napkin down on their head.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
That's a good little tissue. That's a nice little.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Accessory for them too. You know, keep so busy, do
what you gotta do, and when mama's hungry, like she's
looking after a little human life, you just got to
eat when you can.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
It's all character resilience training. It's all resilience training. That's
exactly right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's fine, like they learned to deal with the elements.
Then anything could strike.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And she was on guard for the baby's health because
she was concerned it was a ration. Immediately acted. Yeah,
and it turns out to just be a little dribble
of tomato sauce.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Lucky she touched it. Imagine if she'd gone all the
way to the doctors.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Oh, that would be so embarrassing, Like you.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
When you don't want to touch a rash, I would
be all up in there.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
So lucky she did.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
She'd rocked up and be like, my baby's got necrotizing
fashi ITAs or one of the weird diseases she's googled,
and then she gets there and it's tomato sauce.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
That would be so embarrassing. All right, So in terms
of scoring this out of ten, what are we thinking? Stace?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Look, I think you are able to laugh at yourself
about it, which is great, and no harm done. The
baby's fine. It was just the sauce. It wasn't the
piping hot meat from the middle of the pie. So
we're fine. I'm giving you nine tommy sauces out of ten.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I think that you're right. It wasn't hot meat pie.
It was cold tomato sauce. So I'd like to retract
my concerning statements from previously discussed concerns. And I think
that it's a funny story. It would have been funny
if she actually went to the doctor, So I'll take
off a few points for that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, if you've gone all the way ended up at
the er, that would have been oh ideal for us.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That would have been the storytelling purposes and out of
ten for drama. So for that, I'll remove some points
and just give you a cheeky seven party pies out
of ten. Love it? Okay?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So next we have my office is daycare. I'm currently
in my final week of maternity leave and go back
next week full time. During my leave, my husband and
I have moved, so we weren't able to get on
any daycare waiting lists early enough. All the reputable ones
in this area required an in person visit, and so
(08:08):
daycare won't start for our son for another six weeks
when his spot opens up. Since we both work from home,
have relatively flexible jobs, and a couple of family members
nearby ISH who can help for a few hours here
and there, we decided to lie to my work and
say the baby is at daycare. I'd rather get paid
than have to take another six weeks and risk losing
my job.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Okay, the confession is that she's lied.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
She's lying to work, so she's got to make it
work for six weeks with this baby at home. We
don't know how old this baby is. This baby might
be six months of which might be a little bit
easier a one year old. A one year old's trickier. Oh,
they're not napping as much.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And they do like to move around. Yeah, and they like.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
To squeal at random time. So if you're on a
very serious meeting, that will be hard to contain. Yes,
but between the two of them, and between family members
coming and being able to help out at important times,
they'll be able to do it. You know what, Actually,
this kid will at least be well for the first
six weeks of her time back at work, because that
is the hardest part for working parents when you go
(09:12):
back to work, then your child immediately gets sick at
daycare and you end up having to take a week
sick leave anyway, like you right now, yeah, right now,
back to back daycare bugs. So really, tactically, maybe this
is a good ease end the back to work situation.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I also, I don't advocate for lying to your work,
but I would like to question the workplace if she
feels the need to lie, Like hear it, Mamma Mia,
we wouldn't need to lie. Yeah, I could just say,
very very honestly, this is the situation, and Mama Mia
would say, don't worry, We'll make it work.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Everyone knows that I've had it coming out both ends
for weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And we can all hear it now. So I just
feel like that the issue is in the workplace culture.
It is not fostering parent friendly terms of honesty and communication.
So points off for the workplace, not for the.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Lie, but not for her. No, she's making your work.
This is life as a working parent, really, isn't it.
Like it's the juggle and it's real.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So I think, look, you're not permanently lying, You're not
trying to get away with it in the long term.
It's just a means to an end. So I think
for six weeks it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
No, oh god, no, no, you're in for a world
of pain. We're not gonna lie about that. This is
not going to be fun.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Working at home with toddler's is a worst Like.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I actually think you're better off with a baby or
a one year old or whatever this baby is rather
than a toddler. That would just be a no go altogether. Yeah,
because there's only so much Bluey can do for you
in terms of parenting.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Because then once they get to that age where they
can sit on an iPad when they're sick for hours
and you can work next to them with the only
interruptions being the snacks. Yeah, that's the phase I'm in.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, much easier for you, So much easier. I could
just work from home and pretend that kids weren't there.
And so what are we rating her for this one?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I think we're just going to have to really add
points on for the terrible workplace that she works in
where she cannot tell the truth, And for that, I
give her eight and a half white lies out of ten.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And I'm giving her a few bonus points for being
so optimistic and thinking that she can do it the
first six weeks back at work, where you're trying to
get your brain into gear while you are parenting a
little bubba that to you all the time. So I
am giving you nine lives out of ten. And I
want to make it clear when I said about it
coming out both ends, it was not in my workplace.
(11:30):
I mean, I've been away from the work.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Thanks doing that. Goodness, thank you for that caveat, And
to our very very delulu dilemma Confession three, it's not
that bad. I woke up at five point thirty this
(11:55):
morning to my baby, who is in the middle of
that fabled four month sleep regression, screaming her head off
again because she's tired and frustrated that she's having such
a hard time falling asleep. My husband, who was awake
with me the entire time, is back at work, and
I have this cranky, restless baby all by myself today.
(12:17):
Then a thought popped into my head, but this is
the least amount of responsibility I've ever had. My job
before maternity leave was awful, and I was responsible for
so much and always on the clock. I was on
call for all my friends and work dramas constantly, which
I loved, but it did get draining. But now they
(12:40):
started pulling back on phone calls because they assume I'm
overwhelmed when they ask me how I am I play
up how bad it is because I am enjoying this
freedom so much? Wow, is it bad that sleep deprivation
is better than my old life?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Look, you're a better girl than me, because I quite
frankly found sleep deprivation horrendous. I felt like there was
nothing worse in the world than the sleep deprivation. But
I love the way that she's looking at this, because
really it is all about perspective, isn't it. If you're
thinking that that's the hardest thing in the world, then
it does feel like it is.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
But really she's right. Every baby's different because you know,
sleep regression if that's sort of the worst thing, and
she's not struggling too badly with it. I had this
experience with my first. My second was a nightmare and
I had a newborn Anna toddler don't recommend, But with
my first, it was just like looking after a little
worm that just I would go and go for walks,
(13:35):
go and get coffee and cake. I would just watch
TV because it's not too early for screen time. You
could just sit there and feed in front of the
TV and binge watch TV shows. I actually bloody loved it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I actually have forgotten this part until we've spoken about
it now, just how much Gray's anatomy I got through
in the early days of feeding. Like, you never get
that time back. No, you never get to sit on
the lounge for hours on end again until they're out
of the house, I assume. But that's a long way
off for me.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So you're right, I know that's really happening. But yeah,
I mean, she won't be thinking this if she does
have a second or third or fourth, because then you're
looking after too many people.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yes, you don't get that time.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
No, you don't just get to sit around and watch TV.
Your first it's just a little cheeky walk. It's a
coffee and a cake. You know. You can just live
in pajamas.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
That is the best bit is that you can be
in an elasticized waistband at all times. Jeans don't have
to come anywhere near you. Quite frankly, that was my
favorite part of maternity leave actually.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So I think that this person is very very well
versed in silver lining syndrome, which is my brand, and
I respect that all about this. Yeah, and I think
that she's not even looking at it in the rear
view mirror. She's in it, and she realizes that working
is actually worse than having just that little newbie worm
(14:58):
time and TV binge watching time. Yeah, because then it
does get worse again than working, and then by the
time the end of your mat leave comes around, you
want to go back to work because they're hard. Then,
whereas this little worm phase, it's like the fourth trimester,
it's like glorious. So how many worms are you giving
this one? Out of ten? I'm actually going to go
really high. I'm going to go ten worms out of
(15:19):
ten because she's in the silver lining and she's in
the gratitude phase in the trenches, and that is very evolved. Yeah.
For that, my little breastfeeding hat or bottlefeeding hat goes
off to you, yep, because this is glorious and you
have completely owned it and realized it. You are very evolved.
And it's ten worms out of ten. Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
It's taken me until now to think about this, so
you're doing much better than me. So for that, I
feel like I have to give you ten seasons of
Gray's Anatomy out of ten.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Enjoy. Are we united on who we feel is the winner?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, I feel like we were quite generous this week
with all three yes, you're sick.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I'm just yeah, just do stup on medications. I think
everyone's wonderful. So we've got the tomato sauce on the head. Yes,
I took points off because she didn't actually go to
the doctor and that would have been a funnier story.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And I added some because I just think.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You got to eat when you got to eat, and
lying to your work about having daycare, My office is
a daycare. I mean, I feel for her because, as
I said, I feel like that's her work places. Yet yeah,
hers for having to lie. I really think that this
highly evolved confession, the fact that she realized at what
everyone does describe as the worst stage, it is actually
(16:32):
a little bit easier than all of the other stages
with hindsight.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
It really is with hindsight, but she's in the moment
and has figured that out, and that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It's highly evolved, and so she's definitely the most winner, resilient,
brilliant winner. Congratulations, well done, well done, enjoy that little
worm time designing downhill from here.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And if you've got a confession, we'd love to hear it.
Please send us your secret chams. All the details are
in the show notes.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
See you next time. Bye. If you're looking for something
else to listen to, Mama Mia is officially presenting one
hundred hours of summer listens, from meaningful conversations to incredible stories, fashion, beauty,
and more. There's a link in the show notes
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