Ready or Not

DEAR READY OR NOT:  What do you do when your boss rejects your request to extend parental leave? What do you wish you'd done more of on mat leave? And should you feel pressured to sleep train before heading back to work? — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.   You can also...

Welcome back to the show! Coming up today: Why do we all think that the school years will be easy? Mums need to be honest about the toll of school years, as Loz draws on her first year of navigating it all.  If we could start from scratch, what would a genuinely feminist care ecosystem look like? — Episode links mentioned in the episode: For Parents segment. Ambition segment. Dads &...

DEAR READY OR NOT: How do you make it through your first day back at work when your baby's starting daycare too? How do you say no to after-hours meetings? And what's the reality of working remotely with young kids? — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.   You can also find us on...

Welcome back, moms! Today: Red, Green, or Just Normal? Should we be applying red and green flags to relationships and if so what are some of the ones you, our community have come up with. We deepdive a Substack piece titled ‘ What I've Noticed About Moms Who Seem Less Stressed’ — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tel...

DEAR READY OR NOT: Should you have a second baby if your head says no but your heart says yes? Should you tell work you're struggling during probation? And how do you hold onto friendships when everyone seems too busy? — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review. You can also find us on Ins...

Julia Busuttil Nishimura may have five cookbooks, a children’s book, a career as a teacher, and three children under her belt, but as you’re about to find out, just like the rest of us, she’s still figuring out this whole motherhood and career thing as she goes. And honestly, what a relief it is, to know that one of the country’s most loved and accomplished cookbook authors...

Welcome back to Ready or Not, the show for mums navigating paid work and unpaid work. On today’s show: SAHM vs Working Mums: Will we ever be on the one team? Mum Walk’s first Motherhood Connection Report reveals motherhood isn’t just one of the hardest jobs in the world - it’s become one of the loneliest, and we need to talk about it.  — Got a question? Submit it...

RE-RUN: Today, Loz is joined by Gen Muir, obstetric social worker, parent educator and founder of Connected Parenting, to talk about the number one thing parents crave when the juggle feels impossible: connection with their kids. From public meltdowns to sibling fights, ‘giving in’ guilt, and the constant testing of boundaries, Gen shares practical tools to help you stay calm, hold lim...

Welcome back to Ready or Not, or in this re-run, the show that used to be called Witching Hour… the show for mums navigating paid work and unpaid work. On today’s show: Loz is sick of hearing from child attachment ‘experts’ and here's why. And, why has adjusting to my post-baby body been harder the second time around? Lu shares a brilliant piece published to UK Vogue by Ne...

Using Gen's full name, which is Genevieve La Hunt feels a bit weird, and it's not just because she's a good friend of Loz's, my co-host, of course, and the host of Ask Ready or Not. It's because when I jumped off this recording, I felt like I had just  chatted with a friend myself.  Gen is the founder of Sunday Agency. She works in publicity and PR she's had a really interesting career....

RE-RUN: Welcome back to Ready or Not, the show for mums navigating paid work and unpaid work. On today’s show: When will we stop judging the mums? Lu has seen so much unsolicited judgement on Instagram lately and she has some questions. The hidden bias in job applications: why women are being turned off by the questions we don’t ask men. — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listeni...

DEAR READY OR NOT: What should you be doing in your final weeks of mat leave to set  up for the return to work? How to stop the envy creeping in when your friends work fewer days than you but somehow still have the house and the holidays. And how to keep your cool when you're stuck managing up. — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell...

Welcome back to Ready or Not, the show for mums navigating paid work and unpaid work. On today’s show: Pay me like a cop: A deep dive into the maths of who we actually value.  Unpacking our very unofficial state of working motherhood report. We took to Instagram to find out how everyone is feeling, find out where everyone is at in the motherhood and work journey, and to ask some of the questi...

DEAR READY OR NOT: The mum-guilt of choosing to work full-time when you don't  have to. A co-worker has been bitching about you behind your back while you're on mat leave, do you confront her when you return or let it play out? And more life hacks, because you asked and we can never say no. — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your...

Welcome back to the show for working mums! AKA all mums because all mum’s work. On today’s show: Bullshit jobs: Is there work we do every day that secretly feels completely unnecessary? The childcare subsidy is one size fits all. So where does that leave the parents and families that the model doesn’t work for?  — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the...

DEAR READY OR NOT: How do you tell your boss you're pregnant again after only just returning from maternity leave? Will stepping back from your career while your kids are little hurt you long term? And parental preference: when your kids only want mum and it's starting to create tension at home. — Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your...

Because Ready or Not is all about figuring out how to make work, work as a mum, here, you’ll hear a side of Antoinette Lattouf you probably haven’t heard before, because for so long, we’ve wondered: how did Antoinette mother through the hardest time of her life? How do you rebuild your career and yourself after an unfair and extremely public sacking? How do you find the power to fight for yourself...

Welcome back to the show on all things motherhood and career! On today’s show: Parental leave is moving backwards - the new trend of clawing back parental leave has started and we’re digging into the why, the how and the what next. The motherhood penalty isn’t empowering: Let’s stop reframing systematic gender inequality as a feel-good personal growth story. This is a piece we came across from The...

DEAR READY OR NOT: What to do when your direct report earns nearly the same as you? How to get back in the game after being made redundant on maternity leave. And should you take a leap into your dream industry when you're also trying for a second baby? Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review. You ca...

Welcome back! Coming up on today’s show:  The little hacks making all the difference: Loz asked you what you do to make your weeks run a bit smoother and this is what you told us.  And then, “I don’t know how you do it all… I don’t”: There was a reel that caught our attention on Instagram, and it had us wondering what we expected being a working mum would look like versus what it’s actua...

DEAR READY OR NOT: Are your kids falling behind if they don’t do enough activities? What to do when your partner treats your job like the ‘flexible’ one and how to survive returning to work completely sleep deprived. Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review. You can also find us on Instagram: @readyor...

Welcome back! Coming up on today’s show:  The second shift: both of us have two kids in one room and we’ve asked you, the listeners, for advice on bedtime routines, wind-down techniques and general sleep hacks.  Amy Poehler’s obsession with enneagram led us to do our own personality tests. So, how well do we know ourselves? Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If...

DEAR READY OR NOT: Is it okay to be one and done? Will extending mat leave hurt your career and are mums being unrealistic about money right now? Got a question? Submit it here!  — Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review. You can also find us on Instagram: @readyornot.pod @laurentreweek_ @lucindamckimm_ And join us on DOME below! YEEH...

Sharina Simnett has been one of the biggest supporters of Ready or Not. Loz and I have shared many a conversation with her in our DMs, she’s always the first to leave a comment on Substack, she often checked in at the time that she was looking for work that actually worked alongside motherhood, and, once she landed her dream role at Yoto, she brought us our most meaningful partnership to date, too...

Welcome back! Things you thought you’d care about as a mum but you don’t at all: With three kids, Loz has decided this is her year of caring less and she asked the people what they have decided to care less about and the answers do not disappoint. Ladies: tell us why “not all men” feels offensive. Lu saw a man ask this question online and it really got us thinking.  Got a question? Submit it...