Last week, I pulled the most-listened-to episode of Dr Julie's Coffee Chats out of the archives — The Controversial School Holidays Episode.

This week, we're picking up the conversation three years later. And Anna is joining me.

Because when you look at the hours our children are at school, the weeks they're at school, and the hours and weeks we're expected to work…

the maths simply doesn't math.

In this episode, we go beyond the statistics and talk about what navigating this system actually looks like.

Anna shares more of her own story — becoming a doctor, training as a specialist in obstetrics while having two babies, and now balancing motherhood with a demanding specialist medical career.

We also look at where our current school-day and school-year structure actually came from, and why a system created for a very different world continues to shape the lives of modern families today.

Then we get personal.

After reflecting on our very different careers and journeys through motherhood, we each share:

• The one piece of advice we'd give a new mum.
• What we would do differently if we could go back.
• Our biggest challenge with the current system.
• What we've found actually helps make it work.
• And what we would most like to see change.

This isn't about whether we love having our children home during the holidays — of course we do.

It's about acknowledging that our expectations around work, school and parenting simply don't fit neatly together, and that families — particularly women — are often left to somehow make up the difference.

There are things we've learnt the hard way, things we'd approach very differently now, and plenty we still haven't figured out.

So grab a coffee and join us for an honest conversation about motherhood, careers, school holidays and trying to make the maths math. ❤️

A huge thank you to my podcast partner, Fuel Box, a fellow Wellington business supporting busy Kiwis to fuel their day.