Parenting Hell Podcast #5

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I'm just listening now, love that story, so nice to hear him being assertive!

Although I'm willing Rob to just pipe down a bit, he's so overbearing today, poor Josh trying to tell the party story, it's turned into all about Rob's ice skating trip. He's so full of himself just interrupting non stop, really annoying.
 
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I'm just listening now, love that story, so nice to hear him being assertive!

Although I'm willing Rob to just pipe down a bit, he's so overbearing today, poor Josh trying to tell the party story, it's turned into all about Rob's ice skating trip. He's so full of himself just interrupting non stop, really annoying.
SO annoying!!! 😑
 
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Yes I wanted to hear more about how Josh’s party went, how he managed and his tips, and whether his daughter enjoyed being back in London with her friends.
 
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I'm just listening now, love that story, so nice to hear him being assertive!

Although I'm willing Rob to just pipe down a bit, he's so overbearing today, poor Josh trying to tell the party story, it's turned into all about Rob's ice skating trip. He's so full of himself just interrupting non stop, really annoying.
So irritating! Josh had started the anecdote by saying it had just happened, then we got a load of Rob spiel about how obviously he and Lou had a superior way of organising parties, to then have the cheek to go back to Josh by asking when the party is. He is the epitome of being set to broadcast and not receive.

(Still listen to the pod every week though 😂)
 
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I can usually cope with a degree of interrupting from Rob as me and pretty much everyone I know is very impulsive and we do it to each other. This episode was overkill, though, and no realisation at any point from Rob like ‘tit, sorry Josh please tell us about your family trip back to see close friends and your daughter’s feelings’ he (Lou with her book as well) is becoming quite insufferable. Nobody likes a know-it-all, Rob! Especially when he and Lou appear to be raising spoilt teens who are not even 10 yet. Get your screaming kids another laboubou and pipe down. Being a “default parent” to primary age kids with no disabilities and with tonnes of money and help is not a thing!!! You’ve got a rich husband and a helpful network of family around you, check your privilege.

Parenting is about the wins and developments for your children after all the love and effort you give them. I’d like to have heard how it felt for Josh’s daughter to go back for her party and visit her beloved friends and to say goodbye again. As much as I took the piss out of the moving/moaning situation, we know Josh did it for his kids and for their family life. It would have been nice to explore how they all felt after reconnecting with the people they were good friends with in London, as the friends and social aspect was the thing they struggled with leaving. Rob is getting past being an impulsive interrupter, and becoming arrogant and self important.
 
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Made me laugh when he mentioned not going to Australia for a year because of school, and that Lou would have to look after them every day- like, just go for a year before they start secondary, put them in school for a year if necessary- wasn’t Lou a teacher? Couldn’t she home school for the year whilst giving them an amazing opportunity? A colleague of mine has literally just gone- for a year too. It is possible! You’ve got enough money to spend the year out, go and do it! But no need to write a book, or do a podcast ‘special’, just go if that’s what you want to do. He’d be comparing moving to Australia to Josh moving to Exeter 🤣. I know who I’d rather be married to that’s for sure 🤓
 
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I can’t take Lou seriously with this book now. Default parent but yet again has the privilege of family support in the form of her Dad joining them on the flight
 
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I can’t take Lou seriously with this book now. Default parent but yet again has the privilege of family support in the form of her Dad joining them on the flight
Aye, nobody is denying that she’s the default parent- but aren’t most stay at home parents, the default? I’m the default parent and I doubt I’d have time for multiple weekends away without the kids, time to write a book, go to Disney multiple times a year, have time to join my husband in Australia while he’s working. Embrace the privilege of being that default parent!
 
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Exactly! She’s bastardised the term. It only works when you’ve got a job, too. Or if when the dad is home he does duck all. Like mum A and dad B both work 9-5 but somehow it falls to A to organise their child’s birthday party, book in their eye appointments and manage everyone’s dentist visits including B’s. That’s where the term default parent has come in, when it defaults to (usually) the mum, despite her having the same outside commitments as the dad but ending up doing all the parenting and cooking and cleaning.

In Rob and Lou’s case, she’s a stay at home mum with a multi-millionaire husband, who also very much pulls his weight when he’s there, and waves her off happily to go on girls trips and whatever she wants while he looks after the kids. Then they have paid help and family help on top. It’s not what being the default parent means, they’ve taken it way out of context.

Is anyone else suspecting that using a buzzy insta-word is just a ruse for Lou to talk about what fabulous things they all do and how great she is at booking holidays? There’s a smugness about her and it’s rubbing off on Rob, too. They don’t seem to understand that everyone else would feel like they were doing a great job at parenting, too, if they had endless pots of money and the time and space to do it in.
 
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Exactly! She’s bastardised the term. It only works when you’ve got a job, too. Or if when the dad is home he does duck all. Like mum A and dad B both work 9-5 but somehow it falls to A to organise their child’s birthday party, book in their eye appointments and manage everyone’s dentist visits including B’s. That’s where the term default parent has come in, when it defaults to (usually) the mum, despite her having the same outside commitments as the dad but ending up doing all the parenting and cooking and cleaning.

In Rob and Lou’s case, she’s a stay at home mum with a multi-millionaire husband, who also very much pulls his weight when he’s there, and waves her off happily to go on girls trips and whatever she wants while he looks after the kids. Then they have paid help and family help on top. It’s not what being the default parent means, they’ve taken it way out of context.

Is anyone else suspecting that using a buzzy insta-word is just a ruse for Lou to talk about what fabulous things they all do and how great she is at booking holidays? There’s a smugness about her and it’s rubbing off on Rob, too. They don’t seem to understand that everyone else would feel like they were doing a great job at parenting, too, if they had endless pots of money and the time and space to do it in.
Yes! The smugness shines from them sometimes. I don’t doubt that she’s the one who books clubs, does pack ups and all the other crap that determines whether you’re the default parent or not, but it’s not quite the same as someone who works a 40hr+ week, has a partner who does the same, but the partner does nothing with the kid’s admin. My husband is ‘quite good’ but I’m still the default- but I don’t wang on about it all the time. I’ve got friends who work more than their husbands, their husbands are off on work and golf trips every week, the mums have to literally do everything!
 
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Exactly! She’s bastardised the term. It only works when you’ve got a job, too. Or if when the dad is home he does duck all. Like mum A and dad B both work 9-5 but somehow it falls to A to organise their child’s birthday party, book in their eye appointments and manage everyone’s dentist visits including B’s. That’s where the term default parent has come in, when it defaults to (usually) the mum, despite her having the same outside commitments as the dad but ending up doing all the parenting and cooking and cleaning.

In Rob and Lou’s case, she’s a stay at home mum with a multi-millionaire husband, who also very much pulls his weight when he’s there, and waves her off happily to go on girls trips and whatever she wants while he looks after the kids. Then they have paid help and family help on top. It’s not what being the default parent means, they’ve taken it way out of context.

Is anyone else suspecting that using a buzzy insta-word is just a ruse for Lou to talk about what fabulous things they all do and how great she is at booking holidays? There’s a smugness about her and it’s rubbing off on Rob, too. They don’t seem to understand that everyone else would feel like they were doing a great job at parenting, too, if they had endless pots of money and the time and space to do it in.
Exactly! I’d judge her if she wasn’t the default parent seeing as she doesn’t work while her husband makes loads of money 😂
 
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I can't believe it hasn't occurred to them to take more adults to the ice skating party idea. I've gone with my children, who can skate well, and two of their cousins who had never been. Trying to help the two who hadn't been before was a nightmare, and they were about 8 and 9 at the time. I still had to keep a vague eye on my own even though they're confident.

I've also taken one friend of my daughters who fell and cut her finger. It was a tiny cut but it took a while to track someone down with a plaster/calm her down a bit!
 
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I took my 2 sons once it was incredibly hard work! They must have been 6 and 10 and both needed me to physically hold them up. I also ended up grabbing other random kids and teaching them how to stop because they had no idea and it was just chaos.
 
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I braced myself and listened …it did make me smile that Josh was telling Rob he needed more adults and the penguin rules!
I was surprised that Rob thought it would be ok to take a year 6 child to Oz for a year because it was year 6 then straight back into high school
 
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I braced myself and listened …it did make me smile that Josh was telling Rob he needed more adults and the penguin rules!
I was surprised that Rob thought it would be ok to take a year 6 child to Oz for a year because it was year 6 then straight back into high school
I was wondering about SATS when he said that too
 
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I think missing Year 6 would be sad for children as there tends to be a lot of end of year events which would seem a shame not to attend. Having said that, they go to private school, so maybe they would end up returning to the same class?

Are SATs still compulsory for all schools? We're not in England so not sure how it works.
 
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