Television and radio breakfast hosts on how they juggle early mornings and family time
They’re waking to their blaring alarms and coming to you on breakfast TV and radio every morning and, in some cases, home to do school lunches before the kids even know they’re gone.
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They’re waking to their blaring alarms and coming to you on breakfast TV and radio every morning and, in some cases, home to do school lunches before the kids even know they’re gone.
Brekkie mums doing the early shift means they work while the kids sleep and can be present when they’re home – and it’s a sacrifice worth waking up early for.
JODIE SPEERS
Channel Seven’s Jodie Speers and husband 2GB host Ben Fordham both get up at 3.10am to start their days – but the beauty of the mother of three’s job is that she’s back before Freddy, Goldie and Pearl even wake up.
“Ben tends to get straight up – whereas I allow myself a two minute snooze and have another alarm set for 3.12am just in case,” Speers laughs.
“The beauty of my job is that I am home in time for the kids to wake up, so I’m there for the morning chaos at home – lunch boxes, activities and school and preschool drop offs.
“Then, depending on the day, I take Goldie out in the morning, then try to catch a nap when she does, or if she’s at preschool I try to do some work – I’m doing some extra study, so always have reading to do, and also need to keep up with what’s happening in the news. “Then there are the after school activities – it’s like Tetris some days trying to manage the schedule – Ben is busy in the afternoons preparing his show for the next day.
“We have dinner at about 6pm then we’re all in our PJs trying to get the kids down by 7.30 before hitting the hay ourselves.”
Speers has always been a morning person, so has never found it too hard to get up. To make it work, they have two ‘wonderful babysitters’ who share the morning shift – whoever is on that morning arrives at 3.30am.
“They usually help with the laundry and then watch TV while the kids sleep and then the kids usually wake up just after I get home, so we do all the school prep then,” she tells Insider.
“It actually works really well for me, because I never have to miss anything with the kids.
“I do enjoy it – it can be exhausting at times, but I think most working parents get tired … I can’t complain.
“For me, it feels like I get to ‘have my cake and eat it too’ – so work, and still be around so much at home – it just means getting up at a crazy time of day to do so.”
Having Fordham also working the morning shift may present logistical challenges, but it also has its perks, she explains.
“We often get together for lunch with Goldie on a Tuesday after I take her to her sports class, and we feel lucky to have that time when lots of other people are at work,” she says.
“How do I manage the juggle? Badly at times. I’m definitely the Mum who needs the constant WhatsApp reminders, and forgets mufti day.
“I try not to sweat the small stuff – missing a mufti day isn’t the end of the world.”
Today they will have breakfast as a family, and both having lost their fathers in recent years, had plans to take their own Mums out for lunch together.
“My own mum was a nurse and a pretty practical, no-nonsense sort of Mum – she probably taught me to pick my battles,” she says.
“I’m the mum who lets the kids yell silly things out the car window, because I figure it doesn’t do any harm and they get endless laughs from it – apologies if we drive past you!
“My own mum pierced my belly button for me in the living room when I was 16, because she knew I was going to do it anyway and wanted to make sure it was hygienic.
“I’m strict where I think it matters, and laid back otherwise.
“The Covid lockdown had a few positives for us, with its slower pace of life … but it’s nice to be back in the swing of things … we’re going on a family holiday in the winter break which we’re looking forward to … then it will be back to the grind for the rest of the year.
“Fortunately it’s an enjoyable grind, most of the time.”
KATE RITCHIE
Kate Ritchie says she’s at the stage of her life where she welcomes the excuse to go to bed early – so getting up early to co-host Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie Breakfast Show, has not been a problem.
“I have had some … how do I say … challenges with Mae’s sleeping patterns and compliance with bedtimes so going to bed at the same time as she does has nothing to do with my return to breakfast radio,” she says.
“For now, it is a 4.30am or 5am alarm for me – I join the team in the studio at 7am so some might say I drew the ‘longest straw’ if there is such a thing.
“Being able to take on the other end of the day with Mae has brought with it a lovely shift in our time spent together … that is part of what made the job so appealing.
“After school is an important – and somewhat hectic – time at Mae’s age.
“I am loving it and it is working really well for us as a family.”
In an influence that came from her own mum Heather, Ritchie has always felt mornings were the best part of the day.
“Some of that has come from this notion being drummed into me by own mother, and our family’s rural NSW background, and some of this has come from me knowing I am most productive at that time of the day,” she says.
“There is no denying early mornings can be tough but driving into work, traffic on the roads, people in the cars beside me drinking their coffee or choccie milks, proves breakfast radio hosts are not the only ones up and about at that time.
“It can be quite energising – and dare I say exciting – that you’re starting the day with the rest of Sydney … and I am doing a job I love.”
She says the juggle of motherhood isn’t something she could manage alone.
“Physical help, emotional support, friendship, food left on the doorstep, a love heart emoji on a low vibe day,” she says.
“They all go a long way to making the journey that much easier – there is no shame in asking others to share in the lows and highs of it all.”
She says experiencing pregnancy and birth has given her a role in her life which puts everything else into perspective.
“I am aware my daughter teaches me just as much as I teach her and I love that too,” she says.
“Mae gives me incredible purpose and strength and she is one of the few people who allows me to be truly me.
“Nothing more or less.
“I am merely her Mummy and she loves me for that.
“In fact, if I am to be really honest as she gets older she is also teaching me I am deserving of love.
“Mae is funny and animated and can tell a story like nobody’s business.
“What I am most proud of though is Mae is kind … she is the kind of child who sees an old lady crossing the road in front of us or a man wearing a sling in the supermarket and will whisper to me that she hopes they are okay – she will even mention them to me again hours later, curious about where they might be right now. That makes me proud.
“It has been a big year – a big few years.
“This Mother’s Day I know I will feel wrapped up with love and will literally be wrapped up in the arms of my snuggle bunny as I like to call her.
“I think I might even take a moment among the madness of breakfast in bed and handmade arts and craft to give myself a soft pat on the back.
“For many reasons but most importantly for knowing that the best job I do is right there with her.”
Ritchie and Mae wrote children’s lifestyle book Everyday Play which was released late last year and will do a book signing at Harry Hartog’s at Bondi Junction on Saturday, May 27.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI
Like every other Sunday, mother of toddlers Joey, 3, and Teddy, 2, Jayne Azzopardi is working today – but has a sneaking suspicion a very special painting will be waiting for her when she’s home in time for lunch.
“Joey has told me he has made me something at daycare but ‘it has to dry’ so it looks like I will have a very special artwork to hang on the fridge when I get home,” the proud mum says.
Azzopardi has woken up early for Weekend Today for the last eight years – now she’s so used to it that she’ll even wake up before her alarm sounds.
“There are still some mornings that it feels that little bit harder – generally though, it works with my lifestyle – I still have plenty of time with the boys in the day and it’s not like I’m missing out on any late night parties these days,” she laughs.
Working on weekends means like the boys, she’s in bed by 7.30pm the night before, and is lucky that her husband is home on weekends to be with them.
“And I’m back in the door in time for lunch and some afternoon fun,” she says.
“Both times I was both excited and nervous to head back to work after maternity leave.
“It was great to reclaim my own sense of identity and to have some adult conversation and look after myself, but also it’s really difficult leaving your babies behind.
“With Joey I was back at work when he was four months old and with Teddy he was six months, so both were still waking overnight for feedings, and that part was tough.
“I feel like as a mum though you get so used to sleep deprivation that you just get on with it and carry on.”
If her husband is working, then it takes a village, as all parents can attest.
“My parents love to babysit, and my boys love staying with their grandparents so that’s a win-win – this week, for example, I’ve been working on the weekday Today Show so we’ve also had a professional nanny thrown into the mix.
“I use a service like Little Lovelies, which is great for when you need a one-off qualified babysitter.
“Joey is 3 and Teddy is 2 … so it is a crazy, wonderful, hectic, tiring time and I am grateful that I’m not working all day every day so I do get to be active in their lives during the day.
“There is nothing better than having those squishy arms thrown around your neck and kisses being planted on your cheeks.
“But I am always aware though that this day can be really difficult for a lot of people … so I will be thinking of my friends who’ve lost their mums, mums who’ve sadly lost their beautiful babies … as well as my friends who would love to be mums but haven’t been able to – because we shouldn’t forget how painful it can be for them.
“That was me for a long time so I try never to take my beautiful babies for granted.”
EDWINA BARTHOLOMEW
Edwina Bartholomew has been doing the early shift for TV and radio for 20 years, so it’s gotten a lot easier, even when she leaves Molly, 3, and Thomas, 1, for Seven’s Sunrise.
“My daughter has been slowly creeping into my bed so now it’s just easier to go to bed at the same time,” she says.
“We do bath time, read stories altogether and then Tom goes to bed and Molly falls asleep with me around 7 or 730pm – then my alarm goes off at 3am and I try to get a load of washing on or clean up the kitchen before I leave for work
“I get to work around 4ish and then I’m usually home by 11 – Sunrise is a great job for people with young kids.
“I am essentially working two jobs because I then take care of the kids all day but I’m very lucky to have the flexibility.”
To make it work in a practical sense, they have a nanny who lives with them to make life easier. Before that, it was a ‘continual roster of nannies, friends, parents’, but says they have been lucky enough to find people to help, who they now consider as family.
“(When I finish work) we have the whole day together – we do swimming lessons during the week and Molly has just started ballet,” she says.
“We also all get to have a little nap during the day.
“I am certainly a morning person now but it wasn’t always that way.
“Lucky I am a very good sleeper – the minute my head hits the pillow, I’m asleep.
“I don’t really manage the juggle at all – I can only do these hours with help and that is an incredibly privileged position to be in.
“We have toast for dinner more often then I should probably admit in the paper.
“I absolutely love being part of every single moment as they grow and become their own little people … the relationship between them makes my heart sing every day.”
For Mother’s Day Molly made her a painted candle holder at daycare, and she expects Tom will ‘just wipe some squished pear on my shirt’ before they do some baking and have her mum and some good friends over for afternoon tea.
ERIN MOLAN
For Erin Molan, spending time with daughter Eliza is her top priority – so much so that she’ll pick the four-year-old up from childcare as early as she can – just because she misses her.
That’s why she works while Eliza sleeps. Whether it’s up at sparrows for 2DayFM’s Hughsey Ed and Erin, or at night for Sky News – it means she has her days free for Eliza.
“Look I don’t know if mornings gets easier – it kind of feels like all I know now – and probably helped by the fact that I have no social life,” she laughs.
“So I go to bed with my daughter, unless I have to do television or I’ve got a function or something on, but I’m generally in bed with her at 7.30pm – I haven’t nailed sleep as yet, I still sleep with her, so I’m generally woken up multiple times throughout the night.
“I don’t think these kinds of hours are ever easy for anyone, regardless of what kind of work you’re doing.
“But the way I see it, I then get to come home and be a full time mum, basically.
“I feel like I still get to be there for the most part of her day, which is the most important thing to me.
“My biggest fear is looking back and thinking that other things came before her or looking back and thinking that I missed out on the most precious years of her life.”
Being a single mum means when Eliza’s not at her dads, she has a ‘beautiful lady’ Vicky takes care of Eliza while she’s gone or drops her to daycare if it’s a school day.
“And then I get her from preschool which I love doing and I get her super early because I miss her and also I feel guilty unless I get her really early … even though they’re open until 6pm,” she says.
Then they play Barbies, have an early dinner and do it all again. And while some days feel calmer than others, it’s a constant state of survival mode.
“I am actually working really hard on trying to actually get more peace into my life,” she says.
“And that’s this word that I’m really passionate about.
“Because it’s not even about succeeding. It’s not about being happy all the time. It’s not about any of those things that are always looking for more – it’s about feeling this sense of peace, when I’m not at work, and when I’m with my daughter, or when I’m at home, and, and not having to do something and just being able to sit with that.
“So I’m trying.
“But most of the time, it does feel like I’m hanging by a thread and just in survival mode,” she laughs.
Juggling motherhood and work is a challenge – but being a parent is the most important thing to her in the world.
“And that’s not just a line that I throw out,” she says.
“I’m very blessed to be able to say no to things and to be in a position where I can still work and still feel like a full time mum – but it is my priority to prioritise her, which I’m blessed to be able to do and … it’s hard and I’m tired a lot of the time.
“The hard parts make me appreciate the good parts, she makes me a better person, she makes me a more patient person she she’s essentially the reason that I’m investing so much in my health and in myself at the moment because she deserves to have the best possible version of me.
“I love that she makes me better, and she makes me want to be happier.
“And she makes me gentler on myself as well, because I can be quite hard on myself.
“And while she’s still happy to cuddle mummy, I’ll take that every day of the week.”
JAYNIE SEAL
Jaynie Seal has worked the early shift off an on for 15 years – and while it doesn’t get any easier on the body, the Sky News Breakfast presenter on Sky News Regional says there are lots of positives – if you look beyond the 3.10am alarm.
“I can get to every school pick-up, driving to work is a breeze with no traffic on the roads – the hardest part for me is slowing my brain down at night to go to sleep,” she says.
“I have also learnt to prioritise my sleep more and include naps, which have gradually been getting longer, and saying ‘no’ to many events and celebrations.
“My boys are almost always still awake when it’s time for me to go to bed – it’s much easier now they are older and independent.
“I love it. Once I am up, I am on, and the adrenaline and buzz from live TV helps with that.”
On the juggle – she says we just do it, right?
“Shoes go missing, the lunch box forgets to go in the school bag, you forget that it’s mufti day with your child in school uniform, you have to laugh it off,” Seal says.
“I sometimes have more to-do lists than I need, but somehow, between the chaos and procrastination, we get through it.”