Solicitors with 3 children

[Almondbiscotti]

Is this possible to juggle 3 children, be a part time Solicitor whilst doing a 40min -1 hour commute into London and OH work full time too without a full time nanny? Can you really have it all???

[Suzietwo]

Nope! Wouldn't have thought so! I mean possible but desirable? Doubt it.

I have 3 and work more or less full time but from home as a consultant and am free to choose my own hours. Partner is a stay at home so I can work all hours I need to. He worked while we had 2 and that was fine but became tricky when 3rd was born and 1st started school. It'd still be ok with him working if I was prepared to sacrifice my career a bit and just work during the school day, but I'm not.

[Racmactac]

I have 3 children, work full time as a solicitor but I do only work 9 -5, I commute 45 mins - 1 hour.

but my youngest is now 8. my mum does school pick up twice a week, childminder twice a week and partner once a week.

[DelphiniumBlue]

Yes. But how easy it is will depend on your hours - eg 3 full days vs. 5 half days vs. 4 school length days.
I tried all these combinations, with DH working irregular and unpredictable shifts.
5 half days was easiest ( but left me very little free time) simply from the point of view of making it for school pick-ups. If you have an after school club, and/or local childminder, and your DH can do some drop- offs and you have holidays covered, it is possible. My Mum was able to help out with some of the holidays, and we used a mixture of swaps with friends and holiday clubs and DH & I taking leave separately. It took a lot of planning but it worked for a while.
It also depends on the type of work you do - if you have short notice court cases to prepare, it starts to get difficult. I was able to sometimes work remotely ( unpaid, but it meant I could leave the office to pick up the kids and then finish off anything urgent from home.)
If you have children not yet at school, you'd need more childcare. I found with the first and last children ( so only paying for one) a childminder worked well, but with 2 or more pre-schoolers at a time, a part-time nanny was more cost efficient.

[Almondbiscotti]

Did you work the same hours when they were younger? I don't have family near by 😕

[Almondbiscotti]

Thanks. Seems chaotic but I really want it all. I have heard that a lot just end up throwing most of their salary to childcare. Hmph. Question of balancing money and amount of hours worked.

[staghunter]

I work ft as solicitor with 3. I built my hours up slowly and finally went ft when youngest was 6, I think.

I have a very flexible job and dc's father does half. No paid childcare.

[Suzietwo]

It must depend on the work you do I agree. If you can leave the office and shut the door behind you that's probably more do-able than if you're litigating, for example. It'll also depend on your colleagues and their attitude. It's undeniably tricky when the kids are all using different child care - baby, nursery and school

[jamtartandcustard]

Of course it is possible. But after childcare and commuting costs I can't imagine you'll have much money left on a part time salary.