commuting good or bad idea

[solanum]

I need a job but there are limited opportunities whereI live.However,the town I livein has a regular train service to London, whichtakes about 50 minsto getinto central London, plus any other travelling time then spent on tubes to get to final destination. If I got the right job, the costs of travel would be at least covered by the increased salary, possibly even with a bit spare above that.Anyway, I would not be worse off money wise which is the key thing.

However, besides thefact that it would require me to be out of the house at about6 to 6.15am Mon - Fri ( and that in itself is likely to be vastly difficult) I wouldnot be home until aboutI reckon on average 7.30- 8.30pm. Now if I had no children that would be my problem only .

Does anyone else commute daily and manage not to have children suffering as a result?

[DLI]

personally, commuting is a nightmare. my job used to require me to leave hy house at 7am to get ds to childcare and then on to work, i then got to pick ds up and got home for 6.30pm. during the week i felt as if all i was doing was getting ds up and putting him to bed, we didnt spend any quality time together! i have since changed my hours at work so that i dont have to leave my house until 8am, the extra hour at home makes all the difference! i still get up at the same time but i get to sit with ds whilst he has his breakfast and we discuss what is happening in our lives, eg at school, what we want to do at the weekend

[solanum]

I am still thinking about what to do:my children are old enough to leave the house and goto school by themelvesinthe morning. My main concern is the lack of actual contact time with them after school. Although I have a partner,he would be home about6 to 6.30pmon average on weekdays.

Still job hunting and hoping a local job will turn up.

[nymphadora]

I am out 8-7 some days but I am moving closer to my job shortly so will be 8:30- 6:30 which will be slightly better. I also work 3/4 days a week which helps

[Squiffy]

I do similar with no problems (in fact I cherish my 65 minute commute with coffee and newspaper), the biggest downside is that because you owe it to your kids to devote your weekend 24/7 to them, then it means you start really resenting stuff like chores etc, and they start to slide.

I manage this by only working 4 days a week, 5th day I spend doing stuff like taking car in for service, the weekly shop, and all that niggly stuff. If you can do this it helps ease the strain a lot (I used to do 5 days but did find it tough going)

[glasshouse]

I have a 1½ hour commute each way to work every day, leaving at 6.00 am and getting home at 6.30 - 7.00 pm. I would try not to commute if you possibly can. Although it is nice to have the time to yourself on the train, the hassle of tubes/buses from the station to place of work is a nightmare.