To ask how many kids you have, their age, and how many hours you work a week?

I have three teens, two at secondary school and one away at uni. I work 30 hours a week.

Three teenagers, two days WFH two days on the office.

2 DC, 13 and 15. DH and I both work FT, both 3 days in the office and 2 at home. We try and make sure we work opposite WFH days so someone is about for DC 4 days out of 5. We live in London and DC have a 10 min walk to school so now they are older, are perfectly fine to walk home, get themselves in and be by themselves for an hour or two. Being in London means they can also get themselves to any after school activities on the bus if necessary.

DH deals with the cooking and meal plans at the weekend. He's usually home by 6pm and DC are at sports clubs most evenings, so we don't usually eat until 7.30pm/8pm once they are back. We can stick a wash on/empty the dishwasher when WFH so we don't find evenings too rushed these days.

When DC were smaller, I worked PT either 3 or 4 days a week, I went back to FT out of necessity when DH was made redundant, but obviously he was at home then so wasn't an issue. Think DC were about 8 & 10 when we were both back working FT. It's all so much easier now they are fairly independent.

Two kids, aged 12 (yr 7) and 4 (foundation). Both schools 5 minutes walk from home

I’ve got one salaried role which works out at about 12 hours a week and then I do freelance work for about 20 hours a week but that’s fully flexible and term time only. I work from home, although I do have use of an office for two mornings a week, so I’m generally home to sort the evening meal.

DH has a professional career - works from home 4 days a week, and is fully flexible as he manages his own workload. As long as he meets the minimum financial targets he can do what he likes in terms of hours. This means we get to eat together every day at 5.30. He takes over the kids after dinner if I need to catch up on work or housework, and if he needs to he catches up on work whilst our eldest is at one of his activities in the week (he’s out for 3.5 hours on a Tuesday evening).

It works really well for us. I used to teach (stopped when a single parent) and couldn’t do that now as easily. I feel lucky, and now there’s no childcare costs I’m adding more to my private pension (which was a worry before).

There is a phrase I like that a friend of mine uses; 'In this phase of my life'.

This. And yy to how the other parent works too.

I have a primary age child and a preschooler. DH works 9-6, I work around 20 hours a week. I'm hoping to work more come September.

There is a phrase I like that a friend of mine uses; 'In this phase of my life'.

This. And yy to how the other parent works too.

I have a primary age child and two preschoolers. DH works 9-6, I work around 20 hours a week. I'm hoping to work more come September.

There is a phrase I like that a friend of mine uses; 'In this phase of my life'.

This. And yy to how the other parent works too.

I have a primary age child and two preschoolers. DH works 9-6, I work around 20 hours a week. I'm hoping to work more come September.

I do 27 hours over 3 days, children aged 5 and 3. On the days I work, the children attend breakfast / after school club and nursery all day. We have little family support day to day so have to use clubs.

When the youngest is school age I may increase to 4 days but I’d still like a day to do housework, admin etc.

I will go back to full time when older.

FT since they were babies - they're 10 & 13 now and I average 50+ hours a week.

Easy for me because home, work and school are in 4 mile radius so no commute to tackle.

Personally I find I need to be far more emotionally available now my kids are heading into teen years, than I was when they were younger so I can finish at a reasonable hour, spend time with them and then carry on working in evenings if necessary.

Single mum, one child age 5, work full time in a senior role. Caveats are it's mostly WFH and I've chosen an industry/company who are extremely flexible.

I think life would be easier if I dropped a day, but it's not on the cards for me. It is exhausting. In terms of dinners, we're normally freezer bits, pasta, snacky plates (cheese/veggie sticks/pittas etc) or will eat out between activities.

1. 6. 27.5

2 kids. 10 and 8. 2 days a week from home.

2 DC aged 4 and 7. I work full time 37.5 hrs per week. Short commute, some wfh and no overtime. DH does the same

At work most women with young DC seem to go down to 4 days and make one of those days a wfh day.

Amongst the school mums it's a real mixed bag from not working all, up to full time working. I would say those of us who do full time tend to be public sector so full time is 37 ish hours a week. We are out of sensible commuting range for any of the big cities so no one really has big corporate type jobs.

Two children aged 19 (he is at uni) and 10. I work anywhere between 30 and 80 hours a week, depending on emergencies / schedules / cases going wrong.
DH is the same. We do dinner depending on who is home first. We have quite a few things in the freezer for late-home-cook-quick emergencies, such as soup, lentil dal, casseroles, etc. Also do wholemeal fresh pasta and veggies, that's quick.

Should add two kids age 5&7

I'm only 24hrs but shift work (I'm a nurse) so quite often not in for dinner, husband is he works full time. I feel like it can be that way with us too so your not alone in thinking that way.

I love my slow cooker as with 3 kids at 3 schools and the older and youngest having lots of activities I'm also the transport service! So curries and stews in the slow cooker are so helpful. Then we got gifted an air fryer, despite resisting the hype and imagination convert as it's so quick! So if I get back I'm at 5.30 from swimming or music lessons I can have a good salmon or chicken meal ready quicky.

I think a lot depends on the type of work you do - if you have an office job, especially if it is WFH at least part of the time, it's a lot easier to be full time than if you work a more physical/on your feet type job

Single mum to a 10yr old. Work full time in a senior professional job with lots of flexibility

3 kids. 14, 11, 7. Middle one autistic in specialist provision so I have to work within school hours. (Childcare not an option for him). I work 3 days a week school hours in a primary school. Plus some extra hours invigilating exams when needed in a secondary school.

I feel constrained work wise by being a mum to an SEN child as it's not feasible for me to work more. My husband earns more and works a fair commute away. But I do enjoy being around for my kids mornings and after school. The choice isn't there for me to make though.

I have one preschooler and work 30 hours over 3 days a week. I’d like to reduce this to more like 28 hours when finances permit just to be able to do some pick ups and feel less exhausted.
I online grocery shop as I can do it in my lunch break. Meal wise we eat similar each week and it is focused on what can be cooked in 15 minutes - sausages, salmon, stir fry, burgers, pasta dishes.
For the pre schooler on non nursery nights I batch cook or go for beans/eggs on toast, omlette, pasta and left overs

I think this is missing what hours the partner works?

We both compressed ft hours into 4 days. One 1yo in nursery 3 days a week.

1 child age 8, contract is 35hrs but i usually work more, thankfully flexibly. Office 2 or 3 days a week.
Husband also working full time, thankfully at the same company so has the same flexibility.

Yes same! We just do simple stuff in the week like fish finger wraps, jacket potato with beans, pasta with a ready made sauce, ham, egg and chips etc. We try to put a bit of frozen veg or salad alongside them to make ourselves feel better.

I work full time wfh 4 days office 1 day, single parent to 2, a 14yo and 8yo, I would find it close to impossible to work FT if I wasn't wfh due to lack of childcare near me, wraparound, little family help etc