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

Mine are both in primary - we both work four days a week

But TBH the day off is really more about getting some time to ourselves than it is about the kids. Though it is useful for fitting in the kids activities. One day off a week isn't going to sort out dinners for 7 days

My kids get dinner at after school club 3 x a week which makes a big difference. They get home at 6 those days and pretty much straight in the shower and then bed.

I am a fast confident cook and we use the oven timer a lot as well. Eg on DH's day off he preps a tray bake with chicken, potatoes and veg and puts it on a timer so it's done when he gets back from swimming lessons with the kids. We also do a lot of fish which is very quick, usually serve with couscous and veg, genuinely only takes about 15-20 mins

We both worked FT with small kids, DH had to travel overseas because of his research and his being overseas admissions tutor and would do shit like bugger off in to the Malaysian jungle for a few days or be canoeing up the Amazon and be out of contact. I had to go to London on occasion from up North.

We just did it, I am however a very high energy organised person. I did also have a cleaner. I always did the cooking as home before DH always, he used to go in later so he could drop kids to school, it meant he got them ready as well. I used to start my day really early so I could often collect them from school. We had a lot of flexibility in our sector, higher education. We also had a good breakfast and after school club at the school that was flexible. We also had hardy little souls that were almost never ill.

My Dad owned a restaurant and taught me how to cook and I worked in kitchens when at school so I am a confident fast cook. I got DS a job as a kitchen porter as my friends BF was head chef in a bistro pub. I knew just how useful it was. Get yourself a slow cooker, really easy, did this when I knew I was going to have a long day and not be able to get kids from school.

I have a 9 year old and 11 year old and work full time. Have always worked full time, but took full 12 months Mat leave when they were each born. Life is busy but manageable.

2 kids age 8 and 3, always worked full time 37hrs a week, but now do it over 4 days so I get an extra day off

32 hours a week TTO.ds 10.

No it's a well off area with a generally good level of education. (South West England)

30 hours a week, generally 3x 10 hours shifts, 4 kids aged 10 to 17. Is retail so don’t know my days or hours (supermarket open until ten some days) so a lot of juggling where dh has to take the hit and wfh then be seen a lot the rest of the week😉 I was thinking the other day how many of my friends do four day weeks with kids but all said the jump down in wages is hurting them but they wouldn’t trade it

I have 2 dcs aged 6 and 2. I work 6 hours a week. DH works 35 hours. Most of my friends work pt (although usually longer than me), hardly anyone works more than 4 days. I have investment income though and don't need the extra money. I batch cook a lot though as I'm out of the house most of the day.

9 year old and a 2.5 year old, I work 40 hours plus extra as both myself and husband have busy jobs. I tend to log in after bed time to do any additional hours, and my work is quite flexible in that I can still do school run etc. food wise, the littlest has her dinner at nursery so only really needs a snack when she gets home. Eldest, meals for the eldest are generally meat and veg or nuggets, pizza etc, not the best, but luckily she'd happily have the meat, potatoes and veg option most nights. Batch cooking is also quite handy at weekends, I make up bolognaise for the week and precook pasta and freeze it

I have a 7 year old and a 14 year old. Recently started my first full time job in a very long time, 40 hours a week but I often do more because there's so much to be done. I'm finding it difficult with cooking too, choosing foods that are quick and easy to cook but even then some days I just don't have time or energy for any cooking and we have sandwiches.

Kids are 6 and 4 (4yo in preschool). I work full time, probably averaging 50hr weeks. DH is self-employed so can work flexibly.

He picks the kids up after school 2 days a week, nanny does 2 days a week, and I do 1 day (usually end up working once they’re in bed). I think we have a good balance. Working fewer days would have been nice when they were smaller, but now both in school hours we wouldn’t get the benefit.

That may say more about your social group/social class/level of education, though. The only place I’ve ever lived where being a working mother was at all unusual was a village in the midlands were there were two working mothers out of DS’s class of 24 children. I would characterise it as somewhere with low educational achievement and expectations — it’s the only place where I’ve seen women think it’s ‘natural’ not to work..

DH and I have always worked FT, but were senior and very flexible, so DS never needed much paid childcare once he started school. I think he did afterschool club twice a week, and breakfast club one day. Not everyone works 9-5.

Thankyou for this thread! I have 2 DC, both in primary and I’m about to return to full-time work as I head back to my career after part-timing it in a lower paid role which just kept things ticking over. I can’t wait to get back into it but I am nervous about the impact on family life. I’ll be able to carry on doing drop-offs but few pick-ups.

2 kids.
DS1 is 8yrs old. DS2 is 3yrs old.

I work FT, 5 days per week.
DH recently dropped to 4 days per week. Will go back up to FT/5days once DS2 is in school in Sept.

We use nursery for youngest, after school club a few times a week for eldest and breakfast club once a week too, and then grandparents help with pick ups once a week too. It works for us, but when you add in trying to get kids to clubs it does feel like the weeks fly by in a bit of a blur! It's all temporary though.

4 children aged 10 and under
My partner works 30 hours, I work 40
I've always worked 30-45 hours since my third child but back then my partner stayed at home

I see far more mums working full time on mumsnet than real life. Generally primary aged are working part time or not at all locally, some full time but still sharing the school run while working from home.

I can't think of any of our DCs peers who have a full time working out of home mum. The closest to it still drops the DC off each morning, goes into work with an adjustment for 9.15 and finishes at 4, so not quite full time and she seemed stressed when talking about it even then. I don't see how anyone could really manage everything that needs doing to work 9-5, the DC would need to be up early to go to breakfast club, having dinner late and then straight to bed in order to get enough sleep.

I have two children aged 14 and 12. I've recently increased my hours to 28 hours per week (four full days per week). I used to do 50% (17.5 hours per week).
For us, this works well. DH works crazy hours and earns a lot, so it's better for us that I work part time and take care of the chores. I'm happy to do this.
It gives us all a bit of breathing space and takes the pressure off. On my day off, I tend to batch cook, do some laundry, tidy up etc. If I make a couple of big dishes on my day off, it means we can just reheat food when we're both working. I'd much rather do this than eat ready meals.

We both work 40 hour weeks but one of those is shifts, including weekends, and one of those includes 2-3 says WFH. This means our weekdays aren't full on needing 8-6 childcare. It's normal for both parents to be full time in my experience but just with different working patterns, rather than two office workwrs with long commutes.

I work 36/38 hours per week since mine were 5, 7 & 8 DH worked 30 hours per week and did the school pick up then went full time when the youngest was 11ish - it was when the opportunity came up. Plus he WFH from when the youngest was 9.

Two aged 9 and 11, both in primary school. I work 39 hours a week (FT) and I do 2 days wfh and I have flexi time so I can drop them off and they go to after school for a few hours most days.

2 in primary, work 21 hours over 3 days. It’s a nice balance I think. I don’t know any mums who works full time with little kids.

With 2 toddlers we do 72 hours total (I do 40hr in 4 days and DH does 32hr). Younger one has just gone from 3 days at daycare to 5 days so we'll both be FT soon when kids are 2.5y and 4y.

We both have high-trust, flexible jobs with some WFH and moveable starts/finishes to allow us to do pickups/dropoffs and get evening meal started. I might try to keep the compressed workload to allow one day a week DIY and housework without kids.

About 1/2 of people I know with preschool or primary kids have one parent PT. About 1/2 both parents are FT (but with flexible jobs).

1 and 3, I work 9.30-5.00 with a 45 min commute each way when I'm in the office and 8.30-6 when working from home twice a week and sometimes also work 6-7.30am and/or 9pm onwards. Their nanny feeds them dinner at 5, I cook for my husband at 8 once the kids are in bed.

3 kids 5,6 & 13 work full time (37hrs) but due to a demanding job more like 45-50hrs per week.

Sunday is my meal prep day. I spend the afternoon making up my lunches and a selection of dinners for the week. Make my teenager his fave egg and sausage bagels to go in the freezer so he has a hot breakfast every day for his commute to school.

get up at 5 eveyday to do make sure pack lunches and done And sometimes get the slow cooker running too (I ask DH to turn it to warm at a certain point in the day)