to feel irritated about the lack of men taking time off for half term?

I work in a v male dominated workplace and loads of men are off at the moment for half term, as is my DH (i am working). In our house we divvy up all he half terms between us so some fall to me, some to him, and we have May together. Any chance your colleagues do similar and it happens that most of the women have ended up with February? Or is this the case every half term?

I think you've expressed that well.

I have seen that. Some of my friends are amazingly competent, holding down senior jobs in medicine, the civil service, councils etc while getting very little assistance from the children's dad in practical terms.

Even DH, who is no saint, has been known to whisper "I know that's not OK!" when we observe this in action.

I don't like it when women are blamed for somehow "not setting ground rules at the start", as though the men don't know at some level that they're being selfish gits.

Pretty equal here.

although we do have one woman who makes it very clear she, as a mum, needs the time off, and is more entitled to the time off, than dads are.

i’ve come across many women as well they simply don’t trust the dad to be in sole care all day.

Maybe the mumsnet demographic is more egalitarian in terms of child care division but I also think if you've got a fair split of labour you're more likely to speak up about it. I think it has become slightly shameful for women to admit they're still carrying the majority of the domestic load, especially in middle class, professional circles - like it's somehow a failure on their part rather than the men in their lives.

I always did this juggling when my kids were young and my DH didn't ...
We had similar job commitments but it did fall to me the vast majority of the time.It did annoy me sometimes.
Interestingly, when my husband was dying aged 48 yrs we talked about wether he had any regrets in life ,he said he regretted not doing more of the things he really enjoyed rather than working constantly (he didnt not enjoy his work).I asked for an example of what he would have liked to have done more of and he said he wished he'd spent more time with the kids when they were young eg school holidays rather than always working. I was shocked i never imagined that would be how he felt. Perhaps we were just in our ruts and didn't communicate and i wish we had...

This isn’t the case in my team at all. Both men and women are off for half term. Both also work flexible hours for school pick ups etc.

Exactly what a waste of energy over something that will be none of your business.

My workplace is 80% male and the dads only seem to take time off around school holidays. Some weeks in summer, the office is a ghost town.

Me and my partner split the holidays equally (he is off with them this week)

However there is definitely a difference in taking leave when one of them is ill or if there’s an event on in school that requires taking half day leave etc. that always seem to fall to me.

I didn’t say you mustn’t get annoyed but I did say YABU to be so annoyed. So if you’re going to try and pick someone out because you don’t agree with what they’ve said then at least make sure you actually quote what they’ve said instead of writing what you think they’ve wrote because it makes all the difference!!

Isn't it law that people are entitled to book annual leave - even surgeons and airline pilots?

I started to think that my husband probably doesn't know how to use the calendar.

Most of my male dominated office are off skiing with their families.

Can't speak for anyone else but my DH is taking 2/3 of the leave needed and I'm doing 1/3.

I admire but don't quite "get" when both have enough leave to frequently both be off as a family! I have generous leave and DH is standard but we still struggle to cover all school hols between us with a week away together.

We don't really have family on hand to help and youngest isn't keen on holiday clubs, so we rarely go away all together in school hols... yet I see so many families doing this! (Can't really work remotely on holiday either which some do).

True, otoh employers often see the childcare as women’s work too, they’re less accommodating to men when it comes to parenting, slipping out for dentist appointments or school runs.

I've seen the opposite in my organisation this half term with more men than women with out of office notifications on today. We mostly do jobs that can be done remotely so it's refreshing to see that people are taking time away rather than trying to juggle working and entertaining children.

WildLeader

I get really annoyed too when I see blokes booking airplane seats away from the mum and the kids
oh my god!!!!

Wow...and have you told him that's totally unacceptable and he needs to be putting equal effort into parenting his children?

Mine takes random days off during the year when the kids are at school. What a luxury! He's also a manager so can roll over 10 and cash some back in

My husband has booked the whole week off and I'm off Wed-Fri so we can enjoy family time. If the men aren't taking holiday in school time, when are they taking it?

I’m not actually sure what you’re referring to? What are you saying you’ve mentioned in your OP?