If you work part time, did you go back full time when your children were school age / more independent?

[2blackandwhitecats]

Considering dropping a couple of days. But I’m wondering whether or not it is reasonable to maintain this once children are at school or a bit older.

What have you done?

Nope, stayed on 25 hours although my line manager ask me to increase I declined. Need to recover from home schooling

I’m currently doing 4 days a week but considering dropping to 3, but increasing the freelance stuff I do — making a gradual switch to fully self-employed so I can have the flexibility of school hours etc.

My current job though is fixed term and it’s hard finding the same salary range and part time – would love to know what roles and sectors everyone on this thread is working in, and whether their part time hours started that way or if they were FT and negotiated down.

I worked 16 hours only when DS was in Reception. I gradually built back up to doing 28 a week, he's in Year 4 now. I don't plan to go full time until he starts secondary school.

I would say by far the most common scenario among the parents at my DCs primary school is full time working dad and part time working mum.

I work part time from home and love it. I hope I never need to return to full time work.

Still part time and my DS is 20 .

Work life balance is very important to me and have managed some wise investments over the years which makes me very fortunate.

I do 4 days. Have done since ds was 8 months and he's 9 now

I do 8-5 Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. 12-8.30 on Wednesdays

I like having some contact with the school, ds likes being dropped and picked up on my day off / late start

It means ds doesn't need dragging out of the house at 7.30 those days too

Mondays are all about him after school too. Sometimes we chill just the 2 of us till dh comes in. Sometimes I'll bring a tribe of his pals home with us after school

I couldn't do any of this if I went back the extra day. Dh Sometimes hints that I should but all of the above is priceless to me and ds

I do 3 days with 2 teens in high school. No intention of going full time again as I can afford not to.

I like the balance 3 days gives me and my hours are flexible so I can do pick ups when needed.

I work 28 hours over four days, my son is 6 now, I’ll only ever go back to working fulltime if our finances mean I don’t have a choice. My husband works 32.5 hours flexi time so we always have the same day off, its really nice having time thats just for us every week.

I'm still part-time (3 regular days, one half-day) and my youngest is nearly 11.
the nights we're all at work/school/childcare activities feel like a bit of a production line. it's nice to be able to relax slightly on the other two evenings. It's great if I'm downstairs with the kettle on when my 14yo comes in, as she'll almost always join me for tea and a biscuit and a chat about her day. If I get in later she's disappeared into her room.

I do have a stressful job where I bring work home (both literally and metaphorically), and sometimes have to work quite late at no notice. I wonder if my job had a prompt finish whether I might feel differently about going full time.

Mine are 6 & 4 so just started school full time this week. I do 24hrs a week so knock off at 3 every day to pick them up, we walk home for a snack and TV break then I whizz some house work and make tea. I can take them to swimming lessons and clubs that they wouldn't be able to do if they were in wrap around care. I think they'd get very tired if they were in school 9-5. I did used to think that I would up my hours when they were both in school but now I don't think I will, I don't think it would work, for the reasons I've said.

@2blackandwhitecats

Part time does have a big impact on your pension. A small increase in hours can make a big difference over 15-20 years of
pension contributions.

I work part time, but have increased my hours over the years for pension reasons.

My children are 8, 10 and 12 and I work 4 days a week, including one shorter day, which means I can do 2 school pick ups. I’m really happy with these hours. I feel like I’m in work enough to move forward with my career but also get time with my children after school. That said, I think they’d all like me to be there every day after school, which just isn’t possible. I stress the importance to them of balancing a career and having a good family life and also make sure that the time I have with them is completely work-free.

DH and I both work four days a week - our children are preschool age at the moment but we both feel we would happily never work full-time again! I sometimes fantasize about having that day to myself (the little one is still a baby so it's long off!) but the thought of coming home when DH has had the day off to a clean house and fancy dinner on the table is almost as enticing!

I was part time , but increasing hours until they were 10 and 12, then full time.

I went back to full-time in the second term of my youngest starting reception - so once all my children were settled full-time at school. We need two wages coming in, so I didn't really have a choice. I'd love to be part-time though.

I plan to stay part time when my third goes to school. I currently have no time to myself. Plan to join a gym and go in the day and get back into cooking a bit. I just can’t get the time to exercise in the evenings and we are constantly living off ready meals/oven food. DH goes to the gym already in the day as he works for himself and answers to no one but my job is full on with commute either side. My kids after school activities/homework also stacking up and struggle to get them to things as it is. With a third in school it can only get worse. So no won’t feel guilty at all if we can afford it.

When DD was in nursery, I worked 4 days/wk so I could spend a whole day with her. Now she's at Primary, I finish early on two days so I can collect her from school / take her to activities etc. When she starts Secondary I'm planning to re-rig my hours to give me an early finish 5 days a week.

I do 5 days a week but school hours so 30hours. To be honest I wish I had a day off to myself but I’m glad I’m free by 3 for both my primary aged And secondary aged children. I’d work 4 days 9-5 if I was child free :)

I cut down to 30 hours when ds1 was born, and 24 when he started school. I was made redundant and now, with both boys at school, I work 15 hours over 3 days, which means I can do all pickups and drop offs.

My boss would like me to do longer days, but us flexible at the moment. I really like the balance of having time to catch up with housework and admin. We dont have a mortgage so both want to work part time - but I think I'll have to increase just to sort out my pension - redundancy has decimated my contributions. I'll probably go up to 20 hours in a couple of years then increase a bit more, maybe 4 full days when they've left home and or the last 10 years or so of work
I really worry about our retirement.

I worked full time out of necessity when mine was a teen, i am a lone parent and didn't get any maintenance. However out of choice I wouldn't have done, at times i felt like I was parenting via text.
If I had had a choice I would have been at home more during the school holidays.

I'm still as part time as when they were tiny, both now in double figures.

I stayed on 4 days. It's really helpful with school holidays, and also to have a day to use for school plays, sports days, appointments etc.

I work full time so not responding on that basis- just to comment on the below
No I don’t think I do @Brollywasntneededafterall but it would leave me with two days entirely mine grin and while I certainly don’t object to that, it does feel a little unfair in a way!
I wouldn’t call it 2 days entirely yours! Get the dc up fed dressed bags packed to school and it’s 9:30 by the time you’re back, leave at 3 to do the reverse, so there’s 5.5 hours where mostly I expect you’d do at least an hour cleaning/ tidying, some admin, shopping. You’d be lucky to get a few hours to yourself really.

I did 3 days until my youngest was 6 then 4 days until she was 8 then FT. I am currently WFH though so it makes a huge difference to being around to do school run etc.

No, I enjoy my days off 🤣