to think this is a depressing headline: Childcare costs and the luxury of working mums

[toots111]

This is Mumsnet's 'Blog of the Day' today: www.mummysays.net/2015/02/19/childcare-costs-luxury-working-mums/

I'm frustrated that the challenges that working parents face is often just positioned as an issue for mothers. And not fathers. Surely, if a child has two parents, the issue of paying for childcare if they both want to work is a joint issue, and not a mum's issue. It also reinforces the expectation that women earn less than men (and it's pin money not real money) whereas in my experience pretty much all my female friends earn more than their male partners.

This is not a SAHM / WOHM thread, just a rant about headlines that are unhelpful.

I did too, that's why I left

yanbu it boils my blood.

I did think reading the article though that a 3 year age gap would have made things much easier financially. You have to plan and work out what is doable for you in advance....?

"Also, leedy, are you leedy in the Other Place where I am cigogne?"

toomuchtooold, ha, yes!

Taking the focus on mums as opposed to partnerships out of that blogpost, I'm calling bullshit on it simply because the luxury the poster seems to have overlooked is that of either their choice of nursery or their choice to live in a part of the country where cost of living (and presumably wages) is higher.

By my calculations, nursery places for two children at, say, £35/day works out at less than half the sum presented in the article. My figures are absolutely reasonable where I live, and where we were previously (Shropshire). In fact, I cudrently pay less than £32/day for my two year old.

They either need to shop around or move.

SorchaN

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer had her baby in a nursery next to her office.

She came under intense scrutiny (deservedly, I'd say) when she banned working remotely for her employees.

It's the tone in society (or maybe just the circles I move in) that grates.

I left a decent career in a Social Work sector to be a SAHM for 10 years. Getting back up that tree would be a huge struggle, would nearly need to re-train, so I've shifted slightly in my job search but still in same sector.

My DH works long hours, usually 6 days a week in a medical job. He's always done this, but is burning out a bit, and dropping 1 day a week.

The amount of people who look at me strangely for a) wanting to work when DH earns a big salary, b) for not doing an 'easy, mummy job' is mad.

In fact my DH has batted off sympathy from certain family as it's assumed the family will suffer with me working part-time, despite him now dropping 1 work day and there still being an excess of cash.

It's like my brain just isn't worth much.

I've always earned more than dh, and after returning to work full time after 6 months of Mat leave, secured a large promotion which has resulted in me now earning 50% more than him.
We shared the leave for our first child: I had the first 6 months and he had the second 6 months. His work weren't best pleased, and they turned down his flexible working request prior to his return to work.
Dh does drop-off at the cm each day and I pick dd up on my way home from work. The same will continue after dc2 is here and we're back at work, as it works well for us and dh more than pulls his weight with dd.
For us, childcare and child rearing is a joint issue, and if necessary, dh would give up work rather than me. Anything else would be silly in our situation.