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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How do working mums do it?

348 replies

magicat · 26/05/2017 11:41

I've been at home with our 4 DC for 12 years. Now that they're all in school a couple of people have asked me, "What do you do all day?" and "Are you returning to work now then?"

I'm not against the idea of returning to work, (even though DH tells me not to bother), but I doubt I'd get a job that fits within school hours. DH doesn't get in until 7.30 / 8pm and often travels as well. When I try and think through the logistics of it all, I wonder how it would actually work because -

  • We have no family support around
  • Somebody would need to collect the younger DC at 3.15
  • Who would get the kids to school?
  • I would need to take days off for sickness (with 4 DC they can tend to get things one after the next)
  • What about school holidays?
  • They would need to drop after school clubs probably as it might be too much for a childminder to facilitate
  • When would I do food shopping and dinner would be a rush
  • I'm not sure I could keep on top of the house, even with a cleaner
  • When would I fit all the other "stuff" in because I find I'm running round most days as it is
  • Would the childminder be able to facilitate / check homework because with 4 DC this is a lot? Not to mention music practice and this kind of thing.

If anyone else is in my position i.e. no family support, a fair few DC and a DH with very minimal input into the day-to-day running of things, could I please ask how you made returning to work "work" and are you permanently exhausted and overwhelmed?

OP posts:
magicat · 26/05/2017 13:17

Tinsel - He is at a point where he can step back from the main company, but what happens is he gets drawn into so many other things and it escalates from there.

OP posts:
BiddyPop · 26/05/2017 13:18

We had au pairs for a few years, who covered the mornings (getting DD up and out to school daily), and collected her from afterschool club an hour earlier twice a week as well as about 2-3 hours of cleaning across the week.

Then, we got a minder to come in for the 1 hour in the mornings and continued the afterschool club to finish time every day. As DD got into y5, and she was starting to be allowed to walk to the shops alone, we started letting her walk/cycle home from school alone 15 minutes before we were due in. Due to other things changing, she now gets collected from an afterschool club at 6 twice a week, and comes home herself once afterschool activities in school finish twice a week (3.45pm and 3.30pm), and a DAunt collects her from the final afterschool activity in another school once a week at 4pm and drops her here at 6ish. Next year, DD is adamant (and we're ok with it) that she will not do afterschool club - but she WILL do an activity every afternoon until at least 3.30.

We are very very organized, and have been since DD arrived. Bags packed and lunches made the night before. (Well, DD's lunches are agreed but the oven goes on when we wake as she takes hot food in a flask). Activities are in the diary and bags are packed ahead of time for those. We keep on top of washing and drying laundry all week, but fold it once a week while watching a movie on Saturday evening, and DH irons on Sunday while I make dinner - which means anyone can root for clean clothes in the basket if more urgent. We also have quite well filled wardrobes to try and prevent last minute panics over needing clean clothes. We have a cleaner almost all the time - we've tried without and it's miserable, but we currently have a cleaning service come once a fortnight to clean thoroughly, and we can then keep on top of it the rest of the time. He is better at cleaning bathrooms, while I am better at making sure the bins go out.

I internet shop for food as often as actually going to a supermarket. I will make use of the M&S near my office for dinners some nights, and we have times when we have takeaway midweek. I also try though to keep dinners, and things to easily make dinners, in the cupboards, fridge and freezer so that while I have a general plan for the week, I can adapt if time goes against us for some reason. So I will batch cook on occasion and put a few lasagnas or curries or shepherd's pies or whatever in the freezer in 1 person and family portion sizes, and things like stock, breadcrumbs, marinaded meat, plain HM tomato sauces, chopped herbs etc that I've done, or prawns, chopped chicken, peas etc to throw together dinners in a hurry. While I do dinners of meat, potatoes and veg sometimes, I peel the potatoes and prep the veg the night before to just turn on when I get in - or I will have a lasagna in the oven with the timer set to turn it on and off again ready for our arrival home. I have a range of fast dinners to cook. I keep some good jars of sauce for when I am shorter on time, and leave cooking from scratch for slightly more relaxed days - although I nearly always still add veg as well as meat to those sauces.

DH does plenty - he is better on keeping the laundry system going than me and took over ironing completely when DD was born (we'd each done our own before that). Whoever cooks is not on washup is the general rule - so the cook generally does homework help after dinner if the other person has not been there to do it before dinner (while the cook cooks). He will head out to do the shopping and, while it might be different to my plans, it will always work fine for the week. We do have a list on the fridge to mark up anything we need including anything that has run out, and anything people want as well (like treats for a last day of an activity in school next week).

We have a diary on the counter for everyone to see and fill in to avoid clashes - includes work travel, DD (and finally our) activities, social events and family travel plans (including any visitors to us).

DD has a lot of activity outside of the house, I am a Cub scout leader and on a committee associated with school, I am learning to sail and DH has learned to scuba dive in recent years. Both DH and I (DH more than me at present) do a fair amount of travel for work, and sometimes catch up on work stuff at night at home. But we still make time for gardening, meeting friends, travelling to wider family, etc. I have less crafting time than I'd like just now, but I do knit, sew and make cards on occasion still.

You have to set up systems to manage, and work as a team. But it is perfectly possible to do. IF you work as a team...

Dailystuck71 · 26/05/2017 13:19

We have no family support.

DH is away 13-14 hours a day with work

For me a flexible employer (I work bloody hard at that though) so I work:

Monday - Wednesday from 9 am until 3 pm so I can still do school run.

Thursday and Friday are 9-5. I use after school club on these days.

During holidays we use a holiday club plus annual leave. I also can build up extra time through out the year at work. I can also change my 30 hours a week over 5 days to 30 over 4 thereby saving one day a week in holiday club.

We have one week off together a year.

I use online food shopping and have a cleaner.

5moreminutes · 26/05/2017 13:19

I only have 3 kids but mine are similar ages to yours by the sound of it.

I was mostly a sahm for about 10 years, though when I only had one of my own I childminded 2 others (we then moved abroad just before DC2 was born, which was why I stopped rather than just reducing my numbers) and I worked 1 day per week for 18 months when DC1 was at Kindergarten and DC2 was looked after by MIL before DC3 was born - MIL is now too ill to look after herself let alone help unfortunately, so DH and I manage between us. I have taught a couple of evening classes each week since leaving the 1 day a week job, but didn't work in the day from late in my pregnancy with DC3 until he was 4.

So quite similar to you, not identical, but I did all kid and house stuff til 2 years ago.

Why can't your DH get the kids off to school, he sounds ideally placed to work flexibly around your hours! My DH is also techie and can be a bit flexible, which is very helpful (doesn't have his own company though).

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:22

I wonder what peoples' comments would be (not necessarily on here but generally) if a mother was described in the way the OP describes her husband.

CountFosco · 26/05/2017 13:24

3 kids, one at nursery and the other 2 at school. Nearest family 200 miles away and in their 80s so not able to help.

If you want to work then your DH will need to step up and do more childcare and wifework (DH moved jobs to be more local to do that) and you'll need to find good reliable childcare and a good cleaner/housekeeper. It's not full time work or nothing (although it may be hard for you to find a PT job, it's much easier to change hours when you are in work).

When DS starts school in Sept our arrangements are going to change so we both work 90% which means DH can do drop offs in the morning (thanks to his local job with flexitime) and then we will each be able to do 2 pickups from school a week (and the kids will go to afterschool club one day a week). DH covers school concerts etc since he's local and can pop out of work for a couple of hours more easily than me (I work 30 mins away).

School holidays we tag team and take as few holidays off together as possible, thankfully we both have generous holiday allowances and we buy back as much holiday as we can. DH takes unpaid parental leave to cover a couple of weeks a year. We also use holiday clubs (kids go to a sports club that they love). Kids being sick (I have 2 children who have regular hospital appointments) come out of annual leave, we share that between us. Food shopping gets done in the evening while the other parent puts the kids to bed. We have a cleaner. Kids are pretty motivated about homework themselves so nag us to help with spellings etc. We have a cleaner but I think we need some more there, want to get an au pair so that they can do school drop off and then some of the housework (kids clothes washing, loading dishwasher after meals etc).

TBH to move from the situation that you are currently in to one more like mine would be hard, you've got to have an understanding employer and a good track record so that you can ask for flexibility when required. It's also a lot easier if you share the wifework with your DH rather than you just taking on more and your DH carrying on as always (if you started working you'd need to have a serious discussion about him picking up extra work at home and the impact that would have on his career). And you need a job that pays well enough that you can throw money at the situation to make things easier. If that's all too hard then make sure you're financially secure so that if you do split or your DH dies you won't be in serious financial trouble with no recent work experience.

BiddyPop · 26/05/2017 13:25

Oh, and there are good holiday clubs near us and DH and I have reasonable leave - so we always take a couple of weeks half days (usually juggle to not have the whole week but a few days each) for shorter ones, and she has always loved the sailing camps which are full days (to 5pm). Afterschool club also ran holiday camps to usual finish times too. So while it cost money, there were options to organize the holidays and to do some different things to not become completely bored in afterschool club.

We've also been lucky particularly when DD was younger that we could juggle time off when she was sick - between early morning starts and late evening finishes to get almost a full day done each, swopping childcare duties around lunchtime. So while we would have to use some leave to cover it, our bosses were understanding when we could get work done either by going in early/staying late or by doing more at home while DD slept or once she went to bed at night, and only made us take what was necessary.

magicat · 26/05/2017 13:29

Sunbeam - In an imaginary scenario of all things being equal, then yes, I would like to go back to work, maybe 3 days per week. On the other hand, I'm not actually bored with my life as it is either, so sometimes I wonder if it's more that I feel as if I "should" be doing something more, because of other people's perceptions.
However, four DC is a lot more than one or two and DH is the way he is. So that is the framework around my thinking and it's no point pretending otherwise.
He thinks my going back to work would be too much for me in general.

OP posts:
TinselTwins · 26/05/2017 13:29

Tinsel - He is at a point where he can step back from the main company, but what happens is he gets drawn into so many other things and it escalates from there.

um, he says no!

DH is self employed and reasonably successful, he was recently offered involvment in another company that he has had his eyes on for years, however the timing and circumstances would mean he could no longer tag-team with me and be involved with the kids, so he went back to them and said that he can have some involvement but not the full amount on offer.

Autumnsky · 26/05/2017 13:30

OP, I think it depend on if you would like to go to work, financially and your own need.It is hard to balance a home with 4 DC and work at the same time. So is it worth for you?

Some people really enjoy work, so they wouldn't want to stay at home, some people really enjoy staying at home, so if there is no financial need, they choose to stay at home.It's important that you find what you prefer.

5moreminutes · 26/05/2017 13:30

magicat could it be that most of what you do in the evenings should be done by your kids?

The only one whose bags etc. I help sort out is the 6 year old - the 9.5 and 11.5 year olds are more than capable of sorting their own school stuff including clothes ad bags out. I do make all the packed lunches - this takes a good 25 minutes for 5 people, but it is the only task I do after putting the children to bed (I still read to all of them so that takes a while...) I sit on my arse after that though, maybe get the last load of laundry out of the dryer and fold it when I get up to go to the loo...

It needn't be such heavy weather now the kids are out of the toddler years, and sharing the load and outsourcing is easier than doing every single thing domestic and childcare related 24 hours a day 365 days a year while you have multiple preschool and very young school children. You've done the hardest part - work 3 days a week and make the rest of the family pull their weight, both kids and especially DH, and outsource a bit more (to after school club those 2 days a week, increase the cleaners hours).

It will be better and easier for you than what you do now - and the biggest bonus is your DH and kids will actually appreciate what you do, not think things happen by themselves and you sit watching daytime TV and eating milk tray all day :o

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:31

He thinks my going back to work would be too much for me in general.

He probably doesn't want to be expected to do any housework or the parenting work you do you say he couldn't do. It may well not be the case with you but I am somewhat sceptical about men who discourage their partners from working.

newnoo · 26/05/2017 13:32

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

Panicmode1 · 26/05/2017 13:33

I gave up my career after my fourth DC because I just couldn't juggle any more. I stayed at home for 7 years and have recently started a very part time job, working 9-2.45 two days a week in a role related to my previous job (property). DH is out of the house 7am - 8pm (on a good day) when he's in the country, but I've had 5 consecutive weeks where he has been on business trips so I do everything.

I don't have a cleaner, I have a dog walker and no family immediately nearby and it's hard....but I am loving having a job, even though it's only a very part time job, it's fairly well paid and if I can't work one day (ill child) then I shift my days. I do internet shopping for food, my house probably isn't the tidiest or dust free, but it's clean where it needs to be, I cook from scratch every day and the children are happy and healthy. In the holidays I use holiday clubs and have been lucky to find someone who works term time and wants some extra holiday income, so looks after the children two days a week.....it can be done, but I was VERY selective about the sort of jobs I looked for (and I think I am very lucky to have found this one!), but I was going a bit stir crazy at home once all of the children were in school, despite volunteering for loads of things (which I still do - Riding for the Disabled, helping in school, community projects etc).

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:33

Just enjoy your time being a Mum if that's what you want.

Mothers who work are still mums, and fantastic ones from my experience.

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:34

This will stop being a feminist issue when plenty of fathers are posting identical posts to the OP's and the others about finding part time work and work which is flexible around their wives being off on business trips for days on end.

magicat · 26/05/2017 13:35

Yes I think when they're all in secondary school and coming in for 5pm, there will be more scope for sure.

OP posts:
RebornSlippy · 26/05/2017 13:39

Yeah, so I don't think you want to return to work Magicat. That's my straight up, honest take on it. Not yet anyway. Maybe not ever. And that's ok, whatever makes you happy.

It's just kind of pointless people taking time and energy out their working days to advise when it's pretty clear to me you have no intention of taking said advice.

Less time worrying about other people's views on what you should be doing and just keep on doing what your're doing.

LeftoverCrabsticks · 26/05/2017 13:39

I went back to work because being a SAHM to four was too hard for me, and now I find life less stressful. Others have posted the exact opposite! I think it is entirely down to your personality.

You'll get judged whatever you do, trust me on this (I long since realised it was a no-win situation whatever I did, and having done both long term I feel very qualified to realise that!) so do what you want to do. If that means waiting until they're old enough to sort themselves out in terms of childcare (and you know you can get the sort of job you want then) then why not? Do what is right for you!!

magicat · 26/05/2017 13:39

NoLove - I know what you're saying. I think when you're building up a company though you have to give it 200% and this has been the situation DH has been in. I'm not the type of person to have done that.

OP posts:
Loopytiles · 26/05/2017 13:40

I don't want to be financially dependent on my DH, risk losing my earning power or do all the domestic work and most of the parenting, and DH doesn't want to be the sole earner either, so I WoH and DH and I share the work.

It depresses me that so many women (myself included - I work PT) and so few men go PT or SAHM. As Caitlin Moran said about other things: if it's so great, why aren't loads of men doing it?

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:41

magicat that's doubtless true but I do wonder what the general reaction would be as I said before to a mother doing exactly what your husband has done, and being described in those terms. Also I think plenty of women have done the same as your husband and are still expected to do the bulk of the childcare.

newnoo · 26/05/2017 13:42

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns and so we've agreed to take this down.

Loopytiles · 26/05/2017 13:50

What other people think doesn't matter.

A SAHM works for many families, helping the man to work/earn more, which can be good for everyone as long as circumstances allow him to keep working, DC get time/attention from both parents and the couple stays happily together.

NoLoveofMine · 26/05/2017 13:51

helping the man to work/earn more, which can be good for everyone as long as circumstances allow him to keep working

A SAHD would help the woman to work/earn more.