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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Workings mums

191 replies

AliceWho12 · 11/08/2019 23:37

Without full context for full view which of these is more reasonable

  1. Mum who works away Monday - Friday but has 15 weeks of holiday per year.
  1. Mum who works four days a week, unable to take holiday in January, July and August and the four days are long days (leaving at 6am returning at 8pm).

No 1. Earns 11k more.

Kids ages 8, 5, 3.

Held settle a debate between me and my husband.

OP posts:
aprilanne · 12/08/2019 11:01

Both these options are grim only seeing children on a part time basis .look for another job would be best option

KatharinaRosalie · 12/08/2019 11:01

it's not just 11K, it's also 15 weeks of holidays

VeThings · 12/08/2019 11:02

How often will you see DC with option 1? Every Friday and Saturday night plus al day Sunday?

Could you leave work early on a Friday (working longer hours Mon-Thurs) so you get quality time with them Friday after school? And leave late Sunday or early Monday so you get most/all of Sunday with them too?

Will you be able to take the 15 weeks in a big chunk over the summer holiday?

1 seems more reasonable on the face of it, if you see the DC Fri night, Say and Sun. lots of pressure in the parent left at home though as they’ll have no help Mon to Thurs.

I personally wouldn’t do either and would look for a more suitable job.

Grasspigeons · 12/08/2019 11:04

Yes its like an extra day off each week for more money - its just spread differently.

Spinnaret · 12/08/2019 11:23

HmmConfused riiiight. So you are only a parent when you are actually physically with your child. So, when I go to work conferences, I can no longer 'be a mum'. When my kids are at school, I can no longer 'be a mum'. Etc. That was your phrase. Not about whether they are parenting. There are plenty of parents who are around every day, but do very little actual engaged parenting.

To me, it is far more important that the time spent together is valued and used to the best. If your kids relationship with their father suffered from him doing 12 hour shifts and not seeing him for 4 days, it suggests to me that there is/was something else at play there. My DH is out of the house 14+ hours/day five days/week because of his commute. It has not affected his relationship with our children at all. When he is here, his time is devoted to them.

TabbyMumz · 12/08/2019 11:35

@spinnarret...I think you are being a bit silly now. Of course we can't all be with our children 24 hours a day..so not seeing them at the odd conference or when we are out at work during the day and they are at school, is minimal. There is a whole leap between that and not being there at all, all week. Especially for 3 year olds. You simply are not there for long periods of time in that scenario. Pretty low of you to make out there is "something else at play" in my partners situation. There is nothing else at play at all. Like what? Are you attempting to make out because you don't agree with me that my partner is a bad parent or something? We have always both been pretty full on parents and weekends for me were completely family time, dedicated to them and equally my partner was full on with them when he was off, but we'd be fools to say that our relationship with them is the same as if neither of us worked.
And yes..of course there are plenty of parents who are around all day but not do much parenting, that goes without saying.

AngelsSins · 12/08/2019 11:46

I’m shocked that double standards around this are still so prevelant.

Do whichever works best for you and your family OP, you know, like the mighty penised ones do, without judgement, and infact are celebrated for working so hard to provide for their families.

ineedaholidaynow · 12/08/2019 12:06

No double standards from me, I wouldn’t like those options for either parent

BikeRunSki · 12/08/2019 12:12

1- 15 hols is preferable to 2- unable to take leave in several months where schools are on holiday.

MindyStClaire · 12/08/2019 12:39

Haven't read all the replies...

We both work full time but with very flexible hours, so in truth neither option would work in our house. But...

I would find it very tough to be in your DH's shoes with Option 1. At least with Option 2 you'd be back to help with the post bedtime clear up, and could help with sick kids overnight. I would really miss the company if it was just me after bedtime 5 nights a week. The £11K wouldn't be enough for me to go for option 1. The holidays might sway me, but I don't know.

Tartan333 · 12/08/2019 16:24

TabbyMumz, thank you for your support. In my opinion both options are awful so I couldn't choose between them. We are all different but I wouldn't want to be in a position to miss such a big percentage of my dcs lives and childhood.

Smugs · 12/08/2019 16:57

So I hardly ever post but this is so apt for our situation I wanted to add my perspective- Number 1 is very close to what my DH does, except he works Friday from home and has less holiday.

The distance isn't ideal, but it works for us to not see each other 3, sometimes 4 nights a week - we make sure we have quality time in the evening as much as we can and we talk and message a lot.

At his job before he regularly missed bedtime and maybe only saw DD for 10 minutes in the morning. He now makes sure he Facetimes at least once a day when he's away- usually around bedtime (he often reads bedtime stories) and often in the morning as well. He also makes sure they spend some quality time alone together at the weekends, evenig it's just a trip to the park.

It may not work for everyone, but it works for us. With younger children it's really mostly about the weekends for parents with a longer commute.

For us, it has had a slight financial benefit but the money wasn't a deciding factor - my husband is much happier in his job than he ever was before.

One caveat is making sure that your husband is either happy to do housework and shopping etc during the week, or get a cleaner and do online shopping as the weekends need to be kept for precious family time - weirdly we spend a lot more time together as a family than we did before as we make sure we do stuff like go on day trips as often as possible whereas before we would easily have lost half a day trawling round a garden centre and catching up on housework - now I am disciplined to make sure this is all done during the week - like the OPs DH I work from home, Self employed so I can be flexible over my working hours.

This is just my perspective but for us it works as we have made it work, my DD and DH are very close and when they spend quality time together it's very special and memorable - we feel confident she'll remember the good times when she's older and not focus on the fact he wasn't there overnight etc.

One caveat is that we don't tend to socialise separately much so this does work for us - I tend to see my Mum friends during the daytime during the week and he goes out on his bike with friends on a Sunday Morning when DD is at church with my Mum so he wouldn't see her anyway. Very occasionally one of us has a night out without the other, but in that situation we always make sure the other two nights are together and plan sometime special such as a sit at the table meal or date night etc for at least one.

Despite the negativity on this thread it can work, but it's a decision you HAVE to make with your DH fully on board as it only works if both partners are willing to make it work.

FrangipaniBlue · 12/08/2019 16:58

I've been mum 1, only difference instead of 15 weeks holiday I got to work from home in between being away.

It's fucking shit. No one remembers the 30% of the year you were home only the 70% of the time you were "never there".

If you have the choice and don't need the extra cash then it's mum 2 all day long.

MoltoAgitato · 12/08/2019 19:36

Both options are a bit shit, frankly. I don’t really get the quality over quantity argument - so much of the bedrock of parenting relationships are due to the daily grind of small shared moments. You can’t suddenly magic up a fabulous relationship when you happen to be back for a weekend- soon enough the weekend will be ferrying kids to activities and parties, not some magic family promised land.

If forced to choose, I would probably go for option 2.

AliceWho12 · 12/08/2019 19:48

In response to some of these comments, option 2 is the position I am currently in. Option 1 is a sideways promotion - into something akin to my dream job.

It would be based across the middle east - flying out Monday morning back Friday night (this wouldn't be to taxing for me as I am a good traveller and would be flying business).

Additionally approx 1 of every 6 weeks (on average) would be based at HQ (where I currently am).

Option 1 is also probably a better long term career move.

In relation to DH's job we met working in the same job and while I loved it, wanted to keep pursuing it - he hated and wanted nothing more than to do something else.

This dynamic has been successful for us from an understanding of the stress of the job and from a childcare perspective.

The main reason I asked was the concern over leaving the kids - truthfully I often don't see them Monday-Thursday anyway and rarely feel great on the Friday. I thought option 1 may give me more longer periods of time with them.

OP posts:
MoltoAgitato · 12/08/2019 20:10

Not with that travel, I wouldn’t do option 1 for only 11k more. Do you travel regularity at the moment? I used to do a lot of transcontinental travel and it’s a killer if you’re doing it regularly, business class or no. Going to the ME every week means your body clock will be permanently fucked, and your flights will be delayed/cancelled etc. Would you be working Monday to Friday or using the ME weekend?

Is there any way you could all move to the ME and then have one week in 6 back in the UK?

CassianAndor · 12/08/2019 20:14

Option 2 for the DC, definitely.

CassianAndor · 12/08/2019 20:15

So you’d be working for a country with probably atrocious human rights and be polluting the atmosphere with all those flights.

Definitely no.

nanbread · 12/08/2019 20:23

I wouldn't be happy with either, personally. I think they're only young once and I would want to have regular time to connect with them, as would DH. So in that situation I'd look for option 3, but in the meantime would reluctantly go with option 2, trying to find a way to make sure DC were all still up at 8 (i.e. by pushing bedtimes back). I understand that finding another option can be tricky, but maybe easier for you than most given your DH works from home so presumably pretty flexible in terms of location, hours etc.

Oh and my DH works 4 days a week and one of those from home, and takes lots of leave during school holidays etc, before everyone starts laying into me for double standards!

Having said that, if the £11k extra is the difference between being able to live to a basic standard or not, then I'd probably give a different answer.

We've made salary and career sacrifices to make our situation possible and we are not flush, but don't have to worry about having enough money to put a roof over our heads and food on the table.

nanbread · 12/08/2019 20:28

X post with your update - I can't think of many things worse than flying to the middle East and back weekly, for all kinds of reasons. What if your flight's delayed? How will you have decent time with your DC when you'll be tired and jetlagged? Plus what @CassianAndor said. All of the no.

nanbread · 12/08/2019 20:31

@AliceWho12 are these jobs with the same co?

If yes, how are they so different re: holiday etc?

Maryann1975 · 12/08/2019 20:56

What time would you get back on the Friday - Actually back at home? Would you get to take holidays when you want to? I’ve got a couple of friends who do three months at work then three weeks off, which is great if the weeks off coincide with the things they want to be off for (family weddings/school holidays/children’s important things like performances), but quite often the absent parent is missing things that really, the majority of people think it’s important to attend.

Ginger1982 · 12/08/2019 22:22

So not only would you be away Mon-Fri you would be thousands of miles away in the Middle East? Or do you live in that region already? I assumed you meant 'away' but still in the UK (perhaps silly assumption)

That would make it even worse for me I think. If it was DH I really wouldn't be happy about it, regardless of the long holidays.

For me (personally) the cost of having my 'dream job' would be too high. And I would say the same to DH but then I am in the (probable) minority who doesn't think you can 'have it all' male or female if you're a parent.

AliceWho12 · 12/08/2019 22:37

@nanbread Option 1 is with a subsidiary for the company I already work for - so has different practises - the extra time off etc is due to the nature of the role compounded by the fact they want me to take the job and I am currently on 4 days a week.

We live in the North West of the UK not far from Manchester airport - have been ensured that all flights would be booked for return by 8:30pm on the Friday - working a UK week (Mon-Fri) but obviously limited office time on the Friday.

I use to do A LOT of travel (pre kids) - think leaving London on Monday for Singapore, flying to Shanghai, stopping in Paris on the way back and back to London for drinks on a Friday night. This is obviously pre kids and I was on 50% away at that point. As I said I'm a really easy traveller, can sleep anywhere/anytime so this element makes no difference for UK vs International away work.

OP posts:
AliceWho12 · 12/08/2019 22:39

Also the extra £11k is base, I currently only get annual bonus on top of base - but there is a large 'enhancement package' related to new role so would likely be significantly more and would expect pay increases regularly also.

OP posts:
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