To wonder why some people don't work full-time?

[donniedarko89]

I was part-time myself while DD was very young as I wanted to spend time with her. I know many mums however who have stayed part time even after the kids go to school. They only work 2 or 3 days a week. The thing is, they're not loaded, on the contrary they keep complaining that finances are tight and they can't afford stuff - then why not increase your work days (they could all easily do it)? Some of them even have a cleaner. No hobbies on the side either. It genuinely puzzles me!

Maybe they value work life balance/seeing their kids higher than the things they’ve had to sacrifice, but they still miss the things they sacrificed

Does it genuinelyl puzzle you? Can't you think of any reasons?

Because not everyone wants to dedicate the majority of their life working for someone else!

strangely enough for some people life isn’t just about how much money you earn, but how much quality time you have

Because they want to?

Because they don’t want to? Because it’s none of your business?

Because they'd rather not? My job isn't too bad as FT but I'd rather be PT or not have to do it at all - I can of think of plenty more interesting things to do!

What makes you think it would be easy for them? I'm afraid you sound rather ignorant.

Because not everyone is like you.

The moaning about finances being tight is for your benefit. They don’t want you to feel bad about working FT when they don’t. It’s almost certainly not true, to the extent of being skint. It just means they’re not rolling in it.

Loads of reasons I guess

Including that women are conditioned to think that mums shouldn't really have to work

And if they do it should be as little as possible while men should work as much as possible

I'd do it too if I could. Don't blame them.

For many wrap around childcare isn't available in their area so maybe it's easier to work less days.

Because I wanted to work to live, not live to work.

Work life balance? Childcare?

I worked part time until my kids were well into primary school. I’ve only really ramped up my hours in my 40s now my kids are teens.

The reasons above were my reasons.
I liked being around a bit more for my family.

I agree OP, if people want to stay part time then fine, but don't whinge about not being able to afford other things etc when it is within their ability to increase household income

Because working is generally less fun and more stressful than not working.

As long as it's not more stressful because you genuinely have insufficient money to survive then part time wins. In most cases "moaning about being skint" is more of a conversational thing than a genuine issue.

PT - 2 days a week. 19yr old and 15yr old. 19yr old does have some SEN.

Currently feel have good work/life balance. Would stay PT if l could but will have to increase next year as DC1 will turn 20yrs.

Have time to see friends, family, do hobby and be around for the DC.... who still need me especially the eldest.

It is hard to fit in life admin if you both work full time and have kids around all weekend. Obviously lots of people do, but it's easier not to.

E.g. kids doctors and dentist, hair cuts, school activities, school run drop off and pick up, cooking / cleaning / tidying, getting things fixed, going to the shop, paperwork of various kinds.

Also it's nice to have time to yourself when the kids are not around if you can afford it!

This

Also they may well have an arsehole husband who does nothing for the family. Or is off playing golf all weekend etc. So having 2 days off mid week when he's at work is the best chance of getting some time to themselves.

This. I work 2-3 days. Was going to list my reasons why but there’s so many I genuinely can’t be arsed

OK, now you are all being a bit caustic and unnecessarily harsh, I was just trying to start a discussion. I don't advocate working to death as a value or a mission in life, but if finances are tight (and they keep telling me that DCs can't do this or that because it's too expensive, cost of living rising, etc) then I do wonder. Didn't mean to offend anyone!

I worked part time for a few reasons.
One was i liked time at home.
Another was because the career I did was very challenging. I would have struggled to do it full time cf to full time in a less stressful job.
Another reasin was i often worked in my own time in order to do the research i needed to do for my complex cases which i simply did not have the time to do in working hours.
I also wanted the energy to give to my teen dc as I felt it was fab to be able to be around for them after school etc.
This time was worth no hols abroad etc .

They maybe able to manage on their part time wage, and would rather cut their cloth than spend all their time at work.

I’ll give you one very obvious reason. Some of us went part time after having children and were later not allowed to go back full time. Employers cited over staffing as the reason, In my case I still earned more on 0.6 than I would have done if I’d left and got something else and prefer it to anything else.
But given that most men don’t do an equal share of housework then it seems to me to be a good idea to stay part time if you can. There is no way I would live in a house with cleanliness standards my DH considers acceptable. So he cooks, I shop, I do laundry but not his ironing , he gardens and does diy and I clean- and I work 0.8 which works fine for us.