To ask your working pattern with primary aged kids

[cadburyegg]

Kids are Y3 and YR. I've done 22 hours over 3 days since DS1 was 1. Have been offered a new job with a higher salary pro rata and 27 hours. It's going to be a mixture of hybrid working and in the office.

I'm a single parent, and can't rely on ex to help with school pick ups etc so I have to juggle it myself. They currently do after school club 2 days a week

I can't decide whether to stretch the 27 hours over 5 days..

• less rushing around
• less time kids have to spend in wraparound care

• potentially would have to commute more
• more days to cover in the school holidays

Or do it over 4 days

• 1 day to "myself" to do housework / other things etc in term time, and one day off a week with kids in holidays

• more rushing around to get to places on time
• would have to increase kids' time in after school club

Please help me decide. What do other people do?

Childcare will bot be forever and less rushing around and time to yourself as single parent will be beneficial.

I would choose over 4 days

Could you do it over five days during term time, and four days in the holidays?

I am single parent and have no support with childcare.

I work 22 hours over 4 days so I can cover all the school runs and get a precious day (or 6 hours) to myself. I would hate to give up that free day so would go for the 4 day option if you can afford childcare.

Just to note I try not to do housework on that day. I try to keep it as free as possible for my own wellbeing!

I work 30 hours over 5 days, as no childcare available. I do 9 - 3, WFH 4 days, and a full 9-5.30 office day one day per week, when DH does pickups.

I think if i was a single parent, and had childcare to use, I would try to do it over 4 though.

I work 28 hours over 5 days. I did do it over 4, but honestly those 4 days were so fraught trying to get my hours done and pick up done that I opted to switch to 5. I do 6 hours Mon -Thurs and just 4 on a Friday.

I work full time thankfully from home. My son is in year R I start after I have dropped him off at school. Nip out to do the school run at 3pm then work till 5pm. DH gets home at 4:30. My son is happy with tv, or playing with toys till 5. Although on Monday he has after school club till 4:15 and Tuesday his nanny picks him up from here as soon as I have got him back from school. So that helps a lot.

I do 38hrs over 4 days. Painful but means I have one day less to cover during holidays and on my 6hrs off I can get all the housework etc done so we can enjoy the weekend

I think it depends how much of the time you can wfh...... how much of the time you need to be available for meetings / calls / presentations / trainings etc ..... how flexible the role actually is.
The idea of having different working patterns in school time and school holidays makes sense.

When my dc were little, I was always used to working in the evenings anyway, after they are in bed, so my ideal, in your situation would be to be able to collect them from school, even if it meant then picking up e-mails / writing up reports / inputting data, or whatever the job entails between 8 and 10 some nights, or building up some flexi hours on the odd weekend when they were at their Dad's ?

If you need a fixed pattern though, and to be available in usual working hours, I'd go 5 days now they are school age (I'd have said over 4 days whilst they were in Nursery or at CMers.)

I do 30 hours over 5 days and I do school runs.

Means I can take DD to various clubs.

I miss a day to myself but for me the trade off is that dd can do the clubs and I pick her up every day.

If I did my hours over 4 long day would have to pay for childcare so we save money too.

I've always worked full time. Compressed into 4 days during the nursery years. Now I do 9.30-2.30 in the office and do the rest of the work after I have collected them from school- either while they are at clubs or when they are in bed. Don't get much me time but its been with it for the career progression

I did 25 hours over the week from 8am to 1pm. DH got DS ready and dropped him at school, he wasn’t even awake when I left at 7.30am. I collected him after school though he went to after school club on a Thursday as I saw a friend and also did my food shop.

37hrs over 5 days.
2 days wfh & 3 days commuting to the office 1hr each way.

I drop off & collect from school on my wfh days

DD is Yr3. I'm a single parent with no help from her Dad or other family. I do 30 hours over 4 days, so she's in breakfast and after school club apart from the occasional day I wfh, like once or twice a month. Those 4 days do feel pretty hectic a lot of the time and I do sometimes feel guilty about the fact that DD has such long days compared with a lot of her class mates. However, I do find that one day to myself really helpful - whether it's for catching up with housework, running errands, seeing friends or just chilling out by myself - so on balance the 4 days works well for me at the minute.

Drop kids off for 8:35
def get one day off per week, should have two though.
mondays - start work 9am, 4pm school pick up and drop daughter to brownies for 5 while grandparent picks up other child. I take this as my break.
finish anytime between 8:30/11pm
tuesdays - 9am til 3 do school pick up and then after school activities rainbows etc
Wednesdays usually a day off due to difficulty with after school care and swimming lessons, but if working 9am til 3
thursdays do 9am- 9pm sometimes later/sometimes earlier other grandparents do pickup
fridays -9am - 3pm then 6pm back to work until up to 11pm I pick kids up and have them until my husband finishes work
saturdays - varies time and shift, can be anything up to 12hrs depending on husbands working schedule, if dh is working it’s a 5/6hr shift
sundays either 10-5 or 4-11

I do take time off for all class assemblies/ plays/ school discos/ parties
both children primary aged

That's a decision only you can make. And whatever that is will be the right one. If you can't rely on others then your sorting it all. Everyone else are in such different financial/career positions you can't go off what they do. Just do best by you x

I work 40 hours per week, some of those at home if I need to. DS is in Reception at an independent school (can be dropped as early as 7.20am and picked up as late as 6pm) and in after school club twice a week at the moment. He started out with five days a week but that was too much. I now usually drop him off at 8.20am and pick him up at 4pm. (He has swimming one evening a week, so we go pretty much straight after school...and I have a scheduled pool session one evening, too, so I drop him home and go swimming once DH is back.)
DH works full time, too, but has a longer commute. He's out of the house between 6.30am and 6.30pm most days.
We luckily don't need holiday care because I "work" term time only but DS could go to holiday club at his school, if we needed him to.

Always been full time now compressed into 4 days. I would go for less number of days as makes school holidays easier

I have 2 kids. One in Infants, one in Juniors.

My DH works insane hours so is no help.

I work 30 hours over 5 days.

2 slightly longer days in the office that is an hour away. I head in after the school run and my wonderful MIL picks them up.

The other 3 days I work 9-3 to do the pick up and drop off.

I would love to work over 4 days so I could spend one day 9-3 doing the life admin but we can't really afford to pay for childcare so I have to deal with it.
I'd love the alone time.

I would always choose more days off if I could, so in your position I would do it over four days for sure. One day off to yourself also sounds bliss and I would protect that at all costs.

I currently do around 52 hours over six days.

I would do 4 as you'll probably still be rushing around with the 5 days and this way you get a day 'off' and it will be easier/cheaper in the school holidays.

I do 45-50hrs over 5 days, but have a partner and excellent childcare. Must be very challenging solo.

In these circumstances I'd go for 4. You already have childcare set up for 3 days so extending it to 4 doesn't seem like a massive change. And I love my one day a week off!

I do fewer hours and do 4 school hour days term-time and 3 days in the holidays. It works really well. I love my Fridays, but if work required me to do more hours, I'd start working Fridays than pay out for wraparound care.

I do 22 hours over 4 days WFH, term time only.
Start at 9 and finish at 2.30 so no childcare needed.
I think the idea of seeing if you can condense your hours in the school hols is a great one.

Not a single parent but I do 80% - work 9-5.30 4 days and have a complete day off.

that day off is a godsend and lets me catch up with myself.

however I am mostly at home which helps enormously practically especially as school is extremely close. And my employer is very understanding of school commitments.