What working pattern would you choose?

[Angels1111]

YABU:
9am-2pm from home five days a week, available for school pick up and drop offs
Total 3 days spread over 5.

YANBU:
Two full days per week, maybe from the office maybe from home.
Husband will do school pick up and drops offs (currently has time to himself).
3 mornings then used to manage chronic illness, maybe can add two half days when better.

I don’t understand the second one. 2 full days and 3 mornings?

I would prefer the full two days. Easier during school holidays as well.

2 full days def

No, just two full days.
The three mornings would be used to cook, clean, attend appointments, go to the gym and generally slow down, which my illness currently needs. Maybe in the future I'd add two mornings to add up to 3 days again.

Two full days, with the school hours you'll never have time without children, to either rest and manage your health or if you're feeling well to get things done around the house.

Ah yes, I’m not reading it right 🤦🏻‍♀️. I’d do the 2 full days. It’s done then!

first option for me with chronic illness

Yeh this is the problem I'm finding at the moment (I do the first pattern, thinking of moving to the second)

I do the first one and hate it. I may as well be full time and it's really hard to get appointments in the afternoon

I chose to spread my work over 5 days in this exact scenario. There were multiple reasons.

1. it is simply easier to be present daily or almost daily
2. it provided consistency for dc who desperately needed routine
3. the shorter days were easier for me with my chronic illness
4. my work is flexible enough that if I do miss a day or have to work a shorter day, I can work longer on other days and make up the time. This is pretty easy to do with short days. It is harder to do with longer days since it is more hours missed and you would not just be working those days anyway.

Yeh that's why I chose those hours but it's killing me :(
I don't know when to fit in my appointments or exercises or cooking or cleaning since I'm either at work or with DC..before the illness it was fine as I had a lot more energy

2 full days (I have health conditions that make me really tired) as it would mean I could feel shit the other 3 days and not have to worry about work!

I work 3 days a week and have done a similar pattern but much, much prefer 3 full days. Several reasons - partly I ended up doing more work and more regular meetings when working short days. But mostly that home life is more balanced - DH left all kid stuff to me when I was working short days, now on the three days we both work he does half. I don’t mind doing all kid stuff on the days I don’t work of course!

Here is the thing, when you are ill and have lots of appointments, you are just going to be short on time. In my house we outsource as much as we can. DH does more than his fair share when he can, but he is only human. We still aren’t keeping up. We have to accept clutter sometimes. We have to prioritize which things matter most.

It has taken me time to learn that if I push myself beyond my limits, I might get more done in a short period of time, but I get less done overall.

I work 3 days over 5. Works well for me. If I did 3 full days I'd have to be in the office until 5.30 on those days (when in the office) and I wouldn't like it. It's also helpful if you want to work school hours.

But it totally depends, for a lot if people two full days off would be much more helpful than working school hours.