Part time working: 2,3/4 days

[Annie2163]

I’m exhausted and fed up. I know I’m lucky that I get one day off a week (Fridays) and some mums would dream of this but honestly I can’t cope. I was talking to a mum today whose kids are older and I was feeling a little jealous as she said she didn’t work till all 3 of her kids were in secondary school. I can’t financially afford it. My youngest is 6 and eldest is 10. Do you think cutting down to 3 days would help me feel less fed up? I don’t know any of the school mums as I went back to work with both kids after 4 months of maternity. Please help me make a decision, need to let work know Monday. My manager said I can request a few options and they will decide which one works well with staffing etc.

I think dropping to three days would really help. I dropped from four to three recently and (despite the financial hit) it's been great. It makes life more manageable and has reduced a lot of stress.

I think 3 is a good balance

I do 3 so have the mornings of my days off doing stuff like cleaning, life admin, shopping, exercise etc then I sit down at lunchtime and have a couple of hours of me time before kids get home and it starts again with clubs, snacks, dinner and life.

Those two hours are bliss.

Are you married? Dont drop if not married. You have no financial protection unmarried

i did 3 for a while but tbh it was difficult at work so I ended up back at 4. Depends on your line of work but for me I ended up having to rely on others to do bits for me on my days off which was not ideal

I’d love to work 3 or 4 days. I can’t but you can and life’s too short so do what works for you.

I used to work three but now work full time condensed into four. I much prefer it, I’m less stressed as I’ve got more time to get my work done, and more money, so my three days off are actually quality time instead of filled with anxiety. However if you’ve got a job where your workload fits into three you should be fine.

Absolutely, I dropped down from 3 to 2 days, my DC were younger and DH works away and very demanding role, has made an unbelievable difference in terms of my health and work/family balance, financially it hardly made any difference at all

I worked 5 days a week but always finished in time to do the school run (25 hours a week) means you have time to facilitate clubs, play dates and cook good meals as well as housework. A whole day off then paying for childcare seemed silly to me. My dc have long left school but i still work pt, 20 hours a week these days, im home by 2pm each day

I have worked lots of differert part time patterns since having DC; so I suppose actually first of all I would say dont worry too much about it being perfect if your organisation is amenable to change

First thing to do is figure out financially your minimum hours needed, then think about now important future career progession is to you, then about commitments and your ideal routine.

And also dont feel pressured into doing what others say is best on paper. For example, everyone told me I would love 3 days a week with Mon and Fri off which was great with a baby, but actually the days were too long when baby reached preschool age and I preferred to work 5 mornings. I also rightly or wrongly felt I didnt have as much impact or presence in the office, and even though I worked the same number of hours, I felt it helped to be in every day and available for meetings every day.

I struggled with 4 days condensed when my kids were small as the days were just too long, but now they are in primary school I think it might be nicer to have an extra day off.

One of my faves was 24 hours a week over 4 days with a 3 day weekend. It felt like the perfect balance but I cant afford it at the moment 😭

My day off with kids in childcare is absolutely vital to my sanity and keeping the house in any sense of order! Maybe it means we can’t afford that holiday abroad /meal out but we still make sure we have lots of fun, is absolutely worth it. However maybe others have easier, tidier children who are settled to sleep by 7pm each night so don’t feel they need the kid free time so much