Children, work and studying law - all getting too much!

[girlynut]

I started my part time uni course (GDL) last October and even though I was working full time and had a 3 year old son I managed.

In January I was made redundant so focused on my studies and finished my exams just before having DS2 in June (24 hours after EU Law!)

Now I'm back at work full time as a paralegal. It's a new job and I'm trying to impress the boss and secure a training contract. The boss is a bitch and there's a lot of pressure.

I'm studying 20 hours a week and trying to run a home with 2 kids. Although the eldest has started school, the youngest is only 5 months and still waking at nights.

I feel like I'm trying to do too much but can't see what can give. Obviously my family is my priority but I have to work to pay the bills and I don't want to delay my studies as I'm gonna be 40 by the time I qualify.

Please tell me it will be worth it in the end! Most days I feel exhausted and wracked with "working mother" guilt. I'm horrible to my poor OH and I keep having tearful moments. The house is a tip and I haven't seen my friends in weeks. Am I nuts trying to do it all?

Hi,

I'm studying law at the moment, and have a number of friends currently on the BCL, GDL, LPC and (what was the) BVC, running concurrently with, or have gone on to, training contracts and they are finding them TOUGH, and that is without children. It is so competitive at the moment, it is not a nice working environment. However, if you can get through this well, you can change jobs within a few years and head off to a nicer firm when all calms down in the job market, which should make your life easier.

You are sleep deprived, over stressed (sometimes I feel I'm over-stressed and I've only got to get essays in!!) and missing your old way of life. Everyone that goes into law loves it, but also misses having time to pluck eyebrows, read a book (even if just 2 pages a day!) and live without work guilt.

Once you have a training contract and completed it a lot of the pressure will be off, and you can relax more. There is no need for working mother guilt, you are doing this for the good of your family, and you are making life better for them in the long run. Some parents have wrap around care for their children, and NEVER see them unless they want to, or the children go to boarding school from 3. This is the parent's choice, but there is no way you should feel guilty-you are doing all you can.

It will get better, and you will remember this time as better than it was, I promise.

girynut,im not doing law but a( four yr) dietetics degree,hv 5 yo ds and pg 29 wks atm..was feeling precisely like this when i logged on(technically to do my essay!) and feel s much better reading ure reply paws!
its pretty muh 5 days with abt 4 o clock finishes,mad dashes to pick my son up frm after-school club(oh the guilt!oh the expense!),cook,clean,dh out of town mostly,study after dinner-i was just asking myself the same q.
i cannt go back to my mind-dumbing job which was depressing me-and paying peanuts-and i love what im studying,b ut when classmates look at me quizically and ask how im managing it,i wonder if i have taken too much on and its just me who cant see it.i feel any sympathetic looks,tuttig concern really drives me down rather than bolstering my confidence..have just developed rather painful spd,so altho im trying nt to let it affect attendance my motivation levels have had to be hacked up higher!
i get a yr out when the baby's born and then go back..in a way i darent admit it to dh as i feel it will be 'showing the cracks'..it is So hard but i do love it,just wish there were more ppl to show me the liht at the end of it.

sorry abt the typos,my keyboard isnt the best,so missing out letters!