Anyone fancy a thread for mums who work full-time?

[Oly5]

Hello, just wondered if any other mums work full-time and fancy a bit of a thread?
I adore my kids but enjoy working full-time too. I feel it's a massive taboo to say so. This thread is for people who feel like me, who are struggling to make it work, who wish they could work less. Anyone really!

I'm looking into nannies now but have made it quite clear to him that I am not paying for it - either he or his firm is going to have to fund it somehow. Grrr.

And he should be looking for nannies too.
He really should be sorting it out. Not you.

I don't do PTAs. I just about make it to summer fair and some sports days. Today we have harvest festival. At 10am. Like ?!!! How does that work? Thankfully I work v locally to the school so I will drop kids off at school, get to work, mess around for half an hour, and then walk to school for half an hour for the harvest festival. And walk back to work.

Thankfully my work is flexible ie, I made sure I didn't schedule any meetings. Obviously my work is piling up and my to do lists get longer particularly at night when I've had time to think about stuff and realise I've missed doing some things.

Having said that, re PTAs, although I am not involved in that, I have taken it upon myself to organise the class list for both my children's classes. Primarily because this was done when my first child was in reception and it was a great resource and got people together. Thankfully I have somehow recruited other mums who are helping so... I'm delegating work!!

Have a good day everyone.

Actually Xenia was genius when she mentioned getting a housekeeper/child tamer. Lucid I would go that route over hiring a nanny. When your OH is away you need more than a nanny. A housekeeper becomes your equivalent to a SAHP. A nanny only takes care of the kids. Mine made dinner for all of us last night including herself. Plus she cleaned up. ''Twas awesome.

Sort of like a mother's help want? That's an interesting idea and I shall investigate it!

What's sauce for the goose is clearly sauce for the gander though as I am currently contemplating doing two days per week in one of our European offices on a business transformation project, so at least one overnight away per week. DH's reaction should be interesting - he's away at the moment so I haven't been able to discuss it with him...

Very glad to have found this thread. I work mornings only at the moment but have just agreed with my boss that I'll increase my hours over the next 12 months to go full-time. I feel a bit nervous about it, in terms of the impact on the family, as I've been part-time for 7 years and the kids (4 and 7) are used to having me around all the time - however there's no way I'm passing up this opportunity.

I'm very lucky in so many respects: I work from home (5 minute walk from my children's school), my husband is a teacher so no holiday childcare problems, my boss is fantastic - supportive, encouraging and understanding about my family commitments.

My plan is to find an after-school nanny to pick the kids up and bring them home, look after them for a couple of hours until I finish work. I'll be in the house anyway so I'll be able to check in with them when they get home, but without having to be the person in charge. The school holidays will be a bit weird with my husband becoming the default parent in charge for much of the time - that will be a learning curve for all of us! - but the girls will be with their dad, so they couldn't be in better hands (apart from mine, obviously )

I feel I've got the best of all worlds, really. I do miss working with people - I enjoy office life and work best with colleagues around me - but it's a small price to pay for the freedom and flexibility of my working set-up. And working full-time I will really be able to advance my career. I'm not in a highly-paid industry but I love my job and the more I do, the happier I am :)

Hats off to you all, especially the single parents, I've found it inspiring to read this thread.

Really knackered so just a quick first post. Work a 4 day job over 5 days so I can do school drop offs and pick ups. I know that's not full time, and nothing compared to some of the hours that some of you do, so hope it's ok to post here.
3 boys (8 and nearly 6 year old twins) and went back to work last Jan. Definitely need the money and mainly enjoy my job. Feel guilty though that don't give enough to either! Husband great, but works extremely long hours and has some health problems so don't want to ask him to do more. Like so many others say feel like I am one slip away from chaos and on an eternal hamster wheel! Sometime feel that I don't actually live my life as so busy rushing around and even when relaxing my mind is always on the go. Sorry for such a vent, but feels better having written it down!

Hi folks
Another full time worker here with 11 mth old and 8 1/2 yr old. Been back to work for a month and a half and finding it tough to juggle everything. Dd2 is still bf and taking a very late night and early morning feed so feeling the intensity of having to be around.
Outsourcing stuff like cleaning is just not financial option for us so our flat is a mess as the only time to do it all is after the girls are in bed.

I don't want to wish their and my life away but looking forward her to some down / me time!

Great day as a working (and single) mother.

Hardly slept with a poorly DS and will end up having an important meeting via skype from home.

I can get help from my parents but it's just not same for DS and they will just keep referring back to me.

I dread it when the kids are sick. I'm lucky that we have unlimited sick for self and family. However the work must get done. I also make DH do some of the sick days.

I'm at the start of school and limit my involvement on the PTA but do things like have DH donate his ribs and cook them up for fundraisers. Considering each box is $30 in the supermarket it's a great way to contribute without it taking up too much time.

We have a school that just came out of special measures. I had my employer include the school in their literacy program. Took one email and a phone call. I consider that an efficient use of time.

DH donate his ribs and cook them up for fundraisers.

"His" ribs?

I am finding it easier to work full-time with a supportive employer than part-time who made a huge fuss when I needed to juggle days/times around DD (despite saying they were perfectly happy with flexible working at interview). Current employer is relaxed about me needing to pop out to meet with teacher/fit in appointments etc. I try and schedule anything for times when I know we're not busy, and have more skills/experience than they would usually get for the salary. But it is worth every penny of 'lost' pay. I enjoy going to work now

Luckily DD's school has after-school/holiday club up to 6pm in term time and 5.30pm in the holidays. Another Brownie Mum takes DD to Brownies, and a retired-but-still-young neighbour helps with other transporting round for a reasonable sum.

Well they are pork ribs to be precise! Its his business they come from so I do refer to them as 'his'. Anyway serves me right for posting while on a call!

I do some covert flexible working, trying to make it overt at the moment.....will see how it goes.

TGIF!

Genuine question: why is it that it's so difficult in the UK particularly, to have housework outsourced? Several people have posted on this thread about having to persuade their partners that it's necessary to have a cleaner or housekeeper help them out to get through the cleaning and mountains of ironing?

That's my perception anyway, as a foreigner in the UK... Obviously if one really enjoys housework that's fine. I know some people find solace in watching tv and ironing a pile of stuff on a Sunday afternoon.

Is it to do with some house proud-ness? That you can't be much do a wife if you can't sort out the housework as well? Is it intrusion of some stranger in your home? Trust?

This question has been bugging me for sometime. I don't think my in-laws know we have a cleaner. It's not a secret, but it's not something we would choose to tell them!

It's a class thing I think. You are not supposed to have 'staff' even though any family 100 years ago that was middle class would have at least one person working for them! But having a cleaner is a bit downtown Abby and you think cleaning is beneath you.

Hi, I am due to go back to work in the next couple of weeks. I was just wondering if any of you have a timetable/schedule/structure written down for life in general to make sure everything gets done and that you would be willing to share.
I'm starting to panic about how I am going to get everything done as well as work!!
Thanks in advance

I set up a command center that is 2 whiteboards. The weeks details are laid out in one and general stuff coming up is on the other. The stuff coming up is on post it notes and gets written into the weekly schedule. Magnets that we have collects from our travels then are used to put up school notices, letters we need to follow up on. I then found a magnetic folder bin that sits on the fridge. What paper that isn't chucked from the board goes in the bin.

Want2Be that's an amazing idea - very organised
I have a huge desk diary for work that I put all our personal stuff in too. I need it all in one place or my brain can't compute.
On the routine side of things, I put out the children's clothes for the next day the night before, out a wash on every night and hang it out next morning, and get up early to load dishwasher etc and make sure we're setup for the day. Supermarket shopping is 80% done online and delivered on a Friday noght. My cleaner comes every Friday and I look forward to the day I can get more help!
Other than that, we sort of fly by the seat of our pants

Ps I think it's a British thing to be surprised when people have cleaners. The British don't like it when people get fancy ideas
Having a cleaner is considered a bit posh

Yeah it's annoying on the cleaner thing. I am quite happy to be in the US when it comes to that sort of thing. When we didn't have a cleaner everyone assumed we were struggling!

Potty training this weekend and this is the kind of thing that would be great to have a bit more time for as already had to take time off this week for sickness of DS2. Luckily DH can take Monday off so hoping that we'll be done ?? on a plus note got an opinion on my mail-order delivery - 'mummy you look very nice'

Ah potty training goes on forever in my experience - work or no work! Ha ha. But first three days nappy off at home should get you on the right track

One of the reasons DS was only out of nappies when he was fully ready. It took no time at all, except for the poos, which took about three days and actually needed me explaining that contrary to nappies, it was not ok to do them in his pants.
It also helped to sit him on the potty in front of the laptop on the coffee table when he showed any signs of wanting to do a poo, so that he'd get used to waiting a bit while sitting for a poo.
There are family photos of my siblings asleep on the potty in front of the tv for the same reason.

Thanks for your thoughts... Yeah it must be a class thing. Well sod that. I cannot afford the time to clean so many hours a week plus do the tidying up, homework for kids, travel for work, and of course the daily washing of clothes and dishes and cooking of course!! I just don't see why it's a woman thing though. Have you guys seen the Twitter thing that's been going round called #manwhohasitall - it's v funny and it takes the mic out of all the nonsense women spout to other women about how to 'have it all'.

The husband has inadvertently made me have a day at home today because he decided to take both sets of car keys with him, on a day trip about an hour away from home. It's caused dd not to go to her activity and me not to get some errands run. #firstworldproblem

It's not the end of the world of course, but it is ridiculously annoying. He thankfully had the sense to keep quiet when I hollered at him through the phone as I was getting ready to leave the house and realised that the keys were not in my coat. Argh.

Potty training - ahhh. Good bad old days. Good luck! From memory, ds took longer to get it compared to dd.