PT vs FT

[seizethecuttlefish]

After 2 years at home I've been looking at going back to work. I'm aware my timing sucks and I'm expecting this to take a while. I have 25 years experience in my field and worked PT for 7 years before I gave up work. I've been told that there are very few PT jobs and the trend is to FT but flexible. Suppose the long, rambling question is has anyone gone back FT and been able balance it? OH travels a lot for work and we don't have any family support so it would be balanced between childminders and nurseries. Any advice welcomed as I'm feeling a bit despondent.

has anyone gone back FT and been able balance it?

Well, obviously people do that all the time.

How challenging it is, depends on all sorts of things:

• how many dc you have
• how old they are
• what hours you work
• how flexible your employers are
• how flexible your OH is
• money - lets be honest, everything is easier with more money - you can get a cleaner, you can just order food or other shopping without spending time searching for the best prices etc. - you can just say 'oh sod it' and order in a takeaway or go out for a meal, or pay for a babysitter etc
• how stressful your work is
• how much your work can be done in hours that you can 'juggle' a bit......... if you are writing up a report or reading documents or pulling plans together etc, it is easier to leave at a time you need to and do a couple of hours to catch up in the evening or at the weekend, but if you are a midwife or a paramedic or a teacher, you kind of need to be there 'at work' during the hours you are supposed to be and can't put it on one side whilst you deal with a parenting emergency and pick it up later.

How many hours did you work previously when you say part time? Keep searching with all that experience you should be able to get the hours you would like. Or you could take full time and then try go part time due to lack of childcare.

Thanks. I think I'm just having a massive wobble about going back to work and I had part time in my head. My OH travels with his job and before we had our second child it was just about manageable but my employer didn't make it easy. I'm trying to figure out childcare etc and just feeling a bit of mum guilt.

If you can afford it and it won’t affect your career long term I would go for PT. It’s just so much easier. We’ve never had any family support
I’ve been lucky enough to only work PT since we had dc and it’s been great for us as a family, but I know it’s not for everyone