RTW - advice on re-adjusting

[veejayteekay]

Hi all, I'm a 32 year old mum of a 2 year old boy I adopted just over a year ago. I took a years adoption leave plus some annual leave as we were moving house and wanted it to be less disruptive as possible (turns out we won't be moved until I've already returned to work so that was a bit futile!). So I'll be returning to work having had about 14ms off all told. I'll be slightly reducing my hours to a 4 day week and my son will be enrolled for 4 full days in nursery. Hes had some trial sessions this month to settle him in which went really well but I'm very conscious that 2 hour trial sessions versus 4 full days of up to 10 hours are two totally different things so I'm fully expecting some teething pains.

My main reason for posting is to ask those who've been in a similar situation recently:

• how did you cope with the feelings of mum guilt/overwhelm at your child being in childcare the majority of the week?
• how did you set good boundaries at work to ensure you didn't over promise and retained good work life balance especially when you've reduced your hours/availability?
• how did you find just getting back into the swing of work after so long?

Any tips appreciated! Xxx

I returned to work after 12 months off with my first and he was straight into nursery five days a week 8-5. Slightly different as I was going back pregnant with my second so knee it was only going to be for 5 months BUT he adjusted so well to it we had no problems with him settling in.

I was worried about mum guilt but I found I loved being back at work and with my colleagues and doing something other than mum stuff. It made me a better mum at home (had more patience) and knowing he was settled in nursery meant I could focus on work when I was in the office.

Plus being able to earn money again meant I could spoil him at weekends and take some nice holidays.

I became very strict with my working hours - it came naturally because as soon as I was out the door I had to race to nursery then with dinner and bedtime routine I was too knackered to even think or worry about work when I finally sat down in the evening.

I did have problems with my employers because I found I was so productive during the day I didn’t feel any pressure to login in the evenings to play catch-up.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised at the transition, really was not what I expected. Hope it’s the same for you op.