Returning to work after a 5 year break- really nervous!!!

[toddybell]

As the title, really!

Took a long period of time out of work to raise a family and tomorrow is my first day back at an entirely new place. It's an hours commute but the role sounds great. I was really excited up until an hour ago and suddenly I'm filled with nerves. I'm scared I'll struggle to balance work with family life. Youngest DC is going through a clingy phase and I'm riddled with guilt that I'll have to ignore that for now when dropping her off to nursery in the morning. Scared to be going back whilst children are still so young (5, 3, 2).

Any words of wisdom/advice appreciated.

Hay op, firstly everything will be fine and congratulations

I have 1 dc so not as much as a juggle but i retyrned part time when my child was 9m and worked full time since 18months
Are you doing ft?
Do you have a partner?
My first piece of advice is have a good rota.
Me and dh know who is dropping off/collecting from where/cooking/walking dog etc so that helps having a defined system. Everyone knows what they are doing and when.

Any days you can negotiate wfh? Thats really helped my balance i do 2x days at home.

What childcare have you got in place, if its family I would suggest some after/before school club as a back up. We send dc to after school club 1x a week even though me/dh/our parents could collect them- because anything can pop up last minute and you dont want family to feel obligated eg my mum and dad book a last min hol- no problem easy enough to get an extra day in the after school club- its a great back up and often they do holiday care too.

If your having a day where you think why the F am I doing this!! Your doing it for you and for your family! Some days will be like groundhog day and a drudge but for me I think of the extra treats/holidays we can do by me working this keeps me going!

The children will adapt especially if you have a clear structure, everyone knows what they are doing etc and soon youll have found a groove.

The commute is the most challenging part- I have jusf switched jobs from a 1 hour commute to a 20min with wfh, but its not unmanageable and there was only 1 or 2 times in the almost 2 years I worked there school phoned me about having to collect dc from school (1 bump on head and 1 school shut down) and I was lucky I could shoot off but have a plan in place for last min collections if you can.

Good luck 👍

Thanks Clean! It's a FT position but lots of things are up in the air re: set office vs days when I'll be WFH- this is something I'll have to iron out with my line manager (who I know from another role where we worked together previously) so I'm hoping it'll be okay- he said it would be when we spoke at interview but it just needs setting in stone. Until I get that in writing, I feel up in the air and that's not a good feeling. Kids are all at nursery/preschool atm (costing a fortune in childcare as you can imagine) so I know they're catered for. My husband works locally so drop offs/pick ups aren't (hopefully) going to be too bad but he is notoriously disorganised (kids will go into nursery without a hat/water bottle, etc.) so preparing their bags (and leaving them by the door) will be all on me. I just have this feeling of dread I can't let go of. Maybe once im in a few weeks, I'll ease?

No family locally at all. It's all on us to manage if it all goes pear shaped.

Can I ask how you manage holidays between the two of you?

Youll soon find your 'groove'
Half term holidays if its a week off for example i usually take 2 days dh takes 2 days and dc goes to out of school club or MIL one day.

Summer holidays we usually do weekly blocks
Ill do week 1 then dh week 2
Week 3 ill try and get an activity club like dance or gymnastics. Week 4 dh or me week 5 dh or me and week 6 we try and use family/holidays club. If we go a summer holiday that means we have 2 weeks off together so more holiday club!

We always buy a week holiday each through work, dh has 35 days holiday when he buys a week and i have 30 days.

Its tricky but its doable!