Is working part time the worst of all worlds? Idle question for a Sunday afternoon...

[WideWebWitch]

Just browsing on here today and seeing part time workers talking about not being taken seriously at work and picking up chores/childcare slack at home.

Does being part time mean you get the worst of all worlds in that you don't necessarily get taken seriously at work (I know this isn't fair and I'm not saying it is but I do know it happens) and that you also end up doing a lot more at home without any of the nicer bits that you might get if you were at home full time?

I'm not suggesting that ft sahms are lazy btw, not at all, just that if you are at home ft you probably do get the odd bit of nice time, just as you get an hours lunch break if you work ft. And if you work pt you probably do end up doing more childcare/chore stuff than if you work ft, jst because you're there.

True or utter bollocks? (I work ft oth btw and have no immediate plans to do anything else other than working from home but that would be with fulltime childcare)

Also my partner works pt too - similar hours to me so no excuses about not doing his fair share! Neither of us is particularly into climbing the greasy pole (although I am the more ambitious, I won't compromise my lifestyle working silly hours). So although I am pt, in the dynamic of our relationship I am the 'main breadwinner' (its not that unbalanced though, I earn 60% and he earns 40% of our household income). I think the comparability of status of our careers at home is really important in making the part-time option work.

I work p/t 4 hours a day, and spend the other half of the day with DS, into which I fit most of the laundry, cooking etc. I do a couple of hours proper housework at the weekends, shopping is mostly delivered / picked up on the way to / from places.

I didn;t return to my old job, this is a proper mummy job - part-time, lowest of the low, crap pay - but it's better than nothing...the perks of having no responsibility whatsoever are that when I have to take time off for DS etc I really couldn;t care less And the social life is good

I feel my life is really balanced and the small amount of extra income actually makes a big difference to our quality of life.

I am just considering going back full time after 8 years of part-time as my youngest is going to school in September but still I do enjoy picking up from school at least once or twice a week. My career has been affected enormously as I am in a very male dominated industry where most people make the most advances in their careers between 30 and 40, which is when I worked part-time. It has been a major struggle but I would do it every time. It is hard work and you do do more at home but quite frankly I enjoy being a mom on my day off and after school.

It all depend on what kind of part time. Personaly I feel I have the best of both worlds. I'm self employed and work part time, I pick my projects carefuly, I only firmly accept a project when I have my childcare sorted out and I turn down projects I don;t want to do or can;t sort child care for.
I get to do what I 'm trained and experienced in some of the time and I get to spend most of most weeks with my boy. the projects that involve my working several days on the trot have to be ones I WANT to do. or I turn them down.
I know I am lucky , I had a good set of customers before boy came along and they still want to use me coz I'm good at the job, I'm even getting a few new customers but I'm not pushing for work. As boy gets older i'll be able to look at differnt projects that might take me away for longer and when hes old enough he can join the tribe of crew kids hanging around most festivals these days.
he did 10 outdoor events with me before he was born!