Would a fourth child affect progression in a legal career?

[tierneytarny]

I have 3 children (9 months, 2 and 5). I am a lawyer working in a good mid-sized firm. I am toying with the idea of a fourth. I’m 40 so I feel like this is last chance saloon. Would it be the end of my career (in that no progression etc). I feel like I juggle work and life well but with boundaries such as protected time before bed for family life (before jumping back online to keep working). I don’t want to be written off because I had another baby but similarly I feel like I’ll regret not having a fourth. Any insight would be appreciated, particularly from professionals who have had a bigger family and successful career.

Whilst you’re in the physical parenting trenches at the moment, they’re all under your control and probably in the same childcare (nanny or nursery with reception for the oldest). It gets much more complicated as they get older & do after school clubs and, the more children you have, the more different places they will need to be in at the same time. It makes it much harder to juggle work than when they are little. Also, bedtime gets later. I don’t know if you log on and work after they are in bed - I have had some colleagues have that as part of a flexible working request - but, as bedtime gets later, the time in which you have to work as well as eat, do household stuff and relax gets compressed. At the moment, they may all be in bed by 7. Roll on a couple of years with a 4th DC and you’ll have two at school doing after school clubs, some of which for the older one might not finish until 5:30, be needing to start bath time etc for the baby at 6:00 and the eldest not going to bed until 8. And then a couple of years after that, it will be later and more of a juggle again. So your protected time in the evening gets longer and longer and your time afterwards gets shorter & shorter

@FoxandDuck thank-you. That is a really good point and something for us to consider.
Both my husband and I don’t feel done but I think we both want to be 100% certain we can handle another baby and our careers. The clubs are definitely something to consider; my eldest’s activities have ramped up over the last 12 months.