Working mums, How do you do it?

lisawal1971

Redstar... just a thought, when I was in the same situation with my daugher; rural school with no out of school club, I called the school and they put a notice in the school newsletter saying that I was looking for out of school childcare. Not only did a really nice childminder from the school call me, so did two other mothers looking for care- we approached the nearest out of school scheme who then said they would come and collect from that school as with three children it was worth while...worth a shot?

So- I am a working mum of 3, often have to travel overnight to London and 'expected' to answer email at all hours. My tips - I condensed my work week to 4 days - helps a lot! Friday is now the day for spedning with my youngest and for older ones to bring home friends to tea.
-I get my shopping delivered
- Little bit of cleaning each night, bigger clean on a Thursday - no cleaning or ironing at the weekend
- de clutter
- Sunday night I get all school uniforms/ changes of clothes ready for the whole week
- write a list each week that goes something like this - Monday DS drum lesson, take 5 pounds, non uniform day take donation, pay gas bill, DD to friends until 5, do maths as due Wednesday etc etc etc

I am in the minority at my childrens school- most are SAHM so do find that when I do get to go and pick up my son I can feel a bit 'out of place' - just learnt to live with this and have tried to address by invitiing a range of his friends home on a Friday. Teachers are very understanding though, after all many of them are working mums too!

Lisa

tooldle

I too am a working mum, and work a condensed week. Organisation for me is key, our house is littered with little signs reminding us and DD what needs to be done on what day.
Valli raises an interesting point. Working a condensed week, I take a 30 min break for lunch, which is often shattered into 5-10min chunks by interuptions from staff students etc. Do other working mums feel that the "lunch break" no longer exists as a real break from work. We are actively encouraged to cross network and discuss multi-disciplinary activity in our cafe area, which means for most, work can never be escaped unless you physically leave the campus.

coco1980

i never take a full lunch break, lunch is usually eaten at my desk otherwise I would never get away on time

teacherandmum

mouche wrote: »

I don't have kds yet but planning to soon. One thing always worries me - when I was little (under 10), bed time was 8pm. I don't get home from work till 7.30pm! Any mums who get in latish and how do you cope with feeding/ spending time with your children and still getting them to bed at a reasonable hour. Especially if your OH works similar or worse hours and there is no family nearby.

realistically you change your life so it all works. I stayed onto work after the kids lefgt school til 6pm or so before i had kids and was often in before 7.30am. now, i have a 2 yo and i take her to nursey/preschool for 8.15am before shooting off to work and leave around 4pm. it just means i do more work at home once shes gone to bed at 7pm.
i was refused part time work due to financial constraints of the school but my ideal would be to do a 4 day week. it's going to have to change again because i'm pregnangt again.

coco1980

I worked in a school when ds was a baby, 9-3 and all hols off, was great. I now work 10-4 Mon-Fri wich I know is not as long as some ppl but we are out of house at 8.15 every morn and back by 6, if i want to spend time with ds as well as cook dinner and do homwork etc he is then in bed at 8.30 when i try to get some quality time with oh as well as do dishes get lunches/uniform ready for next day and do a quick tidy up. I just never seem able to get on top of everything