Money or fulfillment?

Dunroamin

peachyprice wrote: »

Why assume that working part time hours gives you time to sit around the house witing for the children to come home from school?

I work 20-ish hours a week, so part time hours, when the children are at school, I go when they go, I am home by the time they are home.

I don't spend the extra hours I would work if I were working 37 hours a week sitting at home but it does mean I have always been there to enable them to do any out of school activities they wished, and am there at the end of the school day to help with homework, talk about their day etc., take them to friends, have friends round after school, none of this would happen if I worked full-time, it would a case of walk in the door, do dinner, do a bit of homework and bed.

The OP hasn't said what part time hours she works and school hours only is quite an unusual arrangement. When I've had a fractional appointment(or friends of mine have been) I've either worked mornings/afternoons only or a certain number of whole days, which I think is more common in the public sector.

Dunroamin

CH27 wrote: »

People are fulfilled by different things.
I found it very fulfilling to be there for my family, to have everywhere clean & tidy so we could enjoy family time at the weekend.

Different things are fulfilling at different stages. The trick is to recognise what is right at a certain time.

Whatever floats your boat but, if it's having a clean home and free time at the weekend, as I said earlier you can buy in an enormous amount of domestic help for £1,500 per month.

I hope the OP gets both jobs and can then make a good decision for her future.

CH27

Dunroamin wrote: »

Whatever floats your boat but, if it's having a clean home and free time at the weekend, as I said earlier you can buy in an enormous amount of domestic help for £1,500 per month.

I hope the OP gets both jobs and can then make a good decision for her future.

Stop sneering.

It was about a happy, balanced family life & to me that is worth all the tea in china.

peachyprice

Dunroamin wrote: »

The OP hasn't said what part time hours she works and school hours only is quite an unusual arrangement. When I've had a fractional appointment(or friends of mine have been) I've either worked mornings/afternoons only or a certain number of whole days, which I think is more common in the public sector.

Do you know what, even if I didn't work school hours, if I worked say 3 whole days I'd still only clean the house once a week and it would still only take me a morning

Life is just too short and too much fun to do housework just because you have the time to do it.

onlyroz

Dunroamin wrote: »

You may love housework, shopping and ironing - many of us don't find it all that fulfilling!

Exactly. With all that extra money you could hire a cleaner and use a laundry service, which would provide many extra hours in the week to spend with the family. And with money to spare to go on one or two bl00dy good holidays each year.

"Fulfillment" means different things to different people, and so the OP should decide exactly what she wants out of her life and take the opportunities that best fill these requirements.

Dunroamin

CH27 wrote: »

Stop sneering.

It was about a happy, balanced family life & to me that is worth all the tea in china.

I wasn't sneering!

I just don't think that family life is very balanced when the husband is working long hours and the wife is part time.

peachyprice

Dunroamin wrote: »

I wasn't sneering!

I just don't think that family life is very balanced when the husband is working long hours and the wife is part time.

But what if the husband really doesn't mind?

I know my OH would rather I only worked part time. He works very varied shifts and likes that when he's off or home early we can drop everything and spend time together without it impacting on the smooth running of the household. If I were working full time too that wouldn't be possible, life would have to be more regimented.

onlyroz

Dunroamin wrote: »

I just don't think that family life is very balanced when the husband is working long hours and the wife is part time.

It's an interesting point that if the OP was bringing in more money then her husband could reduce his hours to enable him to spend more time with the kids.

Poppy9

onlyroz wrote: »

It's an interesting point that if the OP was bringing in more money then her husband could reduce his hours to enable him to spend more time with the kids.

I agree. Sometimes men get the rough end of the deal working long hours, high stress levels, long commutes etc. and are then expected to indulge in fun, family time at the weekend and never really get "me" time.

I remember being surprised at how much fun my Dad was, and how much pleasure he got from his Grandchildren. I saw a side I hadn't really seen as he left for work when we went to school and came home about 6.30pm in the evening and worked Saturday morning (he was self employed). When very young we had a strict 7.30pm bed time and as we got older we spent time with friends or just holed up in our bedroom. Weekends were spent out playing etc. I didn't really know my Dad and only got to know him when he retired.

My DD has been luckier. My OH used to work shifts and 4 days on 4 days off so although on his 4 work days she didn't see him really (12 hour shifts) on his 4 rest days he had loads of time for her, plus with her being in school he had "me" time too.

shays_mum

Term time part time is the way to go!!, if i had the choice it would fulfilment all the way