Working mum, child starting school

Jox

I'll take him to school and then after school club as well, hopefully hubby can collect him at 5ish though we will have to pay til 6pm, I think it's about £200 a month for the after school club.

I need to think of business ideas I can do from home or near to home. I did look into becoming a childminder myself and actually became registered but it seems more scary with the paperwork and Ofsted and being self-employed so I didn't take the plunge!

chelseablue

Your a braver woman than me, a room full of kids is my idea of hell :rotfl:

Jox

Teachers and childminders and nursery staff do deserve lots of medals!

They mostly do a great job under difficult circumstances and should be appreciated more! I can barely deal with other adults never mind lots of kids!

LandyAndy

suejb2 wrote: »

Don't be hard on yourself put the spin on it.
Your son will be at school 32.5 hours a week.
You work full time at a guess 40 a week. That leaves 7.5 hours of not being with your son. Out of the 168 hours in a week that's nowt..... That leaves 160.5 fabulous hours with your boy.

I think you'll find it means a maximum of 128 hours (168 - 40).

However, I agree with your sentiment entirely.

clairec79

I was in a slightly different situation that after maternity leave I went back to work but the children weren't in childcare (husband was a postman and finished work at 11am, so I started at 11.30)

For me it wasn't a question of missing them, it was more that they were growing up and that stage of their life wasn't there any more - and they weren't babies (hit more when they were all in school), so I missed the 'baby' them, but that was replaced by the 'child' them and since the 'teen' them - and although I love them at each stage there is a part of me that still misses the 'baby' them

buildersdaughter

I have worked with children and families for my whole adult life, and as soon as I retired, I became a grandmother. I have seen every variation of parents working full time /part-time / back-to-back shifts; kids cared for by all kinds of carers. It comes down to this:
Family life is not perfect, and kids do well when they are cared for, listened to, and enjoyed by their families in the time that is available. Parents all over the world do the best they can (with tiny exceptions that we're not discussing here). and kids mostly thrive.
Parents need support - from their families, society and from other parents. We all make different choices, depending on what help is available, and how we can manage best.
Don't waste time and energy on thinking about others - if you can learn something from them, fine, but if not, leave them to their life, and concentrate on making the most of yours.

FBaby

What a lovely post buildersdaughter.

Kynthia

My daughter is starting school in September and although I work I feel I've spent a lot of time with her due to being off for two maternity leaves of a full year each, working part time so being off a day each week, and and lots of annual leave and holidays.

However I feel like I don't want this stage to end and there's more I want to do. When I dig down and analyse my feelings I know I would feel like this no matter how much time I'd spent with her as it's more to do with this stage of her childhood ending. It's a lovely stage where they really need you and love you with a very definite ending and milestone, school. It's also a significant reminder that they are growing up and one day won't be spending all their time with us. So I think it's a very bittersweet time at the moment.

Loz01

I think ALL kids pretty much had to go through childcare at some point as a kid - I know I did, and I can say Im completely fine Is it ideal to have someone stay at home with the baby until they start school at 4/5? YES. Is that possible due to mortgages/rent/career prospects? NO. As someone else said, as long as they're in a safe environment they enjoy (after school club, childminder, neighbour, grandparent) then they will be fine.

goodwithsaving

Here's the perspective of someone who's Dad was always away working and who's mother was full time but never away.

We had hard times as children and my mother beats herself up that she wasn't there when we got in from school, nor picked us up, but in truth, we enjoyed after school club because they had all the games (and squash) we couldn't afford to have, or weren't allowed. When we were older and got ourselves home, we got 'us time' before the parents got back from work. We had a long school day because school was far away and even now, we all like our own space. We'd get home, do our homework (or watch television), then the parents got in from work and we'd go for a walk before supper.

My parents were there when they could be, but we were well aware of why we had a nice house, big garden and the odd holiday. They worked for it and gave us a great childhood. They shouldn't feel guilty for that.
Quality weekend time and evenings as a family are what matters. They'd be far more affected by no roof over their head!