Working Mummies Support Group

[nothing2lose]

Ive always worked fulltime but went down to three days a week about a year ago. It's a much better life work balance.
It's made no difference to FTB, CCB etc as we've never been eligible but it means dd can do an after school activity on Friday whereas before she wouldn't have been able to do it.

We don't have before school care so I don't start work until 9.30am.

Dd is in grade 5 now. Not sure what we will do in a couple of years when she is in high school. Freaks me out thinking she will be home by herself for three hours, three nights a week (after catching PT home!) I guess we will cross that bridge when we have to cross it!

Eta - Nutter, we are all "fulltime parents", just some of us work outside the home sometimes

[peanutter]

We don't have before school care so I don't start work until 9.30am.

Dd is in grade 5 now. Not sure what we will do in a couple of years when she is in high school. Freaks me out thinking she will be home by herself for three hours, three nights a week (after catching PT home!)

Times have changed so much. From the age of 9, I had a key, and my siblings and I had before school chores, then we'd walks (2kms in the snow ... ok, no snow, but it was 2kms) to school, we'd get there early (because I've always hated being late) and then we'd all walk back after school, I'd cook them something to eat, we'd do our after school chores, and mum would be home an hour or two later ... if she was particularly late, or if it was my turn, I'd cook dinner too. High school was a train trip, sometimes after dark, after sports or choir in winter... All these things that just don't happen very often these days.

But come to think of it, we walked to and from school by ourself from age 4 even when mum was at home!

I'm not sure if these are more dangerous times, or if we're just more protective ... I wonder what I could and wouldn't be ok with my boys doing, and I'm not sure, because they're not of an age that I'd be letting them out and about alone anyway.

Anyway, I guess these aren't things relevant to being a working mumma ... they're just things I think about ...

Working mummy question: how do you treat public holidays? Eg: tomorrow is a public holiday, and I personally have to get some funeral things organised, and write an article I've been putting on the backburner for way too long, but normally, pre children, I'd stay in bed, have a long bath, catch up with a friend, read a book, see a movie, have a naked day, or something like that ... Now, I feel obliged to clean the house from top to bottom, and engage in meaningful activities with my children, and I get the guilts if I even consider having a lay in (because it means my DH can't, and it's his public holiday too!!) So what do you do?

[Astrid]

Working mummy question: how do you treat public holidays? Eg: tomorrow is a public holiday, and I personally have to get some funeral things organised, and write an article I've been putting on the backburner for way too long, but normally, pre children, I'd stay in bed, have a long bath, catch up with a friend, read a book, see a movie, have a naked day, or something like that ... Now, I feel obliged to clean the house from top to bottom, and engage in meaningful activities with my children, and I get the guilts if I even consider having a lay in (because it means my DH can't, and it's his public holiday too!!) So what do you do?

Nothing specific. DH is also home (he works full-time), so it often a balance between wanting to rest, needing to do things around the house. Sadly doing a specific activity for the girls often falls last. Like tomorrow, we will be wood cutting.
Sometimes I feel bad that we aren't doing some wonderful activity with the girls, but then they are so busy during the week with school/childcare/kinder, after school activities twice a week, I think some down time vegging around the house and helping us where needed is good for them.