Working Mummies Support Group #3

[OceanPrincess]

Yay wysiwyg!! Sounds promising.

Teeki it's so good to read about you enjoying your new job. Nice!

I'm struggling, to be honest. I just can't seem to balance it all. Not helped by DD and DS2 both expressing their extreme displeasure at my working over the school hols. DS2 is just cranky at life at this stage, he's 2.5, drama central... But DD telling me she hates me working is difficult to hear

[wysiwyg]

Yay wysiwyg!! Sounds promising.

Teeki it's so good to read about you enjoying your new job. Nice!

I'm struggling, to be honest. I just can't seem to balance it all. Not helped by DD and DS2 both expressing their extreme displeasure at my working over the school hols. DS2 is just cranky at life at this stage, he's 2.5, drama central... But DD telling me she hates me working is difficult to hear

I think is an age thing with your DD and a school thing. As I said before DD had never ever had an issue with me working before starting school - but as they get older they start comparing "why can so and so's mum pick up every day, get time off in school holidays, get to every school event and you can't" and I think at the 6-7 age they just don't really get enough about the way finances employment work to get it. Even if you tie it to having to work for a particular reason, e.g mortgage, food whatever - they can't get why other people can have these things and their mum can still pick up, stay home school holidays etc. I think that realization that not everyone can have the same things comes later.

Must be extra hard for your DD OP as she will remember when you didn't work I assume.

I don't think schools and people in general help though, the number of times get asked "are you going anywhere?" - or said to DD "will be nice to be home with mum" . I think teachers forget because they are off for two weeks, that a lot of peoples lives are just the same but there is no school (I don't begrudge teachers their holidays at all, I think they are pretty overworked - but they do seem to hype the kids up a bit about the holidays).

The long summer holidays I have not had to deal with yet but I dread - this year sounds like we will be lucky enough to have my parents come over from UK and will take the kids away all holidays and we can join them depending on what our jobs allow.

FF - that sounds great, hope that it continues. I do think opportunities for 'freelance' type work will keep increasing in general - so hopefully more opportunities for future generations to fit work around life rather than the other way round.

BD - that sounds frustrating. Uncertainty is always unsettling.