Hey IMs
I'm chasing some advice on afternoon/evening routines for working families.
I feel like we really struggle to have happy evenings because we are always rushing and never seem to have enough time.
I work full time 6 days a week 9-5:30 and my partner works 10-6.
I pick the kids up from care and get home around 6:15 then it's dinner, showers, homework and straight off to bed to do it again the next day....
I've had mums at school call me an absent parent and since then I feel terrible. Like I just can't get it together.
I have two kids, 5 and 6 (prep and grade 1) and only get to drop them off and pick them up once a week.
I feel completely defeated to the point I want to quit my job but we are building a home which is the whole reason we both work so many hours.
How do other working/busy mums handle the mammoth task of "after work" without going batty?
5 Replies
I think your routine is fine. Homework, shower, dinner, relax and bed - give that order a go if you feel the one you have now isn't working. Absent parent my ass, you're teaching your kids that you have to work and sacrifice for what you want, nothing wrong with that!
You are not an absent parent. Don't let comments like that bring you down. I work full time, have 3 children, hubby etc etc and the best thing you can have is your routine. Sounds like yours is great. It's working for you. If you can work those hours and still spend time with your babies then you're doing great.
All working mum's feel that guilt about working. I did. I spent 7 years at home before i had had enough and wanted to work again.
Invest in a slow cooker (or a pressure cooker) and get the meals cooking while you are at work, this may give some extra time in the evening. It's a hard slog, don't beat yourself up, enough people are doing that for you xx You are doing great :-D
I have just returned to work 3 days a week after hubby and I running our own business so not as busy as you but still things get a little crazy here. Just thought I would share a link in an article I came across recently! It is well worth the watch. Wishing you all the best though, don't let the 'perfect' mothers out there get you down.... https://au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/all-i-need/
No youre not an absent parent. How would they feel if you called them lazy? Not all of us can afford to stay home for the rest of our lives after having children, nor do some of us want to. I could have written this word for word. My hubby works 6-5 6 days a week and I work 7-3 4 days a week. Once we are all home its dinner, showers, homework, bed. Its hard and it feels like we never have any "downtime". But we make sure sundays are family day. I will stay up a little later friday nights or on my day off to get all the house work done so Sunday we have nothing to do but spend time together. We also go out for dinner once a fortnight. Its hard and alot of the time I forget to pay for school photos or forget that its my sons show and tell day, but I know im doing the right thing for myself and for my family. Being a working mum is bloody hard, but so rewarding. Good luck mumma, I think youre doing a fantastic job.