Mon 5 Feb 2007
I’m Curious
Posted by Art-Sweet under site stuff, Weekend Reading, Parenting 202
How do those of you who have two careers and babies/small children manage it?
This has been the subject of some recent heated discussion in the art-sweet/pili household and after trying to organize my thoughts on the issue into a coherent post far too many times, I’ve decided to wimp out throw the question out to our vast and extensive LesbianFamily audience and seek your wisdom.
I’ve also added some new links… go check out this week’s new (to me) blogs:
Amy and Melissa’s Baby Blog (TTC)
Other Motherhood (babies/nonbio)
Roll Playing with Kids (little kids)
February 6th, 2007 at 12:09 am
What we have done is that we both work part-time (about 75% of full-time each)and we work different shifts, so we do the old kid hand-off mid-afternoon. For the most part, this has worked really well for us. I like that I still have stimulation outside the home, but I get home early enough that I have time to unwind and have a lot of quality time with the kids. I realize that this arrangement doesn’t work in many careers and in many households. Neither one of us works in the type of profession where one of us could support the whole family comfortably. If that were the situation, I think we would go with one of us staying at home, especially now when our son is needing extra support.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:32 am
I have noooo idea!
A huge part is that my partner isn’t as busy as I am. He also is more into keeping the house clean. I subscribe to the theory of “dirt don’t hurt.” Even if dust can kill me.
I also try not to schedule too many things in one week and rarely pack personal things in one weekend. I have to have one day for just the family.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Huh. I have no idea either. It’s freakin’ exhausting.
Roo goes to work with NSG for about half the day (her job is childcare). She also managed to pick up some very early-morning hours so I stay home with him while she works, and then she gets him by about 9 am. I “work at home” one day a week (read: I check my email during naps). And NSG’s sister fills in some of the gaps. It’s chaotic, and there’s lots of schlepping, but the flip side is that we have 2 full-time jobs, no daycare bill, and nights and weekends together, which definitely makes it worthwhile.
Our situation is (for us) pretty ideal, but it’s still insanity.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
It is HARD. We have full time day care, except when it’s closed, and we tag-team things like showers.
February 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
My partner and I work full-time and have a 5 year old and an almost 2 year old. Our kids are in different schools/daycares which adds to the complications. It’s tough and we live pretty scheduled lives. Our “free time” in the evenings is sometimes used to prepare for the next day. We try to keep as much of our weekends free as possible but sometimes we have to run an errand or two. Rather than drag the kids around town on errands, one of us goes and the other stays home.