Returning To Work Or Not?

After our son was born I began to realise, as do many mothers, that I really didn't want to return to work. I really wanted to be a stay-at-home-parent, not to just be there for the 'firsts' ... first smile, first step, first word ...  but to be there for him all day every day ...

Unfortunately when I looked at our bank balance and thought about what our finances would be on a day-to-day basis without my income, it was pretty clear to me and my husband that me staying at home with our son wasn't really an option. I then began to think about other possibilities, especially as my work was offering a voluntary severance scheme. I thought about trying to find employment that I could possibly fit around my son's requirements. At this point I was thinking of doing something child-related on a part-time basis and also one that I could take my child to 'work' with me, but  in all reality that really wasn't going to happen either.

I took a long hard look at our finances again and I sort of worked out that we could possibly live off my severance money, if I decided to go down that route, for two years if we were really careful with our money. I realised when I was off on maternity leave that could live off very little money if I budgeted things carefully, but there still comes a time when the money that you've got coming in to the household on a monthly basis doesn't quite match up to the money required to go out every month.

I also thought about re-training, and the immediate thing that sprung to mind was teaching. It's a fantastic job and it certainly would fit in really well with family life once our son was at school, and there's no shortage of jobs. The down-side of that argument for me was again the financial side of things whilst I re-trained. 

In the end I reluctantly returned to work after my maternity leave and extended annual leave was finished. I've been back at work now for about 18 months. It's not easy, especially if he's ill or I've been up several times with him during the night, which unfortunately does still happen even although he's now 2 and a half!

I do miss our son was I'm at work, but as he's in nursery a few days a week he's getting the opportunity to do so many things and socialise with so many other children, and he's thriving on it, which makes my guilt slightly easier to bear ...

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Silly Hats, Crackers & Too Much Wine!

This time of year most folks are out on their Christmas work's night out and it was my turn last yesterday.

We tend to opt for a lunch affair rather than an evening meal, which is great, you get the afternoon off and if you want to you can be home in time to put the kids to bed! As I'm really not out that often, and certainly not for dinner, I let my colleagues decide where we were off to for our lunch as they tend to frequent some lovely eating establishments on a regular basis!

There's only four of us in the office, and the boys had decided to take the morning off, which meant the other woman and I had a girlie morning and then headed off in to town to have a glass of wine before the boys arrived for lunch. It was quite nice having a glass of wine in the middle of the day, can't remember the last time that I did that!

The Ups and Downs of Confidence

I was never the most outgoing of children as I was growing up and I'm still not the most outgoing person as an adult.

At school I was always the one who's report card constantly read "very shy". Over the years I've worked on that but there's still the odd hint of the old me still around, and the main one is an innate fear of public speaking.

I've always found ways round this issue, and it was generally involved making sure that I was never in a position that I have to give any presentations, and that worked for a good number of my adult years.

I changed jobs about five years ago and one of my roles in this new post was a couple of lectures a year. On my first day I managed to console myself with the thought that I wouldn't have to present anything for at least another six months.

To Leave or Not To Leave ??

I always feel guilty every time I leave my little fella and go off to work, and it’s not helped knowing that my work is currently offering a voluntary severance scheme.

They’re offering you a years salary, which if you’re frugal you could possibly stretch that to last say 15 -18 months. There’s always the possibility of looking for some evening work and / or weekend work, that way I would be able to look after our son during that day as well as bringing in some income.