If you sah how many hours are you off duty of childcare?
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Anonymous
| Other than pt preschool and now public school, never unless my kids were sleeping. I have one mom’s night a month where DH keeps them and we probably squeeze in 1 date night a month. No complaints. It is my job and my choice. |
Anonymous
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Are you counting time kids are sleeping?
I’m a SAHM of 3 kids and have a PT nanny/housekeeper 2 days per week. I get about 10 hours from her a week. DH probably has kids for 5-6 hours alone. I probably meet a friend or run errands solo once a week and I work out. I have made me time a priority very recently so 15 hours. If you are counting the 1-2 hours of wind down time before bed, you can add around 10 hours per week. |
Anonymous
My kids are 2, 7 and 9. |
Anonymous
This is just dumb. By your logic no parent is ever 'off duty.' OP obviously means when you're not the only adult directly supervising the children. Come on. |
Anonymous
If your kids are in school full time, you should say 30 hours. You are not providing childcare when your kids are in school. |
Anonymous
| I have a part time nanny 20 hrs a week but I use her so that I can spend one on one time with the kids. DH works long hours so he will do bedtime with the kids occasionally if he gets home early while I clean up. And he occasionally will watch them all on the weekend so I can get my nails or hair done. Three kids under three. |
Anonymous
I mostly agree BUT in my situation when DH is asked to go to Europe for work for 3-4 days, he says yes, every single time. I do not, because somebody needs to be in town for the kids. So, that counts for something - or, it should, because it certainly limits my work and career options! |
Anonymous
Unless the OP is someone who doesn't have kids; then it needs to be said, because a lot of childless people don't get that at least one parent is always "on call." In our family, that's me 85% of the time. |
Anonymous
| Yikes. I guess I had it good. When I was a SAHM before my kid went to any preschool (first 3.5 years), my husband worked FT and still took 100% care of DD at least 1-2 hrs/day and 5-7 hours on the weekend. We had no help, no family, but... |
Anonymous
One kid? That seems pretty normal. |
Anonymous
Does your husband get 1-2 hours of weekday and 5-7 hours of weekend time with no work or kid duties? Because yours seems excessive. |
Anonymous
This. Working parents are on call too. OP means when the children are actually present. What I find interesting about this thread, though, is all the people including nighttime/post-work hours. So if the working spouse gets home at 6 pm, the SAH spouse is still on duty? The working spouse works 9-5 (or whatever) but the SAH spouse is on duty 24/7? That seems unfair. DH and I both work out of the house and when we are in the house, either we are both on duty, or we split it up. Staying at home should not be a license for the working spouse to never lift a finger with regard to anything non-work-related. |
Anonymous
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Anywhere from 3 to 8 hours per week, more of grandparents are visiting (happens 3x/year)
2.5hrs daycare Once a month babysitter for 2-3hrs DH takes child on walk or to store for 30min-1hr on weekends Do morning sleep ins count? DH and I alternate mornings so the other person can get another 45mins of sleep or relaxation. |
Anonymous
| I was a SAH for three years. My daughter hardly ever slept, so I was off duty maybe an hour each day. I've never been so exhausted in my life. |
Anonymous
Good for you. A lot of SAHPs don’t have a spouse who works 9-5 and is off every weekend. Also, this is kind of hard to parse out in day to day life. If I have four kids and my DH is playing soccer with two of them, and the other two are coloring in the kitchen while I make dinner, am I on duty or off duty? By your logic, I am off duty because my DH is also on. By my logic, I am still on. |