Parents who are home by 5-6pm from work - what do you do?

[Anonymous]

I am a fed and my workplace has a start early, leave early culture - overtime is not allowed on a regular basis, so most people start work at 7 or 8 and leave after 8.5-9 hours. Even with an hour commute and day care pickup, I'm home by 5:30 or 5:45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a fed and my workplace has a start early, leave early culture - overtime is not allowed on a regular basis, so most people start work at 7 or 8 and leave after 8.5-9 hours. Even with an hour commute and day care pickup, I'm home by 5:30 or 5:45.

PS the catch here is you need the other parent to start later to get kids off to day care/school. My husband has a pretty long commute and tries to beat traffic by going after rush hour, so he gets to work at 10 am and we have dinner at 7:30 when he gets home.

[Anonymous]

Op here - dh is big law litigation so there is very little chance for him to change his hours. On slow days he goes in at 7:30am and comes home by 7:30pm.

[Anonymous]

One spouse teacher, works 7 - 4. One spouse IT consulting, flexible hours (works from home in the evening as needed), home by 5:30 at the latest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go for a run, work out, go and coach kids’ sports teams, go to dinner. Depends on the night.

Hopefully you do a job that doesn't require reading comprehension.

[Anonymous]

Well right now my spouse isn't making much money. I wish he had more clients!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dh is home by 6pm usually. But he leaves for work at 6:00am, so it’s not like it’s a short day.

This. I am in the office no later than 7, and often earlier. Generally home by 6:30, though not always. My commute is 15 minutes in the morning, and 25-30 in the evening.

OP, what time does your husband get into the office?

[Anonymous]

I’m a single parent lawyer in big law. I’m home by 5pm but I also work into the night after dinner. Don’t get to the office until 930am after school starts. I work from home once or twice a week. Big law isn’t all that bad because no one is strapping me to a desk just because...

[Anonymous]

I’m at a nonprofit and he’s in house law. He’s home around 645, I flex most hours. Short commutes (Rockville/Bethesda to close in Potomac).

The key is not working downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dh is home by 6pm usually. But he leaves for work at 6:00am, so it’s not like it’s a short day.

This. I am in the office no later than 7, and often earlier. Generally home by 6:30, though not always. My commute is 15 minutes in the morning, and 25-30 in the evening.

OP, what time does your husband get into the office?

Op here - This morning dh left by 6:15 to get into the office by 6:45 and beat rush hour. On slow days he leaves around 7ish.

[Anonymous]

Lawyer at a trad association. My core hours are 8-5pm. 15 minute commute home. DH usually leaves at 7 and gets home at 7:30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dh is home by 6pm usually. But he leaves for work at 6:00am, so it’s not like it’s a short day.

This. I am in the office no later than 7, and often earlier. Generally home by 6:30, though not always. My commute is 15 minutes in the morning, and 25-30 in the evening.

OP, what time does your husband get into the office?

Op here - This morning dh left by 6:15 to get into the office by 6:45 and beat rush hour. On slow days he leaves around 7ish.

I'm not sure why you think 12 hour work days are the norm. OP, many many many people have jobs that do not involve 12 hour work days. I do not make $500k a year either. But I do get to see my kids at 4pm every day. I work 7:30am-3:30pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is a fed and works 7 to 3. He does any extra work from home in the evening. I work for a nonprofit and work 9:30 to 4:30 and a few days from home. We live only a couple of miles from the DC line, so commute is shorter depending on time.

I'm a fed and I work the same schedule. My commute isn't super short (around 40 min each way), but I don't do any work from home, so I can be totally present. I pick up DD at preschool at 5 or 5:15 (I do errands before that).

DH works from home for a start-up, so while his hours are longer than mine, he can take a break for dinner and bedtime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dh is home by 6pm usually. But he leaves for work at 6:00am, so it’s not like it’s a short day.

This. I am in the office no later than 7, and often earlier. Generally home by 6:30, though not always. My commute is 15 minutes in the morning, and 25-30 in the evening.

OP, what time does your husband get into the office?

Op here - This morning dh left by 6:15 to get into the office by 6:45 and beat rush hour. On slow days he leaves around 7ish.

I'm not sure why you think 12 hour work days are the norm. OP, many many many people have jobs that do not involve 12 hour work days. I do not make $500k a year either. But I do get to see my kids at 4pm every day. I work 7:30am-3:30pm.

DH works from home and makes $230K plus stock.

[Anonymous]

It not so much what do you do, but are you willing to sacrifice career for you family. I had an executive position and rarely got home before 7. When DD was born, I had the same job and just said I am leaving at 4.