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[quote=Anonymous]Hello, I am a single mom (by choice, no dad involved) and have a job offer in DC that I am considering. I currently live in a quiet, lovely, very easy and inexpensive western town where I have a wonderful support community. My kids are 3 and 5 - the older is starting kindergarten and the younger has hearing loss and so she has some special needs for a good, language-intensive preschool and possibly speech therapy appointments. I am between traditional jobs and freelancing to make ends meet. We are not desperate for money, but a good federal job with security and benefits would be wonderful. I think I'd enjoy the work and DC has a lot to offer us. However, I am very concerned about the cost and logistics (commuting) of living there. The job only pays 80K but has good promotion potential (GS11-13).

I am pondering our potential daily schedule, and I just can't get it to work out. I would appreciate  any insights, like "yes, that's what your life would be" or "it may not be that bad and this is why" or "it would be worse than that and you would be crazy to move here.". If I made more money we might be able to live closer to work (near Union Station) in a nice home, but with that salary and childcare costs I've been looking into Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Rockville, Arlington, Alexandria. I'm not really a city person but could live inside DC if it meant good and free school for both kids and an easier daily schedule, as long as we could live in a safe area.  So here's what I'm thinking a workday would look like:
 
1 hour (minimum) needed to get kids to school and me to work, same at end of day
8 hours working
half hour lunch
half hour misc. (metro delay, stop at grocery store, etc)
All that equals 11 hours each work day away from home, say 7 am to 6 pm. The kids need at least 11 hours of sleep, say 7 pm to 6 am. That gives us one hour in the am and 1 hr in the pm to live, 5 days per week.

How on earth do single parents live that reality? Seems it would be entirely different with a 2 parent household, since you could do the "one work early / one work late" and at least the kids would still be with a parent.

I like my kids. A lot! I want meaningful time with them every day. As much as I'd like to take this job, would I ever see my children?[/quote]

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