Reply to Pursuing a Job on Capitol Hill with Three Young Kids at Home: Can it Work?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My DH worked on Capitol Hill for 10 years (when our 3 kids were born).

I am glad he's moved on to greener pastures because the schedule on the Hill meant a lot of late nights, particularly at the end of a session.

Having said that, he enjoyed his time on the Hill and felt like it was an exciting place to be.

My DH was in his 30's when he worked there, and he felt somewhat "old" because there are so many 20-somethings there.  Having said that, there are a fair # of moms and I know a lot of them use the daycare available there.

The salary would have to be top-notch for me to want to work on Capitol Hill with 3 young kids, and even then I don't think I'd want to do it.  [/quote]

Pretty much all of this, but only 2 kids and he still works there, going on 12 years.  Been there mid-20s-now. He is "old" working there.

I personally dislike it because we can't travel when they are in session, combine that with school schedules and my work and there's pretty 4 much weeks all year when we could possibly go on vacation.  Which means, we have missed weddings, family events, random things we would like to do, etc. for the last 12 years.

The hours are longer, not very predictable, when anything happens you get pulled in at the spur of the moment, which leaves me holding the bag for childcare, house things, etc.  Also because the hours are long, I end up with all weekday child related things falling on me, from school pick up to running to activities to filling out school forms, etc.  I work full time as well (an make more money), so it really sucks to be the one in charge of everything all the time. And I get the kids at their worst, tired after long days at school and needing to get homework done, baths taken, dinner on the table, etc. We've frequently had to cancel plans because something comes up that just has to be dealt with right then. I have to cover all child sick days, school closures, etc.

The salary is ok, but is not commensurate for the hours worked, instability of possibly losing your job any time your guy is up for election, random (and fairly frequent) nights where you stay until midnight, 2am and aren't paid anything extra or given a day off (not that he could use it since we can't even use all the vacation he gets)...

He has loved it, so I guess there's that. He didn't have this job when we got married so it was a jolting change and I thought it would be temporary...obviously not. [/quote]

I am the PP whose DH worked on the Hill for 10 years.  I wish I could have lunch with the poster above as I'm sure we'd have so many stories to share.  (My DH also promised it would only be temporary, but ended up staying 10 years.)

OP -- I do not recommend that you pursue the Hill with 3 kids.  After leaving the Hill, my DH has felt so relieved because, although a lot of the people on the Hill act in a professional manner, many of them are very partisan and emotional about their issues.  My DH said his current workplace feels a lot more professional than the Hill.

Also, my DH has had to miss a lot of important events over the years because, when Congress is in session, you literally cannot leave the building if your issue in on the floor.  I cannot tell you how many times my DH had to miss a parent-teacher conference that we had scheduled (and I just attended myself.)  Also, as your kids get older, you find that their school spring break does not coincide with the Hill's Easter break.  So we could never go anywhere for spring break (or even just have a staycation together).

In a nutshell, knowing what I know (and having 3 kids), I would NOT do it.[/quote]

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