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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, my job allows me to get in at 6:30 AM and leave at 2:30. I am home to pick up DS, 7, from school and take him to after school activities. He plays baseball and is in Cub Scouts. My job expects that I work 40 hours and only 40 hours and I have a 15 minute commute. My DH drops DS off at school and then goes to work. He is normally home around 7 PM. DH is DS coach for baseball and is able to work hours so that he is there for all the practices.

We don't have a ton of family dinners during the week but we eat as a family on the weekend. We make, combined, $250,000 a year. It is more then enough for us to live on and save for retirement and college. The house is neatish, it is clean but a bit cluttered. Neither DH or I are particularly great at organizing or very interested in interior design or the like.

My job is not the most stimulating job. I am a SME and produce briefs and products on a regular basis but there is not a ton that is developing in my area. I wouldn't mind something more stimulating but that would mean looking for something with similar hours/commute/pay and that is harder to find then people give credit for.

So there is a trade off. I could find a better paying job that is more challenging pretty easily but it is not worth losing out on the afternoons with DS. That is the choice that I make.

That said, DS doesn't really fully get that he has two working parents until the summer hits and he has to go to camp. He knows that I work, that is why I am not there in the morning, but he really doesn't see evidence of it in a meaningful way until summer break. He enjoys his camps and actually gets miffed if I pick him up from camp early. We head home, relax for a bit, go to the pool and then back home for dinner after camp. Lots of walks are the like.

Both our jobs are flexible enough that snow days and sick days are not a big deal. DH stays home in the AM and goes to work after I get home. It kind of sucks in terms of being off schedule but it doesn't hurt us and neither one of our jobs are worried about it. We switch up who takes DS to Doctors appointments and the like.

This works for us. It isn't perfect and it isn't always easy but it works for us. I did not want to stay home and am thrilled that we have jobs that allow us to maximize time with DS while still maintaining our standard of living. we would make it work if something changed but neither one of us are in a hurry to make that happen.

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I am almost this PP's twin, except I work from home 9 days out of 10 (10/10 during the summer, snow storms, and metro shutdowns) so there's no commute and my DC can do half-day camps because they're old enough to keep themselves entertained for a few hours until I'm done. I've worked from the pool, backseat of the car at sports practice, lobby of ballet class, orthodontist waiting room, etc. It's hard to see how it could be any more flexible while still being gainfully employed (I make $130K) by someone else, so I'm pretty sure I'm near the top end of the flexibility curve. I think when they say "find a flexible job", most people think of something that has some of these attributes, e.g. telework, no set hours, etc. DH is a Fed and is home by 5pm every day but has minimal telework options so my job situation is what allows the family to function well. I was a SAHM for a few years during the toddler stage, but decided it made more sense for me to work.[/quote]

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