Reply to Question for moms: did going part-time solve your work-life balance problem?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, I highly recommend part-time if it’s workable financially. I’m a fed atty worked part-time for a few years while our kids were in early elementary. I was allowed to do it because I still worked 5 days a week, just shorter days (30 hours per week).  Honestly, I worked more than 30 hours, but by being part-time, I was better able to manage everyone’s expectations for my schedule and I had flexibility to take the time for planned and “urgent” child-related things. And because I still worked every day, I maintained my normal workload so my colleagues didn’t have to cover for me. Bottom line - it wasn’t easy, but it bought me the flexibility to be a less anxious parent while enabling me to continue my professional career during the most challenging of childcare years.[/quote]

+1 this is me exactly except I am not an attorney. The time I don’t work is filled with child care that others would outsource, so I’m not sure I’m any less busy but it’s been really good for my kids (SNs in the mix, after care is not ideal, we have weekly therapy etc). I, and my husband, enjoy knowing I could ramp back up pretty easily and earn a decent salary if he lost his job. I also know if my husband left me I’d be able to support my kids moderately well - this wasn’t something I cared about initially but I have been watching a friend deal with financial abuse and it’s been absolutely horrifying so it’s now an added benefit.

All that to say, it does depend on your spouse and your HHI a lot. I am not terribly stressed or upset by the money I leave on the table each year so I don’t get upset/angry if I work at night once in a while. I think it PT work can be great and [b]a big reason it’s not more common is the whole WOHM vs SAHM mommy wars[/b]. Just try not to buy into any of that and just do what makes sense for your family. [/quote]

I agree with most of what you said except the last part. It's not more common because a lot of employers don't offer it or don't create a culture where employees are comfortable taking it. The fed govt (until recent times) was one of the more family-friendly and work-life balance focused employers. (I'm a former fed atty from an earlier post.) [/quote]

I’m the PP you are responding to and yes I agree with you that it’s not offered much or encouraged (when I went PT in my current role it was something my boss set up specifically for me, but others have since done the same). I do stand by my comment though as when I was considering cutting back at work the SAHMs thought I should quit (my kids were young enough that still needed childcare at the time so I wasn’t “raising my own kids “) and my friends who still work FT can’t believe I don’t pursue my career more intensely and tried to convince me I’d do all the work for less pay, which has not been the case. Honestly the biggest downside for me personally to being PT is feeling like pretty much everyone disagrees with my decision one way or another. It’s obviously fine and that’s not how I make my decisions but I really wish working PT was more normalized especially where I live.[/quote]

I went part time for years, and I did not have any FT working friends who were not incredibly supportive. Everyone knows work and kids is tough. The FT working moms were all “yay I’m glad you’re sticking with your career and not quitting”. In fact now that I think back, the sahm women I knew were also cool about my work schedule and more nice to me than they tycpaily would have been to a working mom, because they felt like I was kind of sympathetic to their choices. Point being, I didn’t sense any judging. Rather it felt like I was making everyone pretty happy. Not that it mattered what they thought. But I felt like I was straddling both camps pretty well: [/quote]

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