Just under a year ago, I made the life changing move of going from a full time, have a job in the office and juggle home mum to a full time, stay at home ‘working’ mum. What is the difference you ask? Well, I shall have to define what I mean by each :
As full time, have a job in the office (I also worked from home a lot too) and juggle home mum our household was run with military precision. All school requests or any admin relating to childcare was completed and returned on the day it was emailed/put in the school bag. Groceries were all ordered online and delivered during their allocated slot. All communications relating to changes to our routine were emailed to the nursery or school (whilst on a teleconference I should add) or pretty please help texts were sent to supportive friends in extreme cases (like it’s World Book day tomorrow and I don’t have a costume for our son to go in…anybody have a spare outfit we could persuade him was a book he liked? – mean I know – but military precision meant it was that outfit or going to school in pyjamas!).
My brain seemed to remember a lot more and it was seldom I would forget a date and if my supportive husband hadn’t written that he was going to be out on the household calendar and there was a schedule clash – it was a race as to who could get their pen to the calendar slot first to claim the rights to go out! In short – I felt like I had a lot more time (ironic I know!)
As full time, stay at home ‘working’ mum , hold on a moment…there is an interruption to this thought process – please be patient – my 4 year old has screamed with concern that his glasses have fallen into the toilet and require immediate recovery. Ok, sorry about that. I am back where was I? Oh yes – I am more busy with running errands and very rarely in front of a computer/laptop for the full 10 hours a day I used to be. So the theory is that I have more time to be more organised. Wrong! Oops. Sorry. Need to dash off and do the school run. Right – it has taken me a couple of minutes to remember my train of thought. Ah man!
I was just getting on the right train – just remembered – I forgot that it was school swimming and it’s my turn to help and need to go so that I make the school coach. Just got home to discover that there was only 6 items on my online shopping list (which have all been delivered and they are all soap!). oops! Maybe next time I should just do a full ‘shop’ before checking out. Need to go and get some bread and milk then otherwise it is soap for lunch. I am sure I don’t need to add any more examples and that you get the drift of this definition.
If I was to compare both full time working mum roles, they each have their merits and I am fortunate enough that I am able to spend this precious time with our boys. They grow so fast and soon enough I’ll be the one asking for their help. I can say that there is never a dull moment in our house and my supportive husband is wondering how much longer I will last without the mental stimulation of my old job which I loved. I can say that almost a year on, I don’t regret the decision we both made to stop working and look after our boys and whilst some days the rushing around feels just like rushing around, the time we get to chat in the car or I am able to witness a small achievement they make when we are out and about (this ranges from look I put a branch back on the tree to swimming with less floats!).
About Mumof2 : I am Kelly and we have 2 gorgeous boys and 2 cute, but naughty dogs. Our family of 4 lived in London for many years and then moved out into the countryside. I used to be a full time working mum and after some disastrous au pair encounters, I am now a full time stay at home mum (and now a blogger). If you would like to hear more about life in our household please visit www.mumof2.com to read my blog. You can also find me on twitter.com/2mumof2 or facebook.com/mumof2.com
