A couple of years ago after working full-time non-stop for nearly 20 years, we had a change around in our life and work situation, this allowed me to go part-time and as a dad spend more time with the kids and be part of family life, 2 years on how are we getting on? what’s been happening? and more importantly, is it working.
Table of Contents
I’ve been working
As I said I’ve been working about 20 years full-time non-stop, when I left school I went straight into work, literally from September of the year I left school I was working, a brief spell of College alongside this but the lure of money straight away saw me focus on work.
Fast forward and quickly working to a Retail Manager meant the next 15 years of my work life so far had me go all in as a Manager, we decided very early on that my career was the main focus as I was ahead and Boo’s could working around what we were doing, so I put everything in it across multiple companies, I had a solid reputation and even won an award for the best manager (glass brick in my garage lol).
But it also meant I spent alot of time at work, one of the jobs I had I used to leave at 7.10 am in the morning and wouldn’t get back until at least 7pm at night, and this was all based on the travel being fair to me, as this could easily add another hour to my day, with a young family this meant I could easily go through a day of not seeing the kids, there were several events where I didn’t make it or I was late for.
With all of this aswell as my overall frustration with being a manager, I reached that point of wanting a change, Boo who for many years have had part-time jobs while combining the kids and child care was getting the point in her Digital content role that she was becoming the main earner, and actually needed more time to do it, with Piglet still very young and needing attention we decided to do a role reversal,
I picked up a part Time job while even though half of the time she worked at home she would need the time to focus on her job with the mindset of getting a second out of the house job long term since then this has happened and stay at home parents will know that getting some time out of the house and away from the kids over the week can be great for your mental well being, we all love our kids but let’s be honest we need that time, for me, I was a little bit of the other way round, in the sense that I havent had that time around the kids.
Now having the advantage of being home more than I ever have been it’s allowed me to be with the kids alot more, and for the first few months to a year I did, I looked after Piglet far more and was involved with all the kids, with Roo I missed quite a lot and Tigger I was only involved in so much when they were younger, though I am close to those two as we are a close family.
I noticed with Piglet at the point of her life compared to the other two at that age, I am far closer to Piglet than the other two, this is largely the time I’ve spent with her while with the other two and especially Roo the oldest it was sketchy at the time I had with her. Boo will make the occasional joke and comment about me and Piglet but it’s right, we do have a very close bond.
Lockdown Hit
With the lockdown situation hitting the country it affected us also, Boos Digital content work became quieter and I was still one of those keyworkers that were still working (remember how everyone loved shop workers being at work, it didn’t last long, just expected lol)with this it meant we were very tight on money.
We managed to save money in the lack of outdoor activities but in reality, many of our adventures are part of Boo’s work and we combine with our days and events etc, but with everything that was going on and cautious it meant i had to work more, aswell as Boo getting that second and third job etc, we were sharing part-time work but now it was feeling more like Full time again.
Which is definitely effected how much time i spent with the kids over the last 6 months but its been a crazy year and we arent over yet, im hoping towards the end of this year we can get back into a rhythm and normality but this includes being part of the kids lot more again, but its all about balance at the moment with life and money and family, so lets see how it goes.
