If you are a full time WOTH mom, how often do you take off work?

[egoldber]

I am just curious. I feel like I never work a full week. I am always taking off an hour here or there for something each work. I took off 4 hours this pay period, 3 hours the one before that and 4 hours the one before that.

I work an odd schedule, so I generally work more than an 8 hour day and bank those extra hours. But I wonder if this is typical?

This week it was older DD's Thanksgiving Lunch at school.

The pay period before that it was an orthodontist appointment for older DD.

The pay period before that DH was traveling and I cannot work a full day on those weeks and do both drop off and pick up.

[LD92599]

Rarely. I tend to do all appointments before and after work/school, so the last ped appointment of the day, the first dentist appt, etc. Granted can't do that w/ everything though.

I did take about 3 hours for DS's halloween events at school (used lunch plus some) and i will take probably 2 next Wed for Thanksgiving events; however alot of our offices will probably be closed/closing early, so i'll just work from home/phone.

[mommylamb]

DH and I were just talking about how we always seem to be taking time for one thing or another. We're home today because DH is going for citizenship at long last and we have his fingerprints today as part of that process. I've been off a lot lately it seems, but there are times when I'm working way more than my 40 hour week too. In fact, though I'm home today, I have to do a trip for work this weekend-- flying 3/4 of the way across the country tomorrow, just to fly back on Sunday... ugh.

[egoldber]

I tend to do all appointments before and after work/school

Really? I guess it depends on your hours and your commute. We can sometimes do a 7:30 or 8 am appt, but then I would not get to work until 10. And most places don't do appts after 4:30 which would be REALLY tight. Although our allergist does appts at 5 and 5:30 which is a huge help.

I guess I use a lot of time for school events that I could miss, but prefer not to.

ETA: DH does do a lot of appointments too.

[bubbaray]

Rarely. DH and I try to trade off the dr's appts and I do try to schedule those on days I work at home (once or twice a week) so that I "work around" the appointment as opposed to taking time off. My work is reasonably flexible. They know that people in my position are working FAR more hours than we are getting paid for.

[boolady]

Rarely as well. I will take the necessary hours of personal time to make sure I attend anything involving DD...her school Halloween Parade, Holiday Concert, etc., and am thinking of talking to her teacher about taking a 1/2 day and coming in and bringing gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. We are hosting Thanksgiving, so I am going to have to take off at least 1/2 of next Wednesday for prep. I take off when she's sick, as it's easier for me to bring work home and do it from there than DH.

Other than that, I really try not to so that I have the time for sickness/emergencies/vacation. DH takes 1 weekday off to spend with DD, so we try to schedule things that need to happen during the week that day-- appliance repair, etc. It definitely varies, but if I could not work my full 8 hours and do drop off and pick up, it would be much more frequent than that, because DH often can't do either one.

ETA: I say rarely, but in the summer, I do it more frequently. I try not to do it during colder, inside weather so that if there's a great beach day or other reason to use a vacation/personal day and hang out with DD, I haven't used all of my time. It also leaves me time to tack on to the occasional holidays if I want/need to.

[candaceb]

Originally Posted by egoldber

I am just curious. I feel like I never work a full week. I am always taking off an hour here or there for something each work. I took off 4 hours this pay period, 3 hours the one before that and 4 hours the one before that.

I work an odd schedule, so I generally work more than an 8 hour day and bank those extra hours. But I wonder if this is typical?

This week it was older DD's Thanksgiving Lunch at school.

The pay period before that it was an orthodontist appointment for older DD.

The pay period before that DH was traveling and I cannot work a full day on those weeks and do both drop off and pick up.

I am only working part-time right now and it's during hours when DH can be on duty, so this doesn't apply to me. However, as the daughter of a mom who worked almost full time, I just want to say that it's fabulous that you're making the time to do things like the Thanksgiving lunch. My mom didn't, and I haven't forgotten 30 years later. We were always the kids with no parent there. My mom worked at my dad's law firm, so it's not like she couldn't have taken the time off if she made it a priority.

[egoldber]

Well, I didn't go last year and she was really devastated. I know for a fact there were a lot of kids at her school last year who did not have parents there, but apparently it was really important to her. And at her new school there is a VERY highly involved parent population, so I inferred almost every kid would have a parent there, and I was right. I only saw a really small number of kids with no parent there.

And my issue with working the full day is the commute. If I work my "normal" 6:30-3/3:30, the commute is very doable. But when I drop off, I can't leave until 7:45 and by then traffic is horrendous. And if I still have to leave by 4 at the latest in order to ensure enough time to do pick up by 6.

[bubbaray]

My DD#1 drives me a little batty with the incessant "school events", which typically aren't really events at all but things that for whatever reason are important to DD#1. For example, "walking Wednesdays" -- if I don't take her (or DH, but that is rare), she takes the bus to school and can't walk. About once a month or so, I try to work at home on a Wednesday so that I can do that.

Can you work at home once a week (telecommute)??? Maybe that would help?

What about having someone else pick the girls up when your DH travels?

[egoldber]

Can you work at home once a week (telecommute)??? Maybe that would help?

Ah, that is my dream. One day a week would help a lot. While the federal government is "officially" telework friendly, my particular little division is not.

Honestly, what I am doing now works and is fine. I was really just curious to see what others do. My boss is fabulous and incredibly understanding and easy going. But my boss is retiring in a year and I worry about what is going to happen then.