10 reasons why being a working mum isn't the easy option! – Mummascribbles

Ok, firstly, I don’t normally go near the SAHM mum vs the working mum. Everybody has a reason why they are doing what they are doing, we all need to be supportive of each other even if we are a little jealous!

When I saw this post earlier by Charlotte at Real Girl Ramblings, I agreed with it all, I really did. I have been at home with a baby, I know just how hard it is to look after a child full time. But, being a working mum, especially a full time working mum is bloody hard too. It is hard physically, it is hard mentally and it is hard emotionally.

So here is my response to that fab post. My 10 reasons why being a working mum is blinking hard. Neither one is harder and we all deserve a medal and a bottle of wine!

Make sure you read the fab post up there – then mine will make sense since they are based on the same points!!

1. We sometimes still get covered in puke! There have been several times when I have had to stop the car on the way home from work because Zach is projectile vomiting in the back! He’s a terror for getting a cold, getting all the snot stuck at the back of his throat, coughing until he heaves and then vomming everywhere! And yep, when they are feeling poorly, we still have to ship them off to the childcare. It sucks massively.

2. I may get to go to the toilet in peace but some of of my greatest cuddles with Zach have been while I’m having a wee. Even longer ones if I’m doing a number 2! I’d much rather have those cuddles and pee with an audience than do it in the office toilets where some gross person has left a giant turd down the toilet (you wouldn’t believe how many times this happens), or half a sanitary towel hanging out of the bin!

3. I got more of a lunch break when I was on maternity leave! I already cut my lunch break down to half an hour each day so I can leave early to pick Zach up, most of the time I eat at my desk and when I do go out, by the time  I’ve got my food, it’s time to be back at my desk again!

4. I would far prefer those days of cluster feeding, when Zach would fall asleep on the boob and I’d have an hour of gorgeous milk drunk cuddles. Instead I have to hope that if I’m having a chat with the MD, that he’s not ogling my boobs rather than taking me seriously!

Milk drunk!

5. I don’t know about stimulate my mind. Maybe it would be easier if I did something far more cool (like Charlie did before she became a mummy!), but most of the day I’m sat at my desk dealing with the annoyances of people who don’t get information back to me, to venues who want me to sign the bloody contract when I’m not ready to and dealing with their tedious reminder emails and threats. Give me Justin’s House any day!

6. After work drinks…really?! In the 7 months of being in my current job, I have been to one after work drinks and that was because it was essential as we were meeting our new colleagues who are joining us. Do you know the organisation that has to go into after work drinks? I either have to get my poor mum to take Zach home for me, after she’s just looked after him for ten hours, or if it’s a nursery day, my other half has to leave work 2 hours early in order to pick him up on time. Also, that couple of hours that I may be out with colleagues could be spent at home with my beautiful boy who I am always desperate to see at the end of the working day. I would definitely give up a couple of glasses of wine in order to see him before he goes to sleep. I just save my boozing for home on a Friday night! Win win!

7. My telephone conversations at work are so mundane that I’d love to have an excuse, such as a demanding screaming child, to be able to put the phone down! The highlight telephone conversation of the day is when I get to call my darling toddler and all he wants to do is ‘press the red button’ – i.e.hang up the phone cause that’s way more fun than talking to mummy! Of course, if it’s a nursery day, I don’t get to phone him at all 😥

8. At work, there are times when I’m having to keep my eyes open because my toddler has been up at 2am, 4am and then the alarm has gone off at 5.45am! There’s convincing them that you are working and then there’s convincing them that you are actually awake. If your parenting duties at home are a little slack through sleepless nights you have a grumpy child, if your work duties are slack because you’ve been up every night for a week, you have a grumpy HR manager and spend time worrying your P45 is on its way in the internal mail!

9. At home, you don’t have to drag a fast asleep toddler out of bed and into the car in the middle of winter in his pj’s. You don’t have to hear him say the words “don’t want to get up, don’t want to go to nursery, want to stay at home”. And you don’t at the end of the day have to try and keep your little one awake so he doesn’t fall asleep in the car on the way home. I dream about those days when he could just do as he pleased without me feeling like such a mean mummy.

I have to wake this up sometimes!

10. Working mums need a cleaner at home, not in the workplace! We simply don’t have time to clean when we want to spend every spare moment we can with our children! Seriously, you should see the state of our house sometimes!

So yep, us working mummy’s may get some adult chat, we may get to drink hot tea, eat cake and wee without a child on our laps, but by god, I would swap places with you in a heartbeat to be at home with my gorgeous boy!

If you are in the predicament as to whether to go back to work or not, if you can afford not to go back, stay at home! It may be hard but it is way better than missing out on your child’s most important years!