Thursday, January 16, 2014

Job

When I was made redundant in October I said, on this very blog, that I thought I’d be okay and find another job reasonably quickly. Thankfully, I was right. I start that new job in four days, and I’m excited.

I won’t go into too much detail about it, but it’s the type of work I’ve always thought I ought to be doing, but never quite managed to get into before now. There’s a lot of optimism in my mind at the moment, which is especially amazing when the job I left had done a pretty good job of grinding all that out of me.

But. There’s always a but. It’s the law.

I’m going back to work full time. My previous job allowed me to reduce my hours so that I could share in the childcare duties with Mrs L when she finished her maternity leave. That meant spending a whole day each week with Cam. Just me and him, father and son time. I’ve had that privilege for almost exactly a year, and I have loved it.

As of next Thursday, he’ll have an extra day at nursery, and I will re-join the full time working parent population. I will see him briefly in the morning, briefly in the evening, and at weekends. I will, I think, be quite sad about missing the developments he makes, and the things we get to do, and all the hugs and affection.

I realise that the time I have been able to spend as a part-time SAHD marks me out as one of the lucky ones. Most men don’t seem to have the chance to spend time with their children as they’re growing up. It’s a massive shame. As far as I’m concerned, the more equally shared the parental responsibilities are the better it is for all parties. I’d love to think part time work will be an option for me again sometime in the future.

Still, mortgages need paying; it probably wouldn’t be much fun having lots of time with Cam if we didn’t have a house to spend it in.


I’m immensely grateful for the time I spent as a part-timer, and to any other dad reading this who is considering it as a possibility I say this: DO IT.

4 comments:

  1. Good luck with the new job!! Understand it might be a bit hard at first but sure you will adjust just fine and both look forwards to quality time at the weekends :)

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  2. So good that you had that time with him, I realise how hard it is for working parents and the opportunity to be around when they're tiny isn't always there.
    You'll be great at your new job and the time you do have with Cam will be that bit more special :)

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  3. It's so lovely that you and Cam have had that special time together, great memories have been made for both of you. I will be thinking of you when you start your new job, and I am sure it will be a bit weird (understatement) to start with but there are still weekends and holidays and like Mrs Rev says, that time will be super special. Cam is a very lucky little boy to have such a lovely dad who wants to spend time with him. Love Han xxx (mamabearwithme) (the only way I can post this is if I go under "anonymous". Obs I don't want to be anonymous but it wont let me do any of the other options!)

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  4. Congratulations on the new job mate! I'm about to be in a similar situation (contract ending next month and no hope of renewal) but will be quite pleased to spend more time with my two if I don't find something else straight away. It's wrong that work seems to come first in our culture, so extra time with the kids feels like a major victory! Good luck for your first day. :-)

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