Our raison d’être is to make it easier to be a working mum. That’s why we wanted to demystify the fabled work-life balance and see in black and white exactly what it takes to be a working mum today – whether you’re a jewellery designer in Birmingham, a teacher in York or in finance in London. From the merits of various childcare arrangements, to how much it actually costs (and how that differentiates up and down the country), we’re using this space to bring attention to one of the least talked about aspects of our lives – and crucially, how women make it work for them. You never know, you might just be inspired to change your own arrangement…
As told to Rebecca Cope
For this article we spoke to Caroline, a 36-year-old marketing and communications professional who lives in Surrey with her husband and two-year-old son. The couple spend £1,788 a month on childcare, which constitutes five days full time in nursery.
“My husband and I both commute to London for our jobs, but we alternate one day in the office, one day at home, to make sure one of us is near to our son’s nursery. The person working from home then does drop off and pick up. I tend to work from home Monday and Thursday and my husband Tuesday and Wednesday. We do need to vary this depending on work commitments, and if we both need to be in the office on the same day I do drop off and my husband does pick up. We are both at home on Friday, so share drop off and pick up.
“The nursery is an eight minute drive from our house. If we need to drive to the station to get into London after drop off, it is a three minute drive from nursery to the station. There is a train at 8.15am so it’s quite a tight turnaround but usually doable! In the evening there are plenty of trains that get you in with enough time to make pick up and we can leave him until 6pm if we need to.
“Our son just had chicken pox and my husband’s parents very kindly came up and stayed with us for a few days. Our closest family is two hours away so it’s definitely a juggle. If our parents can’t come and stay, we will take it in turns to take annual leave to cover any sick days.
“From September, we are planning to send our son to a pre-school attached to the school we want him to go to. This will only be term time so we will have to use a combination of holiday clubs, family and annual leave to juggle the holidays.
“Despite being far away from our families, I can’t see us moving any time soon. We love where we live and it’s really convenient for work. Our son is really happy and we feel we both get good quality time with him. It’s not perfect but our current setup allows us both to have the careers we want and not sacrifice time together.”