Beanie's nanny worked three days this week, as I was supposed to be at work but instead was resting on doctor's orders after the pox. In the end it turned out well, Beanie got a good transition as I was around for most of the time, Nanny could ask lots of questions on the job, I got to know her a little better and now I feel better about leaving him with her.
I don't feel okay about leaving him generally, but I think I will manage.
The nanny is an expensive child care solution, especially as we are doing everything above board and making social security and pension plan contributions for her, we've got the required accident insurance for employees and an official work permit (she's not a national of this country). I'm going back to work 60% and I have to hire her 75% (10 hours 3 days a week) to allow for commuting time etc. But I was not ready to put Beanie in a crêche and anyway there aren't any round here with any places. So we will just suck the cost up as I wasn't going to do anything else anyway.
I am going back to the same company but not the same job as before, and the job I was going to do, which wasn't very challenging but I figured it was going to be easy for me, has changed and now I am going to do something else. I will probably learn a lot more and it will be more interesting, but I'm struggling to see how it's going to be done in 60%. In fact I'm pretty sure that my new manager hasn't factored the fact that I will be working 3 days a week (for ahem, three days a week salary) into the job at all.
24 hours a week - the standard working week being 40 hours here - and I've already been invited to about 15 hours of meetings next week. I guess that before I had a living child at home I worked pretty hard and didn't mind working long hours. But that has changed and I want to make sure I see Beanie either in the morning or in the evening on the days I work. I got a good performance bonus last year, as well, I turned in a very good performance, but I also got a below-inflation insultingly low salary increase, the first in a few years. So there are at least two good reasons why I am not planning to work long long hours again. I will have to have a meeting overload eject button or I won't be able to get actual work done. Another good reason is that I'm unlikely to get paid any overtime for extra hours whereas I will have to pay Nanny for every extra 15 minutes. So I am resolved to somehow make this work.
And yes, in this current economic climate, I am well aware that I should be happy to have a job at all. And I know I'm not very original in my worries here.
6 years ago
4 comments:
I've been following your story since I lost my son, Aidan, on Oct. 30, 2008. Reading about the loss of your father and son was like reading an entry out of my own journal. I lost my father on April 3, 2008. He died of a massive heart attack. I was 6 weeks pregnant when my father died and I never got a chance to tell him about his 1st grandchild. I lost my son Aidan @ 38 weeks in utero. The cause is unknown. Would it be possible to connect with you via email? Warm Hugs!
Traci, I'm so so sorry about the loss of Aidan and of your father. What a brutal life-changing year for you. I know after my father died, I couldn't help thinking if only V were here just being a baby, it would make it easier to bear the burden of grief for my Dad. Instead it was all cumulative.
Please feel free to email me. My email address is pumpumsmum (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk.
Happy belated Birthday Rosepetal! I am sure you are pretty anxious going back to work. It does sound like a lot of meetings to pack into a 24 hour week. I hope you are able to sift through the noise though. Good luck next week! I will be thinking of you.
How did the return to work go? Not that i am being good at keeping up myself these days....sigh. Know that i am thinking about you!
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