I'm a single working mum (Working Mothers in General)

Member Name: nay_money

Product:	Working Mothers in General
Date:	25/01/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: keeps you sane

Disadvantages: you may miss some important milestones in your childs life

I too am one of the guilty ones. my daughter is seven now though and I only work when she is at school.

Like most people we planned ahead when i was pregnant. I would work up to 4 weeks before the due date and have off the full paid amount of maternity (this was only 18 weeks at that time). then i would return to work part time and my gran would help with the babysitting if necessary. However, Nothing went to plan. I had my daughter 10 weeks prematurely. I was due to be off that day but was meant to be working the following day, i had to phone in and my boss didn't believe me, anyway, we spent 7 and a half weeks in the Special Care Baby Unit, and eventually got her home. During the time in hospital, my partner had a few weeks off (didn't pay paternity pay at this time) so it was unpaid, he then went back to work part time to support me and our daughter ( I ended up back in hospital with an infection for a few days). by the time we were all at home, my partner lost his job. the only income we had was my maternity pay. It was much harder for him to find work, so we decided I should go back to work, while he stayed at home to look after our daughter. I went back to work after just 11 weeks off, bearing in mind my daughter had been in hospital for over 7 of those weeks.

My partner finally found work after about a year, and i changed jobs, i started a new job with part time hours, during the cross over time she was at nursery, i don't regret this at all, she got to mix with other children and adults and it was a great thing for her, to stimulate her mind. this carried on until it was time to start school, and my gran helped out for a while, but then she had an operation on her knee and was not able to take my daughter upto school, fortunately, i spoke to my boss and said that i would have to change my hours to 9.30am until 2.30pm or i would have to leave, but he was very nice and said it was no problem. I then split up with my partner and have been a single parent since. I now do not have to rely on anyone else, because I take her to school and collect her from school.

Money is a bit tight at times but you learn to adjust. She misses her Dad but her Mum is there for her all the time.

To recap, i would have preferred not to be a working mum, but on the other hand i have always been a worker, just because I have had a bit of bad luck i dont want to be another single parent claiming benifits. I am able for work and it keeps me sane and my mind active too.

Summary: who can afford to be a stay at home mum nowadays, Not Me