Gina, mum to Oliver, 8 months, is due to return to work
after maternity leave but is enjoying motherhood so much she doesn’t want to
leave her son…
“When I was pregnant with Ollie, I originally planned to stay home for the first 9 months – by then I thought I’d be just itching to get back to work. My career has always been really important to me and when I was pregnant I heard so much about how isolating and boring full time motherhood can be so I assumed I would want to be a working mum but I’m finding I just love being at home with my son. I love the slower pace and have made so many friends through playgroup and mothers group that it’s not isolating at all!
I feel terrible even thinking about putting Ollie into full time daycare at his age, he seems so small and so dependent on me and I can’t help thinking about how much of his childhood I would miss out on if I went back to work. I’ve talked about it with my husband and we know we could scrape by financially if I took a bit more time off work but I know I would feel guilty not contributing to the household. I’ve always been very independent and earned my own money. Have other mums faced this dilemma? What did they do? I know it’s normal for your priorities to change when you have children, but this seems a bit extreme for me!”
According to our survey respondents, Gina is in good company. 50% of the mums who had planned to go back to work after having children, did so later than expected with one or two not going back at all!
Some of the factors that influenced mums’ decisions as to when to return to work included difficulty working the hours around their kids schedule, and unexpected health issues with their children making childcare options unviable for them. Of the mums who did go back to work, many of them did so for financial reasons rather than career based or any particular desire for independence.
Many of the parents surveyed were yet to return to work and were still considering their options so Gina is definitely not the only mum to take this decision seriously and hesitate before jumping straight back into the workforce after starting a family.
Advice from other mums includes:
“The realisation of how special time spent with your children at this young age is more important to me than working now that I’m a mum,” – Emma, Leeds
“I went back to work as I needed to start earning money again,” – Karen, Brighton
“I started my own consultancy at home and more work came in than expected!” – Margaret, London
“I’ve not returned to the job I was at, have just handed in my notice after having one year off because hours no longer suit!” – Paula, Scotland