'I love my work'

Suzanne Donaghy loves her job. A project supervisor at the University of Huddersfield, she is currently on maternity leave with her second child. “I get to work with students helping them to set up their own businesses. In the current climate that is particularly rewarding,” she says.

She is keen to get back to it. Indeed, with her first child, who is now three, she went back to work early, after just four months. That was because her husband was made redundant.

However, she admits that she really enjoys the interaction she has with her colleagues and other adults and says that after a while she needs more than baby talk.

She hopes she will also act as a good role model for her children. “I hope it makes them want to emulate me in terms of doing jobs they enjoy,” she says. Her oldest child has been into work with her and met the people she works with. “It was hard leaving her as she used to cry and ask me not to go. I explained to her that I need to go out to work to earn pennies so we can go on holidays. I give her a couple of coppers at the end of the day which she puts in her piggy bank. It teaches her the value of money,” says Suzanne.

Her husband now works in quite a senior job where he travels a lot and can be out of the country for two weeks of every month. Suzanne admits this is quite tough with her working full time, but she and her husband make sure the time they have with the children is quality time. “We definitely make an effort to have quality time as a family," she says. "I have a total respect for stay at home mums, but some use the tv to entertain their kids. When we are with the children we are very active, playing sports or doing other activities.”

She adds that she values how her job keeps her mind active and lets her use her intelligence. “I love my kids,” she says, “but I need to work to make sure I am still a capable person.” Working also gives her something other than the children to talk about with her husband.

Suzanne is again planning to go back early from her second pregnancy. She was due back in August, but is likely to return in February because her team has won a major project. “I want to be involved from the beginning rather than halfway through,” she says and you can sense the enthusiasm in her voice.

Stimulating work
Another working mum who enjoys her job and works in the education sector is Khadeeja Ali. She worked full time until she had her third child, now aged three. “I left my job as I knew I could not go back full time,” she says. She had also suffered health problems before she went on maternity leave.

Khadeeja, who lives in East London, started working as an additional learning support tutor at City and Islington College part time when her daughter was 10 months old. She says she works mainly for financial reasons and went back when her statutory maternity pay ran out.

“I do enjoy my work, though,” she says. “It is something I feel I need to be doing and I am worried that I would fall behind if I took time out.”

It's not easy though. Her oldest son, who is seven, had some problems at school and she had to take time out to help him.

Khadeeja works with sixth formers and some adults. She says her work offers her mental stimulation. “It is tiring but exciting,” she says.

Her husband has a very demanding job and gets home late. “I'm like a single parent, except at weekends,” she says. She doesn't have help from her family so she says her childminder is “a necessity”. “During the week I don't have a social life,” she adds.

She works three days a week. For two of the days she works from nine until 4 or 5pm. On the other day she works from 11 to 6pm. Her husband takes the children to school and the childminder in the morning and her childminder picks her seven and five year old up from school.

She also has quite a long commute of just under an hour. She says being able to start later would make her mornings a little less rushed and she wouldn't mind leaving later. However, she is happy that her employer is quite flexible and understanding.