Survey highlights flexibility penalty for mums
Despite the post-Covid move to more flexible working, many mums are struggling to get the...read more
It’s week two. The first full week back. I’m not sure people are prepared and I include myself in that. I’ve looked at the week ahead and it’s not pretty. There are two very early starts which involve breakfast clubs and the like and possibly two late pick-ups to arrange. The public transport where we live is not great and there are no bus stops on the way up to daughter three’s school which don’t involve walking along a busy A road with no pavement.
These are the things I didn’t consider fully when we moved here, but it’s too late now. The house is in a state of semi-delapidation: four children have taken their toll. I have found various messages carved into doors etc. “Worst sister’s room” is written somewhere on daughter two’s door, for instance. We spent the weekend emptying the shed whose roof has caved in. My plan is to replace it with a vegetable patch so we can survive on carrot concoctions after Brexit.
Daughter three and only son’s room continues to have no door, only a doorframe. The kittens are wreaking havoc and sharpening their claws on various bits of the house.
Meanwhile, the return to school went okay-ish. Only son was a bit miffed that his suggestions for the class rules were turned down. They were “be legal” and “don’t use foul language”. Daughter two has entered the dark tunnel of GCSE year. Daughter three is easing herself into her new school. It will take time. Teenagers seem terrified of venturing outside their groups and embracing newcomers. Daughter one is slowly learning to get up in the morning hours to check temp job options.
Daughter three has also been helping me out with tech support and managed to find an app that switches all my old phone stuff to my new phone. I noticed that someone has upgraded my Whatsapp message recently. It is worryingly accurate: “Mandy Garner: driving or on the computer”.
*Mum on the run is Mandy Garner, editor of Workingmums.co.uk.