with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
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It is day one of my son’s school Winter Break. He’s a kindergartner and thinks that getting two whole weeks of during Christmas is a gift from God. I, as a full-time working momma, realize that if God had anything to do with it then he’s one masochistic son of a bitch.
When my son was in preschool, he always had the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. The school used that week to not only give the teachers a much needed break but also to use the time to perform maintenance. One week a year was easy to manage. I’d take a couple of days off, my spouse would take a couple, and a Grandparent would always step in when needed.
Two weeks off is much, much harder. First, I looked into the Extended Care offered by the school. It practically matched the cost of his monthly tuition. Unless God performed a miracle by giving me a hefty Christmas bonus, we couldn’t afford it. Then I looked at our local YMCA for day camps. Their price was much more reasonable, but only covered 9-1pm. My inner Scrooge couldn’t depart with hundreds of dollars for only 16 hours of childcare.
So I did what any desperate mother would do in my situation. I called all the Uncles and Grandparents with a plea to take D for a day here or a day there. I scheduled as many meetings as I could on two days, giving me flexibility to work from home the other days. With a company that is chintzy on vacation days, I can’t take the two weeks off. Plus with Ski week in February and Spring Break in April, I have to ration my vacation days. God knows, I’d love to be able to actually use my vacation days for an actual vacation.
Between the joy of Grandparents (a true life-saver for me), PBS, strategically placed outings, and large volumes of whine and wine, I’m hoping that I survive Winter Break with an iota of dignity. But If you see me in the supermarket, frazzled and desperately searching for that one ingredient I need to make dinner, please don’t judge. Just point me in the right direction and save a little prayer for me.
God knows I’ll need it.
Photo courtesy of Tooth Paste for Dinner
Two weeks.
No grandparents.
No aunts or uncles or friends.
It’s only Monday and I’m ready to lose my mind!
Miss Britt | December 21st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
two weeks of kids fighting and me working full time and husband running off because he don’t want in the middle of the chaos! We all have the craziness no matter how old our children are. Just be glad you have the grandparents who will help out, Some of us are not as lucky. As far as God goes, well i believe that if you ask him for his help and the strength and knowledge and wisdom to get thru the day he will provide. The one person i have learned that is alawys there no matter how bad the days are is GOD!!
rebeccajo | December 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Miss britt you are not alone.
2 weeks is all the vacation i get for the entire year .. and like the author i must use many of those days for predetermined non vacation uses such as family holidays (one day off for christmas? really? Are we assumed to be orphans, zenophobes or athiests each and every one of the thousands of us employed by this company?) i often end up biting into vacation days to cover SICK days because i only get 8 of THOSE a year. with a six year old and full time stress - 8 days of sick leave is simply unrealistic. I have no family nearby, no non working friends who’d like to spend a couple of weeks hanging out with my kid for kicks and CERTAINLY no extra money for a nanny. 10 days for winter break. 10 days for spring break. 5 days for MID- winter break … plus the monthly in-service days and ….oh … the list of days the child has no all day care goes on and on….
and for all this - and for all the popularity of these exact complaints by working parents (single like me or in a relationship - it’s still an issue) nationwide - nothing changes.
the reason i’m commenting? simply to vent. I have no solutions and i dont expect to change the world.
but - it’s good to know we’re not alone.
jkitty | April 22nd, 2010 at 5:08 pm