working mothers.....?

Question

how much time a day do you spend with your child/ren?

Answer 1

Remember....quality time, not quantity...spend as much quality time as possible...

Answer 2

I work three days a week. My kids are eight months and two. I find that on average I only spend about two hours more a day with my kids on the days I am home because my little one still takes two naps and my older one sleeps for about two and a half hours in the afternoon.

Between the diapers, meals and bottles. I probably only get about two hours more of quality time with my kids on the days that I am home than I do when I am at work.

Not to mention that on the days I am home I feel like I should do all the cooking and housework and on the days I work I split it 50 -50 with my husband.

I am glad I have the ability to be around my kids more and I am always looking for ways to maximize the quality of that time together. I do wish both working moms and SAHM's would cut each other a little more slack!

Answer 3

I spend about an hour before work and about 3 hours after work with them. Most of the day Saturday (they visit their dad for part of the day), and all-day Sunday.

I'm quiting my job soon and opening a home daycare so that I can spend more time with them. They will be in grade 1 in September, so I'll have more like an hour and a half in the morning, and 4 hours afterschool; but I'll also have all-day during the summer and PD days/March break ect.

Answer 4

I spen an hour before work, then 4 hours after work. That's a total of 5 hours. It's not really about how much time you spend with your children it's the quality of the time that you spend with them.

Answer 5

All day on weekends-from wake up till bedtime. Weekends are when we hang out together-run errands, go on special day trips, have the grands come see us. During the week, we get up and get ready for day care (after I have gotten ready for work so I can focus on him) and read a book or sit in the big chair and snuggle and talk about what he will do at day care. After work, we go home and fix dinner and after dinner we play (play with trucks, or cook in his kitchen, or we sing and silly dance with one of our videos) after 1.5-2 hours of that we get a bath and then snuggle in to read and get ready for bed. Nights can vary depending on how tired he is and when he asks to go to sleep (if it has been a long day, he may go to bed early or if he didn't nap well). So adding in morning and evening-I would say 4-5 hours a day. That is why I am looking for a job closer to home so I can knock out my 1.5 commute. Until Jan, he went to day care near my office so we had car time to talk and sing too plus I went to day care to nurse him for 6 months (there was not a good quality day care program for young children in my area).

I think the question is a good one, but would be better if you asked "what do you do with that time together". I know some folks who work PT or stay home, but the kids watch tv all day while mom is doing other stuff. To me, if I am home and my little one is awake then it is time to focus on him.

Answer 6

One to one 1/2 hours in the am, 4 in the evenings. all weekend, we only go out 2 x;s a mos in the evenings after they are asleep!!
We feel that they get good quality time w/one or both of us every day:)

Answer 7

1 hour before, about 4 after work and ALL weekends and holidays.
Why does it matter though? Whenever I'm not working, I'm with them.

Answer 8

4 hours on week days, 12 or so on weekends.

Answer 9

do you mean working mothers outside of the home?....i work in my home....with my children....mother work is work....and i used to work outside of the home when i was a single mother, and i must say, that i used to think it was quality over quantity, but i have changed my mind, i think it is both...although, because of the expense of life, i have to go back to work part time (after four years of staying home all day with two children and half day with school aged child) i am making sure that my children will be hear with their father not at a center....i really think to each her own, but for me, and my children, i found that it was/is important for a parent to be here with them....the only other route i see fit, is picking someone from "your village" that will be their only care provider like maybe trade babysitting.....my son got psychological problems from having new people taking care of him all the time...employees quit, they change rooms when they get older, etc...they simply are not ready for it...or the structured acedemics most centers provide
EDIT: i do not know why people are giving me thumbs down ...i said to each her own...i am fuuly supportive of mothers working outside the home....i said that for my situation it has not been helpfull to work outside of the home...every family is different, and my oldest just so happen to need extreme regularity as a baby and he did not get that in a center...he is suffering for it now....i simply think that having one care provider creates a healthy attatchment for children like my son...i have seen multiple child development specialists who have helpped me through the attatchment issues i have with him...even though we spent around five hours a day with eachother doing nothing but playing and learning with eachother....things are not so cut and dry...people have individual personalities and needs