A Week in the Life: Megan reflects on her new job

Megan, a corporate manager in a new post, reflects on daily office work and life with her 3 school-aged kids.

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What’s your kid/family situation?

Married with three kids: girl 11 yo, boy 8 yo, girl 5 yo.

What is your job situation? (Job, hours, WFH vs butts in seat)

I lead a division within a public company and am in the office generally 5 days a week, 8 am-5 pm. Started the role three months ago and the company within the last year so still in the “new” role stage and looking forward to being a bit more settled over the coming months as I’m doing less meeting new people and learning and more regular work. My husband works full-time WFH.

What's your childcare situation? (daycare, wraparound care, nanny, magical grandparents)

Two older kids take the bus to/from school, and my husband drives youngest to/from PreK (8:30-3 pm) except for two afternoons when my mom does pick up. My husband gets the kids on the bus in the morning before work and when they come home, they get a snack and have their screen time for 1.5 hours. We had a nanny previously for 7 years but now that youngest is in school, it works with my husband being WFH. He generally covers sick kids or my mom is one of those magical grandparents who has always helped a ton!

A Week in the Life

Monday

Up and out the door as the kids and husband were hanging out having breakfast and watching cartoons before school/work. Pretty average and productive workday in the office 8 am-5 pm which included five hours of meetings. Fit in weightlifting over lunch at the office gym. Home for dinner with the family which was leftovers from Sunday. I took my oldest daughter to tennis lessons and walked outside to hit my 10k step goal. It was cold but still felt nice to be outside in the fresh air. I often try to walk during all kids’ activities. Home and bedtime routine with the kids, finished a book with 8 year old which was due for school this week. Then my husband and I watched an episode of Shrinking which is so great, we only allow ourselves one episode a night. Then read and asleep by 10:30 pm.

Tuesday

A less common morning because I had a mid-morning Dr. appointment so no alarm was needed and I walked my son to the bus stop at 8 am and drop my daughter at PreK at 8:30. Had a work meeting at 9 am that ended early so fit in a 30 min outdoor walk before my Dr. appt. Got to work by noon, and had lunch and meetings all afternoon. After I got home to quick pizza and salad dinner my husband had prepped, I took the girls to haircuts while my husband and son went to a different hair place. We stopped for ice cream after haircuts since spring is finally coming here. After was the normal kid bedtime routine then a TV show for my husband and me before reading and then bed.

Wednesday

Up and out the door to start work meetings in the office at 8 am. Fit in upper body lifting 12:15-12:45 which I had to cut short due to meetings going long but still worth doing. Afternoon meetings, home around 5:30 for dinner, and then time outside with the family because it is actually warm and sunny! We played tennis as a family at a nearby court and I was back home to take a rare 7 pm work call with Australia. Normal evening routine: kid bedtime, show with husband, reading, and bed.

Thursday

Busy work day with meetings 8 am – 4 pm but a lunch with two colleagues/friends from my previous company which was a nice break in the day to eat outside and catch up. I try to fit in one friend's lunch get-together every 1-2 weeks. Home to make tacos because two friends came over with their kids for the evening. Great to catch up with them while the kids played, we had a few drinks outside and enjoyed spring. Bedtime was a bit more condensed which my middle child does not like so after some fighting and everyone, myself included, was asleep about 9:30 pm.

Friday

Had to schedule a dentist appt to get the pain checked out since I’m traveling all next week for work so WFH in morning which included walking 8 yo to bus, driving 5 yo to prek, and fitting in a very quick leg workout in <30 min before going to the dentist. Turned out it isn’t a tooth thing so drove to work while listening to work calls. Worked until about 4 pm but grabbed lunch with an old coworker/friend. Friday evening we met a friend and her husband and 5 yo at a brewery. The kids played well and it was fun to catch up.

The Weekend

A pretty open weekend which included a library visit, some yard work done by my husband, and kid screen time each afternoon which is our routine for downtime for everyone. Saturday my husband and I got in some tennis and we played family games Saturday night (Jenga, dominoes, Yahtzee) then finished Shrinking after the kids were in bed. Sunday was nice so visited two parks. During kid downtime, I did a workout, walked, and hit golf balls for 20 min. as I’m trying to get better. Baseball practice for 8 yo and playing outside in the evening so all around a pretty great weekend as I prepped for 7 am flight Monday morning.

Reflections

What was your biggest success this week?

I was quite social when I look back on the week. It is always a nice highlight of the day to connect with someone so I am happy when I make a point of scheduling it in advance.

What was your biggest obstacle?

I know enough to know there is no average week but two appointments, one unplanned felt out of the ordinary. At the time, it feels challenging to schedule around but in the end, work gets done and it's fine.

How are you making it work?

My husband handles a lot at home 7am-5:30pm since my job is more intense and in office 90%+ of the time. Also scheduling physical activity and fitting in social time during my workdays since I am mainly in the office has helped. When I was more of a hybrid schedule, if I was at work, I was working but have tried to shift the mentality that being at work can still mean accomplishing my other priorities that help keep me balanced and motivated at work.