My new job started on Monday and it has been a major information overload! My new role is so different to my old one that I feel like a little kid again. I’ve been mostly reading background information and attending meetings to try and make sense of the new area, and there is a lot to make sense of!
On day one I arrived in the office before anyone else. I start at 7.30am so I can leave and get the kids from school earlier. It was quite disconcerting to walk into a dark office block, on a new floor and not know where the light switch was. My IT access didn’t work, I didn’t know who to call about anything so I sat there and read the documents left on my desk. Let just say reading technical documents at 7.45am is not recommended.
Once people started arriving it was better. My team is nice, my supervisor is very friendly and accommodating and everyone offers to help me understand what’s going on. While I think it will take me a few more weeks to get across the actual information I do feel fairly settled into the new team.
It’s hard to gauge how the family are coping as there were so many one off things happening. My oldest has been on camp for 2 nights, Hubby was home sick for the first 2 days so I came home to a clean house and dinner and I don’t have uni until next week. I think come Wednesday next week we might all be feeling the strain of my new job.
We have also had to look into new childcare options for our 2yr old. Up until this it’s been family and friends watch him. We had to hire a nanny when the new job came up so quickly but assessing how much it costs we have realised it’s not viable long term. I’ve almost tripled my work hours but the money has not followed suit. The take home amount after paying a nanny etc means I’m working for less than half of what I was before and that’s not worth working.
Next week we have a tour of a childcare centre next to the girls school. It’s rated excellent and friends have sent their kids there. If we are all happy after the tour then we will enroll and almost halve our childcare costs. The savings we make there will make my new hectic schedule seem worthwhile.
I’ve got mixed feeling about the childcare centre. In some respects it seems a perfect solution: cheaper, one drop off/pick up location, holiday care is sorted for the little guy, they will ensure he takes naps (not currently happening with the nanny), they provide all his food, offer a preschool education program and he gets to make friends. But having a nanny who comes to us, teaches him Spanish, can do extra days and hours, gives him one on one attention and has offered to help with the other kids, and as our little man gets sick easily I suspect when he starts in a centre I’ll be taking a fair amount of time off.
As you can see the pros and cons are huge. I’ve also worked in childcare many moons ago and while working in numerous centres saw varied levels of care. Hopefully after the tour I will have a better feel for how the centre runs and if it will meet my standards.
So many things to consider but ultimately we need to do what works for our family and cares for everyone, including me!