Last week I had dinner at a former colleague’s flat. On arrival I flopped down on her sofa and we chatted about what we’d been up to over a glass of wine. “God, you seem so… relaxed,” she told me, almost suspiciously. I probably knew what she was alluding to. It’s that I work four days a week and it has been a game changer. OK, that other spare weekday is spent looking after my 21-month-old, so, yes, that is work of a different kind. But it all adds up to a more balanced life, so much so, that friends can apparently spot it on my face.
When I decided to go freelance towards the end of last year, which coincided with my son starting nursery, we chose to put him in for four days a week for a few different reasons: I wasn’t sure how busy I’d be at first, because I’d never worked as a freelancer before, and with sky-high childcare rates, four days still costs considerably less than five. But most of all I thought it would be nice to be able to spend an extra day a week with my son while he was still little. On that day we visit exhibitions, go swimming or just hit up the supermarket and play Duplo together (sidenote: wow Duplo is fun, I can’t wait for the Lego era). Don’t get me wrong, occasionally I would do - quite literally - anything to have that fifth day at nursery but on the whole it’s a schedule that serves us really well.