2nd shift work. DH & I need advice por favor!

Re: 2nd shift work. DH & I need advice por favor!

• meghans30 member

  March 2011

  My DH works 2nd shift, but from 2-10pm. He's been doing this for 5 years. It is tough at times, but also has huge benefits when it comes to Dr. appointments, sick kids, errands, and chores. We talk/text a lot. Communication is key.

  With that schedule, sleep may be an issue? When will he sleep and will the kids disrupt his sleep.  

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• JOEBunny member

  March 2011

  Does he have weekends off?  1-2 hours a day is great in my book.  It would give him the chance to volunteer at the kids schools and take them places in the summer too, which I think would be nice, assuming he sleeps until 11:00 or so, then would be available to do stuff with the kids. 
  

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• KoriBrett

  March 2011

  Yeah we're figuring he'd wake up between 10-12.  He'd have weekends off.  

  Sleep is the big one here, aside from time with Sam.  The kids jump on me most mornings, he's worried about them waking him up & not being able to get back to sleep.

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• r9stedt

  March 2011

  JOEBunny:

  Does he have weekends off?  1-2 hours a day is great in my book.  It would give him the chance to volunteer at the kids schools and take them places in the summer too, which I think would be nice, assuming he sleeps until 11:00 or so, then would be available to do stuff with the kids. 
  

  It can def work.   He can write letters to her, she can write letters to him about her day, lunch box notes.
  
  The key is for him to still participate in the family, despite being gone in the evenings.   Can he go eat lunch with her some days?    

  

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• meghans30 member

  March 2011

  r9stedt:

  JOEBunny:

  Does he have weekends off?  1-2 hours a day is great in my book.  It would give him the chance to volunteer at the kids schools and take them places in the summer too, which I think would be nice, assuming he sleeps until 11:00 or so, then would be available to do stuff with the kids. 
  

  It can def work.   He can write letters to her, she can write letters to him about her day, lunch box notes.
  
  The key is for him to still participate in the family, despite being gone in the evenings.   Can he go eat lunch with her some days?    

  Agree!

  Chad is still very involved. He gets  the boys ready each morning and does the school drop off. Weekends are all about the boys. It can work, you just have to be willing to put in the extra effort. This set up saved us $$$$ in daycare costs. I'm a teacher and work 7-2, he would leave for work at 2:30.

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• goodheartedmommy member

  March 2011

  DH works about 4-4. Lately he's actually home around 3:30 which is awesome. It's a sacrifice we make for a better job. It really sucks at times, but we make it work. It is a big, big reason we homeschool for now. His job does make it hard to do things, but it's more the inflexibilty of his job, not the schedule. We'd have just as hard of a time planning zoo trips if he was on first shift. It's hard when we have obligations like family stuff or birthday parties earlier on Saturdays. He just knows he has to miss getting a full night of sleep that day so he can be there for those things. Does the supervisor job require extra hours? The line that DH runs is 5:15-2, but he has to be there by 4 most days and has at the very minimum 30 minutes of work, plus that doesn't account for things going wrong (it does every night) or overtime. His job requires about 12 hours per day.
  

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• beanzer

  March 2011

  DH works 2:30-10:30, Mon-Fri. ?Right now it is fine, however next year when Riley is in K he will never see him except in the mornings before school and then on the weekends. ?(I work from home very part-time so his shift is not to cover watching the kids or anything.) ?He is hoping to bid for a 1st shift job before next school year, if not he will go to the school and have lunch with Riley often.

  Riley born 12/12/05 Malorie born 10/30/06

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• jettagurl member

  March 2011

  We kinda do that.  H works 12(noon)-11p, then most days is up and gone around 7 for side work.  He gets, on average about an hour a day with the kids.  He drops Ben as school MWF mornings, but on those days, that's all the time they get together.  Often on the weekends he works 7a-7p on side work, then we typically eat out together (so we can all be together and have no meal prep/clean up). Sundays are hit & miss, so still no definite family time - about 1x/mo he'll do zero sidework on a Sunday.  

  I think the think is quality time.  Even though it only amounts to 15 min together, the time H spends taking B to school is great.  B is always talking about what they talked about on the ride. I'd suggest maybe your H pick Sam up one day a week and go for ice cream, the park, or whatever, to get an hour or so alone with her - it will do wonders for her.   

  H usually misses out on trips to the park/museum/zoo because those are things I do right now to fill our days.  I hate those places on the weekends, so we usually just hang out low key around home on those rare days he is off.  Also, 3-4x/year H will just call in sick/take a personal day to hang with us.  He actually was sick last week and got a dr appt, but it was a 70* day, so we took off to the park.  He was just congested/achy - so not a big deal for him to be outside for a couple hours.  Those impromptu times are priceless.  

  You can make it work.

   

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• Halo79RN member

  March 2011

  well, many parents don't get home until 5 or 6 and still only have 2 hours a day with their kids working a routine day job.  where it will get tricky is when the kids get busy with afterschool activities during the hours he would get to see them.  

  do you work?  how do you feel about it? it not only affects his time with sam, but his time with you, your bedtime routines, family dinners...

  I work off shift.. nights.  it sucks in many ways... there are pros.  you have to figure out if it will work out for your family and if there is an escape plan if it really sucks.  

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• knmommy

  March 2011

  I think it has its pros and cons.  I used to work from 3-11:30pm. (up until Nathan was 3.5)  I absolutley hated it!  I could spend the mornings with Nathan, but the thing I missed the most was those summer nights hanging outside with family eating dinner outside.  I love the summer nights and I hated missing out.  sorry.

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