Conversations - 4

> Q / Did your parents both work when you were a child? How did your parents divide household and childcare tasks?
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> A / Yes, when I was a child my father worked full-time and mom started working also full-time before I went to school (I don`t know how old I was…oops). My parents had very flexible working hours and we had a nanny if they needed to work both at the same time. What comes to household and childcare tasks, hmmmm, I would say the split the tasks in a rather traditional way: mom did most of the tasks in the household and was there for us (e.g. I don`t remember my dad taking care of us when we were sick) and my dad did those tasks that demanded "male power and masculine viewpoint". However, my dad is much better in cooking than my mom, and he prepares all the difficult dishes. As I am the youngest of four children, I cannot say much about the baby time. I think my dad was a big support for my mom during that time. He e.g. took care of the bottle-feeding of my sister as my mom had a breast infection. He also carried my brother (crybaby) all night long (and wrote his master thesis the same time) so that my mom could get some sleep.
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> Q / In your teens, did you ever have a dream of what your life would be like in terms of career and/or children?
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> A /Yes, and I have been wondering what happened to that dream. My dream was very conservative and I want today much more of my life. I just said to my husband that it would be great if my daughters would want to become a president when they grow up. All I wanted was four children and to become an art teacher. :D
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> Q / To what extent have you fulfilled these dreams from above? Do parts still remain a dream but not a reality? Have you acquired new dreams for the years to come?
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> A / I have two lovely daughters and we don`t plan to get more kids, at least not yet ;) My professional goals are totally different and I`m even mad at those adults who did not give me any guidance in professional goal-setting or even an idea how different professions are and what you need to study in order to get into such positions. 
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> Q / If you work, are you satisfied with what you do? Please explain.
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> A / At the moment I`m looking for a job and hoping to be satisfied both at home and in my profession.
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> Q / If you have children, is life with children how you expected it would be? Please explain.
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> A / Life with children is wonderful but I had no idea that I would be struggling with issues such as balancing between home and work. Perhaps this has something to do with my cultural background and living now in a country where most of the moms stay at home.

> Q / Please write a short blurb on whether you work (and if yes, in what field and with what types of working times), whether you have children (and if yes, whether they are in daycare etc), and whether you have any particular hobbies. If you would like, state which country currently live in.

> A / I`m living currently in Switzerland and am looking for a new professional challenge in the field of corporate communications. My two children are three days per week in daycare (part-time from 9am to 3pm) and according to my fellow moms I should be grateful that I managed to get that place for them. Childcare is very badly organized and expensive in Switzerland. I have two free nights per week and during that free time I`m singing and doing some sports.