To not know how on earth I can go back to work?

You seem to throw up objections to everything that people suggest. What do you think you want to do? Sit tight until the kids are older?

Bear in mind when you do cushy 10h you got time to have a hobby, walk, coffee, charity shop browse, dog walking. When you do more, all you do is home and work !!!

Um, isn't this what we all do?

I was home stay for 8 years. Just volunteered, then started on 12, 36 to back to 25 h

I’d look into being a school holidays only childminder because I’d imagine that there is very little availability rurally.

The other possibility is some sort of internet based business and sacrificing time after the kids have gone to bed or a couple of hours at lunch time sort of thing

Otherwise I’d look into studying when the kids are at school or your h is available - even if it means giving up a weekend day with the family. It will cost money short term but if it translates to higher earning potential then you’ll be able to pay it back.

I personally think that you’re mad to live rurally when your job requirements are so rigid and you’re not getting the childcare benefits of living near family. You should have picked a location where the sort of job you need is available and minimise your h’s commute too so he can do childcare too.

Were you looking for people to say that there’s no way for you to work? It sounds like you decided that work should be the compromise.

Use tax free childcare, work when hubby is home to look after kids.

I'm public sector and we go in twice per week. Some people a lot less ......

@party4you they advertise like that but I've been in years and most people might go in twice a month if that! Especially in the national teams.
I'm contractually based WFH though and have been since 2019.

Your answers are very defeatist, can't do this or that for this reason. So what do you want? People manage by planning and making decisions around where to work, live, and how many children to have to try and mitigate situations like yours happening.

This. You need to look at what you can do, not what you can't. Are you sure you really want to work?

There’s not really many WFH roles. Most depts are at least 60% in office.

Are they school going age op. Bit easier when kids older. My neighbour childminds its great as home with her own too. Hard when they young and school holidays long

It’s hard but sadly most working families have to work out what is best for them in their own situations.

we both work FT. I do school drop off, use a childminder who charges £10 per child per day for pick ups. Using tax free childcare that makes it £16 a day - so about an hours wage.

then the holidays (30 hours doesn’t apply when they’re school age @Thisismyusername54321 )
we take a week together at Xmas, and a week together in summer. That leaves 8 weeks of annual leave between us to cover 11 school holiday weeks. We often take 1-2 days a week each and then a holiday club 1-2 days a week and mother in law will sometimes have them 1 day. Rather than taking chunks of time off. Holiday clubs here are around £40 per child per day, so if we can manage 10 days a year of holiday club that’s £800 over the year which we have a savings pot towards and put into every even when it’s not required - it saves that bill being huge in August and none existent in June and September for example.

Look at remote admin jobs.

Look at clerking- school governors and parish councils need minute takers for meetings. Look at all the little jobs that you can do round the edges. EBay selling, maybe.

A hobby that you can sell- not to make a profit but to cover your costs- would help the boredom.

Weekend work, evening work.

My friend did this. She became a child minder when her children were young and hasn’t looked back.

School cleaners too.

What about an office job in a school?

school hours. Term time only. Desk job.
and if it matters to you some adult interaction during the day so you aren’t so isolated?

it does suck. So many woman end up working to pay childcare for the first 5 years of each of their child’s life and it can feel like Groundhog Day.

@SoftAsShit I'd put yourself on the list for NHS talking therapies as a minimum to deal with your anxiety, you'll open a whole world of possibilities for yourself.

When I was made redundant I took a job with a care agency. Contract was zero hours so didn't need to book leave for childcare/school hols (though obvs wasn't paid while off). I worked between school drop off/pick up then a couple of evenings back out when dh was home for the dc. Did a long day every other weekend (enhancements were great!).

Would never have considered it in the past but I needed something and their office was directly opposite my old one. Quite literally changed my life (career path anyway).

You don’t seem to want to make any sacrifices… don’t want to move picky about jobs etc so it just sounds like you aren’t hungry enough for the money tbh. If you want to improve your life you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable or your situation will not improve.

Do you have a large garden and experience with pets? You could set up a small pet hotel (guinea pigs, rabbits and hamsters) - very popular in school holidays, we drive 40mins to get to our preferred bunny minder!

Could you train as a swimming instructor if you have a local pool, and ask a family member to babysit when you’re working? It’s a good Saturday morning job

YABU and your only solution to get out of the situation you are in is to find a job with more hours and you know it. That is the only thing that might help.

To save on childcare costs my husband and I worked the opposite hours. I worked evenings and weekends and he did core weekday hours.

Aren't you entitled to funded childcare if youre working? I.e. 30 hrs per week.

I think you need to take some courses like CIPD or ACCA and once you have more time start working as an accounts assistants or HR assistant/internal recruiter.

Bit thats life with school holidays. You both take seperate annual leave and then pay for childcare. Most people dont have any left over on months they are paying for holiday childcare schemes

Alot of people have suggested it but weekend cleaning could be the answer here as presumably your husband will be able to have the kids ?