Stay at home jobs

[Whatismynameagain]

Im currently on maternity leave and I want to know what jobs are available for stay at home mothers.

FWIW it is possible to work as a SAHM without childcare but it's very difficult. You need a job online that pays you in relation to views/downloads/clicks rather than being paid per hour. You also need to find a niche or get very lucky and find a market that not many people have explored. Examples might be starting a channel on social media (YouTube and TikTok have creator programs that pay per view, Instagram does not), selling digital downloads or stock imagery on Etsy or creating simple ebooks on Amazon (colouring books, notebooks, journals etc).

6months to 2years is a manageable time period for working because babies/toddlers sleep a lot so you can get stuff done during that time. I managed about 1-2 hours work during the day and 3 hours after bedtime every day while DD was that age. After 2 gets harder because they're so active so you have to wind back hours to only after bedtime or look for childcare at least 1-2 days a week. It's tough because you will virtually not have any free leisure time anymore. As soon as baby sleeps you need to work and also try to get yourself to bed at a decent hour.

I did this for almost 3 years and had a pretty decent, consistent income, around 2-3K a month. DH was not able to help much since he works long hours out of the house (often also 12H) but did take over a few hours childcare on weekends if I had to catch up stuff. Our nursery plans got messed up due to covid so I ended up being a SAHM/WFH for much longer than planned. It was fine but the days are gruelling and I wouldn't want to repeat the experience.

If you’re asking “can I/DPwork from home AND look after the baby with no childcare” the answer is no. Any respectable company with a HR department will have a WFH policy which states very clearly that you cannot work from home without childcare unless it’s exceptional circumstances.

If you think about it properly I’m sure you’ll realise that it’d be taking the absolute mick.

Thank you for all your replies. I just want to do something different now I have a baby. I have different commitments but I obviously don't want to risk the idea of us losing money if my new job falls through. Do you think my current job will be understanding that my circumstances have changed

The only way we managed it was by doing a job which measured output rather than specific hours worked, and there were not many specific hours so I could work in the evening/ weekend. Also I was very part time.

Do look though at him going part time rather than you stopping work completely. You won't pay tax or NI on the first part of your wage so it makes sense to both use your personal allowances rather than him working full time and you not working.

understanding how? they surely know you are on maternity

what do you want your employers to do?

@Whatismynameagain

Thank you for all your replies. I just want to do something different now I have a baby. I have different commitments but I obviously don't want to risk the idea of us losing money if my new job falls through. Do you think my current job will be understanding that my circumstances have changed

What do you mean? Are you asking them to change your hours? Not going back at all?

Do you think my current job will be understanding that my circumstances have changed

In which way do you mean?

Adjusting your hours - just ask them, they have to consider it.
Quitting your job - they can’t force you to stay, you’re allowed to leave whenever you want.
Keeping your position for you indefinitely whilst you try to figure out what else you could do with your baby at home - they won’t do this.

Time to sit down with your partner, do some numbers and plan what the next steps are in regards to jobs and childcare options.

Which honestly, should’ve done immediately after getting pregnant, at the latest.

I'm not sure what you are asking when you query if your current employers will be understanding that your circumstances have changed? What is is you want them to do - reduce your hours? You presumably can't ask for anything else as retail isn't a job which you can do from home,

@Whatismynameagain

Thank you for all your replies. I just want to do something different now I have a baby. I have different commitments but I obviously don't want to risk the idea of us losing money if my new job falls through. Do you think my current job will be understanding that my circumstances have changed

Depends on how much they want to keep you They don’t have to accommodate you at all as long as you don’t have a protected characteristic they need to be mindful of and not discriminate against. Other than that you will be expected to work as before unless you have a particularly sympathetic boss and/or team mates who will let you choose or swap shifts. Unfortunately you having a baby is not your employers problem and expecting special treatment because you have isn’t reasonable and does a disservice to working patents.

I have read the full thread OP and I can categorically say YOU ARE MAKING NO SENSE!!

Most WFH arrangements will have in the contract that you must have childcare arrangements i.e you or your partner cannot work and look after your child whilst also contracted to WFH.

Wally Sally how am I not making any sense?

Op, every parent wants to put their child first.

For some, that means going to work in order to earn money and provide ‘better’ for their child. For others, that means not working so that they can be with their child and don’t need to use childcare.

You need to talk to your partner to decide what is best for your family: childcare so that you can both work (this should not only come from your wage); reduced hours so that you can both look after dc; quit work so that you can look after DC. Finding a wfh job isn’t the magic answer here; you would still need childcare.

Because you are not answering the fact that ppl are telling you that you need childcare... you keep throwing out random one liners

There's a reason ppl can't take their children into work, the same reason ppl can't work from home WITH their children

Everyone's baby is their number one priority.

What are you hoping your current job will do?

Unfortunately OP your situation is not unique. Many couples have babies, can't afford to live on only one salary, want one parent to be around for their child and do bathtimes/bedtimes, but also somehow hope that they can WFH and still provide childcare. Except in exceptional cases, it simply doesn't work like that. If you can't afford to live on one salary, you will have to work - simple. If you get a job working from home, you will still have to have childcare in place, many contracts will specify that and even if they don't you just can't work if your child needs feeding, changing, is having a tantrum or is about to pull the TV over on top of themselves. However if you work 25 hours in retail now, surely that means that you will be home for bedtime on at least some days anyway?

If you absolutely want to work from home, what are your skills - which might give people some ideas of what to suggest?

If you don't want to opt for childcare then working on opening up a small business of your own is the best way to go. Do you have any skills/services you can offer? So many people have started their own businesses over lockdown on sites like etsy and are making decent sales - maybe not enough to call a steady income, but you can really build it up into one if you're willing to put the time into it.

Your choices are

• don't go back to work - be a SAHM
• go back to work (with same or different hours) and arrange childcare for the times when you and DH are both at work. DH may also consider adjusting his working hours to accommodate.
• find a new job that only requires you to work when DH is not working and therefore will look after the baby

It's quite common when you return to work after mat leave to request a different working pattern so do consider that.

You won't find any job that you / your husband can both do well, from home, without childcare, during the day.

It's easy to imagine with a 6 month old but soon that baby will be a toddler and I'm sorry, any workplace will expect (and deserve) the full attention of who they are paying. It is not fair on your employer or indeed safe for your child to spend your days/hours with totally split focus.

You could possibly work evenings if your partner works days or vice versa , or each spread your work over a longer day.

During lockdown with no childcare my husband worked 5am-7am then we split blocks during the day and both worked in to the night in order to both work our "full" day. It was awful.

I wfh doing general admin for a company based about 300 miles away from me. They expected me to send over a copy of my arranged childcare for the hours I was working, so my DDs at after school club twice a week, which means on another night a week I finish in time to take a break, pick her up, take her to an activitiy and I work an hour or two while she's at her activitiy.

They asked everyone, male and female, couples and single parents for proof they have childcare. Which isn't uncommon now. My mum had to prove for her to wfh that my DBro was a teen and wouldn't bother her in work hours.

I work for local parish council, work from home apart from one evening meeting per month plus four quarterly ones.

I do my work around my daughter (now 15 months, started at 7 months) as it’s completely flexible, they don’t mind her coming to meetings. I also walk round and check the parks and assets with her in the pram once a week.

Do lots of work in the evening after she’s asleep, it pays alright too. I did a National parish clerk training course this week and two of the other ladies had babies with them, nobody minded and everyone fussed them over zoom.

Also to add, my husband is currently deployed and I manage it on my own quite easily.

I don't have any skills apart from working in retail. We have talked through childcare when I was pregnant. He said I would work in the evenings and weekends.

Working from home with a young child and no childcare is a fucking disaster. It’s not worth it, I promise, even if you find somewhere that allows it.

Pub or restaurant work in the evenings.