Anyone found that working full time when you have primary aged child isn’t that financially viable

[Kittencuddle]

So been sahp for years
do voluntary work and have a busy and full life
dh in high salary so no benefits etc

anyway a job has come up with the organisation that I volunteer for
it not well paid 25-27k per year
but I think it would be really enjoyable

ds in year 4
well half way through year 4

so he would need to go to before school club and after school club
I think this is over 20 quid a day
maybe around 25ish ?

id need a second car and it’s a 50 min drive each way
so no idea how much petrol is use a month ?
it’s Mon to Fri 9 -5
so even getting back to collect from after school at 6 could be right if there’s any road accidents etc
plus in holidays
I guess I’d have to use holiday clubs or child minder

so I’m just wondering how financially feasible this is

dh sometimes works from home but it’s not reliable so I’d have to have a child care plan in place

I can only say I have been there, and it did pay off for us. Once your little one's free hours cut in, and then they go to school, and before you know it things are much more comfortable.

That is a good salary to start on after you've had time out for having kids. The longer you leave it the more difficult it will be to re enter the work place. It seems like a great opportunity.

You may still be entitled to tax free childcare so 20% off.

Mens experience of the workspace is very different from womens. I would have thought this wans known. Culturally the working landscape is different. I'm not saying its right. But you cannot pretend that men and women are not viewed by different metrics in the majority of the corporate world out these.

And having lived and worked in Dubai, I can assure you that female employees in business out there have far greater prospects than in the UK, make up a substantially greater percentage of the workforce, and are far more competent that there UK counterparts.

You didn't answer my question. So girls stay at home and men occupy the male workspace? If that's your 'argument', you won't get much sympathy from anyone.

And it's poundS.

Lol.
MN was full of threads littered with parents complaining about having to help their kids learn and the kids being in all the time. No releif. No break from them.
Do you not remember MN in the summer of 2020? In fact all the way up to cancelling Xmas.
Its irrelevant anyway.
Some people can be with their kids 24/7. Some can't. It was just a small window in time when the majority found out what its like being a home schooler, and the vast majority hated it.

Thank you. It's short term really, just need to dig deep for a couple of years. Thanks for giving me hope !

I never said that.
I was responding to a post where someone questioned why OP assumed her DH job was not flexible. I said men are treated differently in the workplace. The thread is quite clear, but read what you want to between the lines if it helps.

Best to work part time/term time only I think or a job that would allow you to WFH while DC is at school. You'll likely end up with more money in your pocket and a lot less run ragged. Before AND after school club is knackering for them, particularly 5 days a week. Mine did early birds plus go to a childminder after school some days, but not every day, and they could just chill out there and do stuff they would have done at home.

Don’t forget that you and your DH both have Annual Leave, so your child won’t be in holiday club the whole time. You’ll have plenty of time off together.

It depends on what job they do.

I work in a male dominated profession.

The fathers and male pet owners on my teams look after their children and pets. They don't leave it to their partners.

Definitely check if they do wfh. Some organisations are still a bit backward in that respect but if you could do 1-2 days at home it would be better for work life balance.

@SimplySeb your post of 15:44 is unfair. Most of the threads and posts of that time weren't complaining about the struggle to homeschool. It was the juggle between home schooling while also WFH that was the problem. Don't try to portray parents who work as uncaring people who don't love and want the best for their children as much as SAHPs.

@SimplySeb you have very strong views on working mothers and working fathers.

Women should be more understanding of the paths men have to travel in the workplace.
It seems that in your view working mothers aren't as valuable as working fathers.
Working mothers aren't as committed to their children as SAHMs are.

Have I understood that right?

(I don't know why I'm engaging, to be honest. But your posts have riled me and come across as insulting to women and working mothers).

Oh yes 😆 in an ideal world. How do you think this works for single parents 🤔

How can they be as committed, my wife does jigsaws, reading, trips out, all manner of things with our two year old from 8am through the whole day. If she was working, what would she be able to do with him? It's not a slight against working mothers, it's fact. You can't be in two different places at once. We all have to make compromises in life. I'm not advocating being a sahm is the pinnacle of parenting. You have to have the personality for it. I couldn't be at home every day as the primary care giver myself, I'd go nuts!! Lots of others would love to be at home but can't afford it. I don't know why people have to battle against each other with their views... Do what suits you, there's no need for people to justify their own lives to others.

I love how people make it sound so luxurious. Earning that amount might just be okay when there are two under one roof, so the idea people have that it's all doable, all manageable, is just not realistic.

Do what suits you....but they are less committed. Sure. My god, this thread is depressing.

@Truestorypeeps do you see yourself as less committed?

Would that be in the private sector or the public sector.
They both play by very different rulesets.

I work for a bank in senior management. My senior male boss works compressed hours. Other men block out diaries for school pick up.

You either worked during the 1950s (where you attitudes belong) or you don't work in the corporate world you're pretending to🤔

DH and I both private sector and high earners when we shared pick up and drop offs.

HTH, Seb.

Maybe they should not work till they go to university!

Sorry I should have been clearer
all our money is shared
all joint and we both have the same amount of spending Money each month

Do you only have one child OP?

I have three, two at primary and one in nursery, and I still work. It's part time but I bring in less money than you are talking about and it's still worth my while (financially and in other ways) to work. We pay three lots of childcare - wraparound for the older two and a bit of extra over the funded for the younger one - and it's still worth it. You would only be paying out for one lot as far as I can tell.

As to whether the commute is worth it, that's a different thing. I wouldn't really want to travel that far every day. But it's not about money, it's about the travel time for me.

Gazelda · Today 16:09
@SimplySeb you have very strong views on working mothers and working fathers.
Women should be more understanding of the paths men have to travel in the workplace.
No. What I am saying is the male experience of the working environment, career path, employer expectations, company culture, etc. are different. Our society has an expectation on men to succeed at work. There is an expectation that a man's salary should be high, not least because our society is stuctured in a manner that favours male employment progression. The inflexibility in many men's working environments in the private sector is there because that is how we teach men to succeed, and what it currently required of them to succeed.
It seems that in your view working mothers aren't as valuable as working fathers.
No. In my view the person who has the greatest ability to gather resources outside of the home to support the family should fulfil that roll. Yes there are households where you have two breadwinners. But in most households you have aprimary breadwinner and a spouce who brings in an additional income. I know a couple my spoce used to work for where the mother was the primary source of income. She was high up in a government department. DH was a SAHD.
Working mothers aren't as committed to their children as SAHMs are.
Have I understood that right?
No. I only advocated that if the second income is not required for a comfortable home life, the the second is superfluous, at which time it becomes a weighting up of costs vs benefits. On the costs side of things you have the second car, insurances, child care, work clothes, etc. You also have any unknown impact on your child, which only a mother can know and assess. DS is only 4 remember, and by all accounts he has had a stable routine that is all hes known.
On the other side of the equation you have the security of an independant income if you dont trust your husband not to leave. You have the possibility of a seperate private pension. You have a safety net if DH loses his career, etc.
Its a balancing act, and only OP can weigh those choices. Only OP knows how secure her relationship is, how she thinks her child will react to not being with her all the time. But the thread is very one sided, and I wanted to present the arguments against work as opposed to for it.

(I don't know why I'm engaging, to be honest. But your posts have riled me and come across as insulting to women and working mothers).
Thank-you for taking the time respond in such a careful and considered manner.