to think that there are very few jobs which fit in with young children in school?

[jamieoliverfan]

Especially considering how often they get ill (my dc started in September and has been off ill for 20 days with 2 tummy bugs, 3 double ear infections and now tonsillitis and ear infection) plus then there are all the school holidays.

Both dh and I don't want to leave our dc in before and after school childcare or childcare during the Holidays as we believe that we should look after our own child. So I would like to know what jobs could you do between 9.30 and 15.00 Monday to Friday except term time and during illness?

I have contacted supermarkets: they were not interested re how to deal with flexibility in case of illness (dh cannot take time off in these circumstances)(i.e.unpaid leave I suggested, but that was not possible). Also contacted local businesses but they thought the hours were too restricted and that school holidays would be a problem.

Is there anybody who has a job during term time with some flexibility in case of children being ill? What do you do and how did you get it?

Thanks a lot.

lolacola the OP wasn't asking for advice.

SShe was seeking to make a poiunt following from another thread.

It is perfectly plain that she does not wish to return to work and simply wihsed to belittle those parents who use childcare.

If she had asked a proper question she would have got proper support and advice, as so many posters have done, many many times here on MN.

Oh and hello and welcome Lola

after scanning past posts a bit more. OK I agree , I think the OP did seem to be frowning on people who use childcare, but only after been attacked by some people. As you say not the majority of people. Will need to thicken my skin I think.

Oh yes, Hello to you too Honeydragon. Think I might stay. left another site as it was just to prim and proper, maybe this is much more Real.

Hi lolacola :)

I didn't read the first thread or all of this one TBH. I have been here for tooooo many years. Just sick of AIBU TBH.

Presumably OP has children now, and worked before. Why haven't they thought of this before?

I don't have DCs yet, but it is something I would like to do in future, and have started thinking, strategising and planning so that this will be possible. I've been thinking and researching what options there are regarding working and having DC, finding a company (very fortunately) who are great about this sort of thing - 1/4 of my department work part time/job share as they have young DCs, and even those who don't work part-time but have DCs (like my manager), organise their workload so that they can leave at a reasonable hour.

I think having a job (for mothers and fathers) is a good thing, for many many reasons (the main one being able to pay for a home and food; kind of critical).

Lolacola - the OP has admitted knowing that she was going to cause offence. And her second post putting the boot in was pretty soon after the first one.

You will find that this is a pretty common tactic - post ostensibly with an innocent question and insert a little sting in the tail. In the case of the never-ending WOHM/SAHM debate it was, as it always is, the "I look after my own child, thankyou very much."

The OP knew exactly what she was doing and would think she has enjoyed this thread very much indeed.

Abs

You mean all this time you have being using us to glean information from our fuck ups and triumphs so when the time comes you will be prepared

I feel so hurt

I agree with Abs.

I doubt I will be with this particular company when/if I have children, but I do try to think about building up skills that could be used in a part-time or from-home capacity.

OP,

Without wishing to come over all Xenia here, you are right, there are very few jobs that allow flexibility for a parental responsibilities but you presumably had a job before your children arrived and in giving this up completely you made a career planning error if you intended to go back to work eventually.

I created a more flexible role out of my pre-children role but employers will NOT be happy to play second fiddle to your main career choice as full-time parent.

Loads of people make this mistake, believing that giving up work is a small sacrifice they choose to make for the sake of being there for their dc's childhood important milestones etc. They are wrong, it is a huge sacrifice if they had a career or vaguely well-paid job pre-children. The off-ramps are plentiful but getting back into the type of work you are happy to do and with a degree of flexibility for parental responsibilites is hard work even if you are employed, it takes negotiation and juggling to keep the role you want with some concessions for your childcare responsibilities. It's damn near impossible if you chuck it all away until you are emotionally ready to pick it up again once your dc are of a certain age etc.

Women should receive specific career counselling in respect of full potential consequences, be they financial or otherwise, of the sacrifice they intend to make if they state that they do not intend to return to work after maternity leave.

here here thetideishigh

Ooh, Thanks Honeydragon

Will put my soapbox away now.

Lola - I second what kungfupanda said. Once you are on here a lot you get to spot these sorts of threads

Where is Xenia?

Doesn't an alarm go off in her mansion whenever there is a SAHM/WOHM bun fight? Or is she on her Panamanian island?

Yeah Honeydragon. I'm wearing a cloak and everything, taking notes and what not.

SNEAKY

Anyways, as with many of these particularly moronic OPs at the moment, OP hasn't come back and responded. I wonder why??

OP, get a job and apply for an annualised hours contract. You're only allowed to take hols in the school hols, with a total of 4-5 weeks off in the summer. Your DH could do this as well and spread the load of childcare.

Remember - you're doing yourself a diservice by accepting a disproportionate amount of childcare

"Is there anybody who has a job during term time with some flexibility in case of children being ill? What do you do and how did you get it"

Yes. I have exactly the conditions I want and flexibility with working from home when I need it. How did I get it? I got it before I had children and hung on in there afterwards - took more or less bare minimum of mat leave and worked part-time for a few years after my third child was born.

But I see the point has been made

"jamieoliverfun" this thread has gone all over the place and none seem to have understood what you are saying..

I did the some research on the job market to see if I could find a job that would fit:
-hours 9-3
-school holidays
-flexible on illness

and came to conclusion that this kind of jobs are not career focused and personally I am quite competitive on what I do. So the only places that I found are schools and colleges. You could look for admin work, TA, or even dinner laddie if it takes your fancy. But even with this limitted amount of places to look I came to realise that I can only work within my little town as driving time at 3 is a nighmare,,,

I looked at the possibility of working from home, but most of the companies that allow this kind of job it seems like you would have to do at least one or two days or office work per week and the rest home- which kind of puts it out of discussion.

I hope you are still around to read this..if not dont worry; maybe smb else would have learned smth here.

"as we believe that we should look after our own child."

Fnar! Well therein lies the difference. DH and I beleive that complete strangers do a much beter job.

Hello, I'm new but feel i need to add a comment because you seem to be getting alot of negative feedback. I understand your concerns regarding employment during school hours and term time because i feel the same.

Have you thought about becoming a classroom assistant either in a voluntry capacity or paid.

If you can manage financially without paid employment i would just volunteer to improve your skills and meet people and when the children are older re-enter the workforce.

I am currently a sahm and did voluntary work before my duagther came along and will do so again when she's at pre -school. After working out the cost of childcare I simply couldn't afford to work during the day anyway, which is why i think mums look for school hours and not because anything is wrong with childcare.

Have read most of thread and think that unfortunately the OPs views match those of several other posters recently. Basically that mothers that stay at home are better mothers than those that don't. Thanks for that, could get the same bollocks from reading the Mail if I had the time to waste. Am sure that there have been lots of other threads making the opposite argument as well, just so we all feel great about things.

I think each to their own - there are pros and cons to both.

I do think though, and this has been pointed out before to the OP, that if all mums gave up work completely when they had children there would probably be a slight issue for the jobs market. And the services we all depend on. And then we may actually find ourselves in Stepford. So I think its quite nice that there is a balance - some mums work, some don't. I think there is enough guilt being a mum without all the smugness about working/not working.

Ormirian Wed 05-Jan-11 14:28:27
"as we believe that we should look after our own child."

Fnar! Well therein lies the difference. DH and I beleive that complete strangers do a much beter job.

Laughed out loud at this!

"3kiddes" you are on the money with your addvice, but I doubt OP would be back to read this after the way some people have hijaced this thread- I would not blame her.

I can see the mother's with part time jobs hidding behind the sofa because the full time ones are prowiling about!