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.

Oh it's funny how you interpret things, I read that as she was inferring that the op was exaggerating childhood illness to make a point, as in you can possibly risk anyone else being with your child when they are unwell so why bother working?

Blindassasin, by that "my family come first" business I mean exactly that. No job will ever be more important to me than my family.I don't see how that can affect their place in the world? If my employer was making it difficult for me to get time off for eg childhood illness I wouldn't take no shit is what i mean.

I have just become a Pampered Chef Consultant. I chose this type of home working as I love their products and think they are better quality than some catalogue home show products and are not available to buy in the shops.

As I choose when to be available for work, I can fit it in around my daughter being at school - or you could work one or two nights a week instead. There is no pressure and you actually only need to do one show every two months to remain active - or you could just take orders from people. If your children were sick when you had a day show I am sure any host would be sympathetic and you would just reschedule, or if you worked the odd evening it wouldn't even become an issue - and if you know they get sick at certain times of the year you could just not work then, ditto school holidays.

Let me know if you want any more info

oh hark at you miss i -take-no-shit.well in real world (where most us work) it is about compromise and negotiation with employer.and most reasonable employers and employees negotiate

it isnt all i aint havin it show me some respekk take no shit

as in reality that job is needed for the food,broadband,mortgage and all te other wee essentials.and potential ultimatium and confrontation doesnt go far

scottishmummy, calm yer breeks.
I

and I do work????

didnt say you didnt work.said ease up ms dynamite respekk act

what are you on about?
I don't see a problem in standing up for your rights at work? If my employer was making it difficult for me to take emergency leave (as they have done in past) I would and did stand up for my rights. What is wrong with that. Like I said before that is why thet introduced the family leave and time of for dependants legislation. Sheesh!

your turn of phrase is total ali g

If I was you I wouldn't be worrying about my "turn of phrase" . I'd be more concerned about your own grammar and punctuation.

Oracle, I'm sorry, but it was just too tempting. I couldn't resist. The precious, ' we had children, not to palm them off on anyone' was just too tempting. Sorry. Was only teasing. sickly kids has noting to do with full time working mums or sahm's. we all know that.

Oh lordy, can't face reading all 480 posts. Just to answer the OP:

I work for a local authority in a pretty bogstandard back-office job. The council prides itself on being an equal opps employer and has flexi-time, also arrangements for special leave if your child is ill/ childcare falls through etc. They also offer part-time and job-share.

I work full-time but flexitime, my husband works part-time (3 days a week), partly because he wants to play a role in looking after our children - and he has to take time off too when they are ill. Our house, my workplace and the school are all close by each other - so I take the children to school every morning, I pick them up 2 days a week, my husband picks them up 2 days a week and their grandad picks them up the remaining day. I can hop over to sports day/ the school play and be back at work within the hour.

I moved from a much better-paid job in the big smoke to be closer to home, but that was more because of the commute - 2 hours a day added on to my working time, crappy unreliable buses, at least an hour away from school if anything went wrong.

School holidays are a challenge - grandparents step in, there are sports clubs etc. When the dcs get a bit older, they don't want to be with you every minute of every day anyway, and my folks love having them (or so they claim!). My kids have attended after school clubs but didn't like it - they enjoyed much better the various after-school sporting activities on offer.

LolaCola, ignore Scottishmummy. Her posts are often less than kind.

Thanks for the tip Oracleofdelphinium.

I was lucky I guess with my DC being quite healthy. My CM was also very accomodating with minor illnesses - but she was older, coming up to retirement and didn't often have other mindees. It could have been much worse if I had had children who were often ill. Working with little ones is difficult, for many reasons.

But in the end, I made a virtue of a neccessity, and am just where I want to be. Wouldn't want to go back though.

Oh sorry, OP also asked how we got our jobs - all council jobs round here are advertised (a lot of them are online-only now - when I got mine it was advertised in the local paper), I filled in an online application and was lucky enough to get an interview.

I'm professional staff at a reasonably close university. P/Time and term time only at first then promoted and full time for nearly five years now. Get 7 weeks hols and have been lucky because the GP's help a bit in the hols and the dc are rarely ill have done sports clubs, etc. This is our first year without an au-pair but we are managing.

I have compromised on salary for longer hols, local job, and public sector flexibility - such as it is. IMO if you have a job you have make adequate arrangements to cover childcare when you can't.

i never worry about spelling or composition on mn.i do like a goggle at take no shit mantra though.aye

cheers!

back to the op,maybe there are sites about homeworking and term time jobs?

Good grief. Is it national "Base your argument on spelling and grammar week"?

I don't think I have read a single thread in the last few days where someone hasn't finished up saying "oh yeah? Well your spelling sucks."

Kumg fu

Your splling sux

My grammer and your grammer
sitting by the fire

sing along now

Well, what a great thread this is!, :) I am an employer (and have 1DD aged 3 in ft nursery) of 42 staff, 35 of them women. I work full time as do the rest of the team, school hours just don't work for the majority of companies, particularly private sector.
However, I am sympathetic to sick children, school nativity, parents evenings etc and deal with this on a discretionary basis, the staff respect this and also respect the fact that the management lead by example.

My suggestion would be look to civil service/health service, they don't exist to make a profit, are not run as 'proper' businesses and usually offer flexitime etc which might suit you.

What about working in the evenings after you have put children to bed?

working in a school.

childminding may work.

teaching would give you the holidays to work from home.

someone on here the other day worked shifts with her dh/dp one working early and the other lates.

doing a night shift and sleeping in school hours when both are full time.

casual work?

working weekends whilst your dp has the children?

Ps talking about dumping children in childcare is asking for trouble. all the people I know who use child care have thought about it really carefully.

agency carer/local hosp bank carer.work as required.chose own shifts

cleaning.my cleaner is a mum with school children

but i imagine mn is good resource,and experiences

I have a part-time job that fits around school. It's 5 hours a day Monday to Thursday so I work 9.30 to 2.30, 3 hours on a Sunday (yes...I work for a church) when the kids are with me anyway and during the school holidays I either work from home whenever I can - doesn't matter when I work so long as I get my hours done, so often I will do no work all day, put kids to bed and then catch up on work late into the evening. Same when the children are sick.

I realise I'm really lucky to have such a flexible job, but the trade off as someone else already mentioned is the pay. I earn just above the minimum wage for what I do. Having said that, with 3 young children, I probably still come out with more than I would if I worked full time and had to pay additional childcare for the 3 of them.

So yes, there are flexible jobs out there, but they aren't easy to come by.

My job's not really a career, but is something I do to earn a bit of extra money to help out at home and also to keep my brain going. I have the best of both worlds and I'm really incredibly luck (but poor!)