I am soon to become a single parent by choice. I have 2 preteens. We are all still living together at the moment but it has to happen this year.
The reasons are many , and I don't want to go into them on here .
I have to do it, it's gone on long enough and it's now damaging our kids, there's always a bad atmosphere, myself and their dad don't get on and my son also doesn't get on with his dad to the point that when we split I think he will refuse to see him.
I work full time in a 9-5 job, on minimum wage currently as been a sahm for a good while. I have filled in the benefits calculator, and I will get a top up on my wages I think but it still won't be enough to cover our current outgoings , so there is the financial worry of it.
On the days I will have the kids, my working hours will prevent me from taking/fetching them to/from school, and of course i won't have enough annual leave to cover the school holidays /even half. What do i do with my kids? They arent old enough to stay alone.
my Husband currently does the school runs. Son at high school can sort himself at home, hes pretty independent, but we live abit too far from school for him to walk and there is no direct bus . My daughter has one year left of primary, there is an before/after school club but I won't be able to afford it as I'm on minimum wage!
The only thing I can think of is relying on the kindness of others to help me but that isn't a great solution. My parents are too old to help.
On top of this like I say I think my son would stay with me 100% of the time. How will I manage day to day? How will I manage financially and how do I juggle everything myself?