Working as a lone parent

[rosareine]

Hi,

I'm a single mother of four children thinking about how I'm going to manage to start working in the next couple of years.

I've just finished a degree which I studied for from home. I was planning on going into teaching but I'm really not sure it's going to be compatible with my situation.

Can anyone who is a single parent to more then one child tell me a bit about what you do and how you make it work?

Hello I'm a nurse and have 2 children. My youngest goes to a nursery where I receive working tax credits to helps with the fees and my eldest goes to before end after school clubs. I work part time and actually find the work/life balance quite nice. I'd go crazy at home all day!

Good luck x

My sis has three and went into teaching. It means she doesn't spend her life stressing about childcare for the holidays. She and another mum share school runs now they both have dcs at primary & senior. They all do afterschool clubs which are good value.
She's always busy but v organised, and it works.
Inset days seem to be the main source of stress and usually need a bit of family support. Forward plan things like dentist in sch hols.

I work in a media agency 4 days a week. I fri kids at childminder around 7.30 , get train into London and work till 5. Childminder takes eldest to school and looks after youngest all day . I pick them up just after 6.

I only have 2 dc's. I reduced to three days a week after maternity leave. Tbh it was easier when they were at nursery because I didn't have school holidays to contend with, I also had lots of local family to cover sick days. Now mine are both at junior school, grandma picks up twice a week and they go to after school club on the other. I also take a couple of weeks of unpaid parental leave a year to help cover the holidays.

Childcare tax credits can cover up to 70% of childcare fees up to a certain amount. I think there's a maximum though.

It's still hard going after eight years, I'm
winging it most of the time!

Thank you for the replies, lots to think about.