Jobs that work around the kids

[Sunshineday1]

Which jobs do you work around your children? And a husband that is on call! So no evenings, due to on call, but that works around pick up/drop off? Also what do you do during the school holidays? Any advice would be great!!! Thank you!!

findajob.dwp.gov.uk/details/5585948

Here you are £750 per day remote working doing this PR job for the government to tell the public how well the government are doing.

I started tutoring for a community learning programme when my youngest went to school, I work 4 days a week term time only teaching 9.30 - 12.30 (plus planning and prep but can do this at any time).
I am lucky in that DH works full time (plus travel pre-COVID) so although my pay isn’t great the lack of after-school and holiday club costs means overall it’s a net gain for the family pot. We wouldn’t get tax credits/ CB anyway.
I got this job because I have a PGCE so realise it’s not an option for everyone, plus I teach maths so can turn down evening classes and still get booked for the hours I want - they are short of maths teachers!

Ofsted registered childminder. I earn about £30k per year before tax. 4 days a week. Looked after my own children throughout, did all school pick ups/school holidays etc as part of my job. It does take over your home though, so it’s not for everyone!

@ChristmasTree999 I WISH I had the patience 😓😂

I have add to our family income for years with online surveys/ telephone surveys and in the last few years some Skype/teams/zoom ones too.
There are tons of companies out there but I have found these two to be the most rewarding for me:
Swagbucks: I make about £1300 a year from them ( a good bit more last year as I was home a lot more). As well as survey income, you get loads of tops up at the end of the month for all the days you hit your daily goal and then they give you extra points when you hit points levels called Swag Ups. You get points for searches and even watching 30 second videos. When you join now they give you a 300 bonus when you earn 300 points in the first 30 days.
Sometimes you screen out and they give you a point.

www.swagbucks.com/profile/MooWinner

You Gov (you qualify for ever survey they send you)

account.yougov.com/gb-en/join?referral=5n4orle6y-iGn-xFyNEk-w

A decent time to join them as lots of easy Covid surveys about and with the elections approaching too there will be more. I get £50 every two months.

Please do note that the surveys do take some effort, it doesn't replace a job and sometimes you might have 2 or 3 in a row that don't suit you but two of my three closest friends love them and both my daughters do Swagbucks (they mostly play games which yield £10-£25 when you hit certain levels and earn that way alongside the videos).
The more you do them, the easier they get and you can do them whenever suits you even watching TV or commuting.

It's certainly not for everyone, but I work 4-8am as an online shopper in a supermarket, and they're constantly needi staff. Fits in beautifully before the school run and I can spend the whole day with the children, just go to bed earlier than most!

I think you have to be realistic and accept that to have the greatest choice, you’d be looking at paying for childcare. It is not something inherently bad to be avoided at all costs. My daughter loves her after school club and holiday clubs so much so that if I wasn’t working, I’d still send her to holiday camps. Obviously on a day by day basis holiday care is expensive but you have to average it out over the year.

I work for a global company in a governance role setting policies/procedures and checking adherence. It's a senior position and well paid.

The reasons it works are that:

• it pays well enough to cover childcare in holidays (when Covid hasn't buggered that up)
• the fact the company is global means they want people to be available in a variety of time zones so it's actually a benefit if I pick up a couple of hours in the evening, it allows me to do drop off/pick up and it allows me to attend the meetings arranged by the people in Vegas, India, Tokyo...
• it's home based with minimal travel, which has turned into zero travel with Covid

@Dustyhedge don’t mind paid childcare at all! Used it previously when it was simple as it was year round and open 7-7. Made life SO much easier, but I would like to be around to drop them off and pick them up, which obviously means childcare for the 13 weeks off, just wondered how people make that work 😏 it seems like such a mammoth task to find childcare for all the random days off school give the children

Sunshineday1 So far this year the juggling has worked ok. We’ve split our leave so we’ve had

Oct half term - AL (DH)
Christmas Al (me) and holiday camp x 3 days
Feb half term AL ( DH)
Easter 1 week grandparents, inset day 1 day AL, 1 week camp
May/June half term 1 week camp
Summer 2 weeks AL (both) 21/2 weeks camp, 1 week grandparents and 2 problematic inset days we’ve not worked out how to manage yet.

It is the inset days that are trickier. Summer and Easter are easy for camps near me. Christmas seems to be the hardest.

@Dustyhedge wow that really does sound like a head ache! The random days off worry me the most too as there is no one to just ask. Perhaps I am over thinking things though

Usually holiday clubs are quite easy to source, just expensive but it's been more difficult this last year. We also have a good range locally, some that focus on art, dance etc, some that are team sports and a couple that do PGL style with climbing and kayaking.

Oct half term - AL (DH)
Christmas Al (me)

Feb half term AL ( DH)
Easter - both me and DH working from home, arranged flexi working to allow some playtime/walks with DD then picked up hours in the evening.
May/June half term (DH)
Summer 1 weeks AL beginning, 1 week at end (me) 4 1/2 weeks to fill, will be doing 3 days a week holiday club, 1 day with grandparents, 1 day at home while we work.

Another consideration is parental leave, it's unpaid but you're entitled to 18 weeks leave per child, to be used before they turn 18 and in maximum amounts of 4 weeks per year. So you could potentially agree 4 weeks unpaid leave in the summer long holidays, leaving 9 weeks to cover over the rest of the year between you and DH.

[quote Sunshineday1]@NinePremium unfortunately he has no choice, it’s 24/7 7 days a week, every 3 weeks 😩 nightmare! But he completely out earns me so no other option for that. I’ve been looking at day time admin roles but then I have the school holiday issues 😔 I am experienced in a certain role ( too outing to say ) but virtually impossible to work less than 12 hours a day. School library would be absolutely perfect!! Shame they are few and far between[/quote]
I used to work in a school library - 8.30-5 so no drop offs / pick ups.
Sometimes had to use wrap around care - which was expensive.
Oh and the money is rubbish.

I would advise looking at a better paid full time position as others have said.

Also what are you qualified to do?

Also be careful as some schools (depending on the head) are not flexible at all with requesting time off for nativities/ sports days / special / even medical appointments etc - my last school refused time off for things like this!
Yes getting school holidays off is great but there may be no flexibility in term time.

Local government jobs are usually flexible - the council where I work has flexi time (7am-7pm), and wfh was an option before Covid. When I returned from maternity leave I went part time to 30 hours (four days a week), and DH (civil service) changed to compressed hours (ten days over nine) so had one day off a fortnight.

When DD started school, I changed my working days so I work five shorter days - I can do all the drop offs, and only need after school club for a couple of days a week. DH stayed on compressed hours so did the school run on his day at home, meaning I could work a bit longer and build up flexi time on those days. I also get four days of paid dependent care leave that I can use if DD is ill.

School holidays are tricky, especially as we have no family nearby to help out. Thankfully the school has a holiday club on site. This would be our usual plan:

Oct half term: each take 1 day leave, 3 days at holiday club
Xmas: No holiday club, so we’d split leave. DH has to take the time between Xmas & new year off (his offices close), so I’d take the first week off, then work while he was off (if I didn’t have enough leave days to cover it).
Feb half term: same as Oct
Easter: one week in holiday club, one week at home (we’d each take 2 days leave)
May half term: same as Oct & Feb
Inset days - split between us
Summer holidays:

• 1 week at home with me
• 1 week where DH and I are on leave and we go on a family holiday
• 4 weeks at holiday club, for three or four days a week (I’d take one day off a week; DH has one day at home every other week)
• 1 week at home with DH

It is a balancing act! At the start of the year I set up a spreadsheet listing all the holidays and work out how we can cover them. I try to have a few spare days of leave in case anything comes up during the year. Occasionally I can book a day off while DD is at school to have a break - a real luxury!

I am grateful that DD’s best friend is in a similar situation (parents work, no family nearby) so she’s usually in holiday club with DD and they have fun together.

Just to add my experience of school based jobs is that although they're great for holidays it can be a nightmare with things like inset days or when your kids are ill or have school plate etc as if term time only you won't have any additional annual leave so can't usually ask for ad hoc time off and it's awkward taking days off if kids are ill etc - eg in an all year round job you can use annual leave for inset, plays or emergency childcare. Inset days for your own kids rarely match up with other schools and you will usually be needed in for the inset (as obviously it's a training day) at your own school so you need to make sure you have childcare sorted for these .

Unpaid parental leave is a life saver in the early school years OP and I used it every second year with DH the other year.
A lot of juggling!

I think working in a school office is great for the holidays off, but it's shitty money and no freedom to go to school plays etc. I'd still recommend though, I love my 13 weeks a year off!

Hi, I was a childminder and just finished to start new job .While it worked for us as a family while mine own children were small. It’s now lovely to have our home back and have a reliable income and not be working 10 hours plus days then all the cleaning due to covid. Sadly
all the lockdowns really highlighted how childminding no longer worked for us as a family, from the clients not following lockdown rules and mixing etc when not allowed, sending in sick kids and refusing to collect, then the non stop tantrums lasting over 45 a time up to 5 times a day from one client who at age 3 had worked out if I scream and stomp my feet for longer enough I get my own way at home only with me this was not happening. Which meant everyone struggled to work

Local council. Flexitime and moving towards 3 out of 5 days from home.

I'm looking for a job, similar position to you with taking a couple of years out, apart from my youngest is a toddler. Civil service has been recommended to me, I'm focusing on public sector for flexi working, pensions etc. I'm not looking at school hours jobs as there aren't many and it restricts the amount and type of jobs available. Instead looking at part-time with some wraparound and holiday clubs for school age and nursery for the youngest.

I've thought about side hustles instead, but need to build up a decent pension and figure that the better pay, prospects and pension from a job will pay off once my children are older and that it is worth paying out for childcare now. I'm happy to be the one who is part-time, but I want something for myself too and it will pay off for the whole family too. @LitterTrayLurker Your story is very interesting and inspiring. I'm terrified about ending up unemployable like those ladies, I'm determined to only take a short time out. Although I'm guessing they didn't go back to work when the youngest was at school, whereas I've only had a couple of years out including mat leave.

Is it just or are many of these replies unhelpful? Mostly ' get a job where you're senior and pays well' like it's easy, that can take years to get, if you're lucky enough to get the opportunity.
Or work for civil service which will be office based admin jobs and you'd need normally need really good experience to get your foot in the door. All the roles near me for this need specific experience.

I recently got made redundant from my wfh financial mid level job and they weren't willing to be flexible so it's not always that easy. I'm looking the same as you for work to fit around childcare.

I'm also happy for my DP to take the step up, and for me to take a step back on my career. That's also fine (and the comments saying that's not acceptable for OP is very judgemental, we're also allowed to have a less stressful work life and spend more time with the kids)

I'm looking at getting into carework and maybe progressing into nursing. Hours look flexible.

@Justanticipating yes there are a few u helpful replies, even after I’ve pointed out that ship has long sailed 🤣 Ive decided to go self employed, currently working on something 😉 good luck with caring 😊

[quote Sunshineday1]@Justanticipating yes there are a few u helpful replies, even after I’ve pointed out that ship has long sailed 🤣 Ive decided to go self employed, currently working on something 😉 good luck with caring 😊[/quote]
I'm sure some think they mean well but it's not helpful haha
Thats brilliant! I forgot to say I also started a new small business, sales are slow but they still come through to bring in a little income top up . All the best with it too, I'm sure it will all work out!

@Justanticipating the civil service is huge and has seen great change over the last year, no one organisation will be the same but generally speaking it is well known for its flexibility. My CS organisation allows WFH with only 2 days a month in the office for everyone except IT staff, so that would cover lower level roles that don't require huge amounts of experience. It's a good place to start and is absolutely a helpful suggestion.