Does anyone enjoy teaching/not regret going into teaching?

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I ask because I am considering a career in teaching at some point in the future.

I’m a young mum to 2 DC age 9 and 6. I currently work 35 hours a week in a take-away type food establishment because it fits around my DH’s job. Obviously it’s a pretty easy and stress-free job but it’s unfulfilling and min-wage.
I completed an Open Uni degree when the DC were baby/toddler age and my plan was always to go on to do teacher training (primary) once they were a fair bit older, possibly once the eldest is at secondary school age as I didn’t fancy the prospect of training etc alongside parenting small DC.

However, as that point gets closer, I am more and more put off by the overwhelming negativity I see on social media and other places from teachers who all seem to be suffering greatly and massively regret their career choice. Judging by these comments I would be absolutely mad to consider it as a career!

However, I do see similar regarding many different careers and teaching is something I’ve always wanted to do from a very young age. I just wondered whether anyone had any positivity and doesn’t regret their choice?

I can think of nine friends who are teachers (mixture of primary and secondary, FT and PT). I would say that seven of them love their job and two hate it / find it very stressful.

Probably fairly similar to other professions really!

I'm with @Holidayshopping
Used to love my job but now I resent it. The actual working with children part is such a tiny bit of the job. I get pressure from slt constantly despite getting outstanding observations and I know that I unwittingly pass this on to the children and that's not fair on them.
I think primary is much more miserable than secondary from what I read on here. My primary school doesn't even have enough money to fund glue sticks 
@CheesecakeAddict that's awful for your school to tell you to get childcare at weekends

It is about finding the right school for you. I’ve been teaching for a few years now and for most of that time I’ve loved my job. But that wasn’t true for a period last year. I was at a horrible school with horrible people and I was miserable and stressed. I’m at a new school now and it couldn’t be more different. I love going to work - I work with a great team, the head is lovely and I’m given the freedom to do what I think is right. They trust my judgement.

@agirlcandream that's my hope - to change schools and find one like yours. The problem for me is that I'm top of the payscale.

I love teaching, and it is fantastic for job security.

This is worth a read. www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/education-47936211

I love my job but only because I'm out of the state system. I moved to private schools 4 years ago and I absolutely will never ever go back.

I would definitely work in a private school if the opportunity ever arose.

DH loves the teaching. He’s a teacher in a pupil referral unit. What he doesn’t love is the hours of data inputting and unnecessary paperwork he has to do.

I don't mind it. I'm lucky that the workload at my school is good, I do no work at home and do a 8:30 - 4:30 day at school. I tend to work through my lunch but it's worthwhile as I get home early and my time is my own. The holidays are fantastic and the UPS pay is good.

I would have written the total opposite to this a few years back / it took a few school moves and a good understanding of how to manage my time effectively to get to this point.

Lanaa are you primary or secondary?

I'm primary.

Wow I need to be in your school!

I think nearly everyone you ask will say they love the teaching aspect of the job.
It's all of the associated paperwork / data entry / marking / assessment / pointless CPD (delete as appropriate!) that goes with it that makes people think twice about it, sadly.

@Lanaa I'm genuinely intrigued. Are you in a state school? Which authority?

I hated it (not the teaching, but everything else). Should have got out of it years sooner.

Would never admit to that IRL because you don’t want to upset parents who have school age children. I wonder how many IRL also pretend to love it.

I had a good ten years or so, worked up fast to SLT... but I really don’t regret leaving and have no plans to go back. My husband dreams of getting out too.

do no work at home and do a 8:30 - 4:30 day at school

You arrive at 8.30? I am gobsmacked!

Doing no work at home is surprising as well. Which year group do you teach and how many do you have in your class?

My husband used to love teaching children with special needs. He’s done very well from an early teaching career.

I’ve been teaching for 7 years and I still love it! I’ve taught in 5 different schools, in 4 different primary year groups, in 5 different local authorities across 5 different counties!!

Before anyone thinks I’m some sort of weird school hopper or something 😂, DH and I have moved a lot due to his work commitments.

I am now in a permanent contract at a great school (state, non academy) and am really enjoying it. I actually work three days a week and find this is best for a work/life balance and will hopefully work out for childcare options (we don’t have children yet but are hoping we will soon now that we’re settled in one place). I know that part time isn’t an option for everyone but I’ve found it works well for me and I’ve been lucky in that my job share partner is amazing.

I think a lot of the other posters on this thread have made great points, so there isn’t much to add that hasn’t been said already, but I think you should definitely give teaching a go if it’s something you’re interested in. If you discover that actually it isn’t right, you can always leave and find something else that you want to do. There are always options! Good luck OP 😊.

I think teaching isn't as easy to get into as people seem to think. The PGCE course I applied for was insanely competitive and all the things I thought would count in my favour (having children of my own, relevant work experience, humantities degree etc) counted for nowt as it turns out. Honestly, I think they're mainly looking for energetic 21 year olds to mould. Most of my dd's teachers are early 20s and don't yet have dcs. Not trying to put you off but just to give you another perspective.

@RuffleCrow I found the opposite. My PGDE cohort were a real mix of ages, the eldest being 50 when we started. I was 41 with 4 children.

We're now finishing our probation and looking for jobs.

I love teaching so far but do work a lot of hours!

It was a bit of a low point tbh. I guess I'd always had an idea that I was reasonably bright and a good communicator - I'd really enjoyed my time in school and thought my future was mapped out. Then it was just like 'nah, you can't'.

Apparently I needed to find out more about what teaching was about then reapply. I remember thinking "yes, that's why I applied to teacher training - to find out more about teaching?! I can't volunteer for the rest of my life!" Fuck that, quite frankly, I have kids to support - unlike all the other applicants.