moving to London and wondering about what husband can do?

[AlwaysBusy0]

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great day. We are moving to London and I'll be working full time 4/5 days in the office.
My husband will do drop-off and pick-ups, he used to work in Hospitality but left because the hours were not great for a family with a small kid.
Financially we don't need for him to work but he wants to do something for his own mental sanity. He is used to take care of the cooking, grocery, cleaning, schools stuff....he could continue to do that if no other options.
For all the mums and dads here what do you do if you have just few hours between drop-off and pick-up? Is possible to find a job between those hours?

Thanks everyone

Definitely possible but not always easy. This is why school jobs tend to be oversubscribed despite diabolically bad pay.

A very amazing friend of mine took on being head cook at our children's primary school when our children were small. She did an astounding job for 12 years. She ran the food service, yes, which was big in itself, but also trained multiple staff, got the kitchen upgraded, got PTA funding to make a kitchen garden and started growing fresh food for the school meals, gave lessons to the children about growing and preparing food. If your child at that school had allergies or was a fussy eater she would give sometimes daily feedback to parents on how they were eating and what she was doing to keep them safe. She has positively influenced the food culture of the area for an entire generation.

Or he could just be a lollipop man!

Become a carer?

Volunteer to hear children read at school.

Volunteer at something like the CAB.

Lunchtime waiter at a cafe or restaurant.

Animal sanctuary/city farm.

Soft play, pottery painting cafe etc.

Retail.

Pharmacy assistant.

Library assistant.

Any specialist skills such as IT that could be used on a self employed basis? For example we're having a man round next week to help us link all our devices properly, set up parental controls, install anti virus, create disk space etc.

If he's into sport & fitness could he teach a few classes (no idea how much training is required).

Self employed dog walking, gardening, general or specialist (such as ovens or carpets) cleaning.

Volunteering (animal sanctuary, wildlife trust, riding for the disabled, charity shop, helping at the school, hospital or playgroup).

What does he want to do? Could you put in place wraparound care for a couple of days a week so he can work a full day on those days? A 2-3 day week with "full-time" hours might be easier to find than a school hours job.

I do casual waitressing. They often want staff to do lunchtime events. He might then get weekend work too. He could directly contact some local companies or join an agency that supplies staff.

Can't he do hospitality work in an evening/weekend? or a couple of days a week- when you can do pick ups or get childcare?

As a functioning adult can he not figure this out for himself?!

Also, I can't quite tell from your message, but does he have the right to work in the UK? Many parents work between drop off and pick up (with or without after school wraparound) doing all sorts of jobs.

I work remotely in admin..do hours when I get the chance, most the time during night hours.

Tbh it's quite hard to find flexible jobs that work around the kids. Especially now they are trying to stop remote working. So you often have to invest in breakfast or after school clubs.

thanks, he definitely started thinking about working for schools where we are at the moment. It would be perfect for the hours

yep, he will be all good

we moved 3 countries in 3 years and he went from doing renovations and making very good money to the need to reinventing himself twice. Last time he couldn't work but in London will be different.
It is just hard for me to go from flipping houses to flipping burgers 5 days evening a week.
Not being from Uk we don't know the market and for what he read on Reddit it is pretty hard at the moment

yes, volunteering is indeed on the table right now

School lunchtime assistant (either in the kitchens or supervising kids type role) would be the most obvious one. Lollipop crossing patrols need to be there before the school run starts and until it ends so your kids would be hanging around outside with him if he did that.
If he's any interest in fitness then a lot of personal trainers and gym class instructors are self-employed and can set their own hours.

Dog walker: loads of dog owners in London use dog walkers.

Handyman if he is good at renovations

Local Facebook groups are always crying out for a handyman.

ID think a handy man is good with DIY. Also needs to factor in School hols and if DC arent well of course .Should do well .School jobs are often popular and there is a lot of competition.Maybe volunteer first.

I’d have some reservations with school based work because IME (unless lunchtime staff) you need to be there before school starts and after it finishes, so 8/8.30 - 4pm day for support staff.

My kid’s breakfast club starts at 8 and it would be hard with traffic etc to commute somewhere for 8.30am.

I think it’s easier to focus on his skill set and get a job in that field with a company offering flexible working, than find much that is 10am-2pm.
Although they exist there’s not many jobs like this!

There is actually an agency called 10 til 2 which lists jobs so maybe he can look at what comes up there.

Otherwise would also look into wraparound care so he can do a few full days as PP’s suggested. It may then be easier to change working hours once established than find something specifically recruiting for those work hours.

thanks for the tips, we didn't know about the 10-2 agency, he will look into it.