Jobs around your kids

Cissi

Hi Mum

(jk)

shell2001

Hi Lynz

I work weekends at an Estate Agents. My hours are 9 - 4 on saturday and 10 - 3 on sunday (also get to cover bank holidays). I returned to this when DD1 was 2 1/2 and DD1 was almost 1. DH was made redundant and his new job didnt pay as much so it was a case of needs must.

This job is perfect in that there is no childcare cost involved as DH at home weekends to look after littles, it is a pain in that I get 1 weekend if 4 off but once they are both at school the childcare becomes more managable. DD1 starts school in Sept and DD2 nursery.

lisawal1971

Hi

I have 3 kids; 1,4 and 14, my youngest is in nursery 3 days a week at 30 pounds a day. I found part time work hard to secure in the field that I was in, nothing was advertised but I found my current position by e-mailing a suitable employer with a part time proposition (not an advertised job). I am an account manager and work long hours 3 days a week but have two days off to be with the kids.
When the youngest was born I did take 12 months off but we lived in Canada so that time was paid in full by my employer.Good luck in your plans, funny what you say about moving abroad for education, we moved back to the UK for the same reason!

Redbedhead

We looked at the numbers and realised we couldn't live once my salary dropped down to statutory maternity pay levels as it would mean a significant income drop.

The way we have addressed it is by doing a 3 year budget of the bare minimum income (i.e. our current salaries, no pay increases, no bonuses) and then worked out the shortfall compared to expenses. That has been our saving target. It means I will have to go back to work after a baby, but tbh that was probably always going to be the case anyway.

In terms of job, I am an accountant. A few of my colleagues have managed to come back part time so I think that is an option, as is working from home on some days.

TheWaltons_3

Redbedhead wrote: »

We looked at the numbers and realised we couldn't live once my salary dropped down to statutory maternity pay levels as it would mean a significant income drop.

The way we have addressed it is by doing a 3 year budget of the bare minimum income (i.e. our current salaries, no pay increases, no bonuses) and then worked out the shortfall compared to expenses. That has been our saving target. It means I will have to go back to work after a baby, but tbh that was probably always going to be the case anyway.

In terms of job, I am an accountant. A few of my colleagues have managed to come back part time so I think that is an option, as is working from home on some days.

you can always work from home doing peoples accounts - there are plenty of small business' you could target and I am sure with your Quals, could do really well at home.

AnnieH

I have 3 kids age 8, 6 and 2. I was looking forward to starting work after being a SAHM since DD1 was born. I was going to wait til DD2 was at school then look for work, but then got pregnant with the little one:o so that was out the window. I worked part-time in the evenings as a bar maid, but didn't want ot carry on with this when I had the baby as I got too tired.

I'm now a dinner lady at a local primary school. It's 5 days a week 11am -1.30 and the baby goes to a childminder who he absolutley loves. I don't earn very much after childcare costs have been deducted, but once he's at school (I know it's a couple of years yet) The money I earn will be all mine mwhahahah

PS plus I only work term-time which is fab:D

Nicki

lynzpower wrote: »

I do have a fair wedge sat aside, and I am saving a lot at the moment too. however, this was in the eventuality of us emigrating in due course as we both dont want to raise our children here. this is something that I am particularly "dead set" on and almost, Id rather not have children almost than raise them here ( mainly educationally) , and the money we are saving should faciliate that in the future.

Where would you think of emigrating to?

I'm interested in what you say about this, as I think from another post that you made on another board that we may live quite close to each other (in Tower Hamlets)?

If this is the case, there are some excellent schools particularly at primary school level in TH. Up until about 10 years ago it was the worst borough in the whole country, but the government then invested a lot of money to improve standards and this has continued up to the present day. It is also one of the best boroughs in the country for supporting children with special needs (it has 4 special schools which is nearly unheard of in these days of forcing inclusion on very challenged children in the interests of saving money).

If you look at the statistics you will see that many TH schools are at or above national average in the league tables. You need to unpick the figures a bit more widely than this though, as if you look more closely you will see that a lot of the schools start with children who do not speak english at all or do not speak english as a first language. What this means is that the native english children are on the whole doing very well in their exams (much better than the national average), and the non-native speakers are also doing well given that they are spending the first few years just catching up on the language front (but are depressing the average league table score of the school slightly when compared against schools in some parts of the country where ESL is not an issue)

DH and I (who are both Oxbridge graduates) are educating both of our children in the state sector in Tower Hamlets and we are very very pleased with the progress they are making. Our older child has just done KS1 SATs and has outperformed our friends' children who live in other parts of the country, and also those friends whose children are privately educated.

Although it is 20 years since we were at university, our experience there was that students who had been educated in the UK tended to outperform those from other countries, particularly the US, because teaching methods are very different in some other countries. Friends who have lived abroad while their children were younger also found that a lot of other countries don't begin to formally educate their children until much later (eg in Sweden children don't start formal education until they are 8, by which stage most UK children are reading very confidently and are proficient in basic maths).

I don't work for the Education Authority in any shape sense or form, but I am very involved in my children's education, and know quite a bit about the local set up, so if you needed any further info on this, if it shapes part of your decision, then please feel free to PM me. I am in and out of my children's schools regularly, and they are lovely places to be, where the behaviour is lovely, and the work which they do is interesting and relevant to them.

Also bear in mind, that even if you don't want to educate your children here, and know somewhere better to go, then you wouldn't actually have to move for a minimum of 6 years as they don't start school until they are 5, and you aren't even expecting yet, so there is time to work towards this.

lynzpower

NIcki,

thanks ever so much for your detailed answer there, it really is appreciated.

I moved out of tower hamlets in January, and we are currently living in waltham forest. However, we are renting, and if it came to it, we could always up sticks and move to a better catchment, wherever that would be. However, that will come with an increase in rent ( im in leytonstone, which is about 350 a motnh cheaper than Bow/stepney which is where Id live if I went back to TH )( wouldnt live in whitechapel, plus its pricier anyway being so close to the city etc) I do like victoria park best tho and we would be very open to moving there kids or not. Its finding something cheap enough to be able to look at long-terming. around 800 a month would get you any number of 2 bed places in leytonstone or even leyton. Sayting that, its not far to redbridge from here, so if it was a case of literally moving a few roads away if redbridge ediucation was better, then we'd definately consider that.

I was a social worker with children up until about 18months ago and honestly, the incompetence of the schools and the sheer violence that was going on ( in westminster, not TH) is something that scared me half to death, let alone let one of my little ones in there. Im not being partonising here, but I would be veryt surprised these days if most schools in london ( not private tho) deal with the same social issues that westminster did, and to be frank, schools do keep a lot of the stuff that they deal with under wraps. Particularly horrific examples of children getting raped on school premises, knife fights, and so forth, never make the press. I would prefer to home school in all honesty, but again, this would mean a further drop in income I suspect.

I dont like the culture here in terms of the way children are valued ( or not!) and I would prefer it if we lived elsewhere. My personal favourite at the moment is carribbean (not overly bothered where) with a view to setting up some sort of business. we havent battened it down jsut yet, and TBH it really does depend on what happens with money. ( and the drive, will we end up needing our family more than we think!? Will spending this money on a business be more risk than we can bear - we are both quite cautious in many ways, me very much with money, now im out of hellish debt there is NO WAY im going back to it)

So im guessing that the best thing we can do is to plan as if that money isnt there, and carry on with our lives in the interim.

NOw Spendless told me its only 15 weeks til maternity pay kicks in, personally, once Ive got the all clear from the hospital, I cant see any reason why we cant start trying soonish.

I would just like to start the concieving process with the knowledge ( as far as poss of course) that we can handle it. And that debt isnt going to come calling. I look to my oldesrt freind who basically hadnt got her financial ducks in a row and they now have 2 secured loans, racked cards to the hilt only one decent income coming in. that to me iws not building a stable future for your family, and she feels the same- but what can they do now they have to wait until theri toddler goes off to school ( another 3 years) until they can really crack on and pay it back

Nicki

Wow! I'm genuinely shocked by this!

Perhaps I'm kidding myself but I am sure that this is not how things are in my children's school. Perhaps it makes a difference that they are at primary rather than secondary school though? Their school is a small one (only one form entry so about 200 pupils) and most parents know each other, so there is no way that things like this could be kept quiet. The worst I've ever heard of is a bit if fighting in the playground, and that I would expect anywhere to be honest.

How will you check out the situation in the Caribbean though? The climate sounds lovely, but as an outsider would you be able to find out what behaviour is like in schools before you had actually committed yourself to living there and sending your children to school there? What are academic standards like, and how will your children fare if they ultimately decide to come back to the UK to live and work? Would their qualifications be recognised here?

I do agree though that children are not valued in this country the way they should be.

Going back to your original point though, what will your situation be in the Carribbean with children? Surely anything which is posted here about tax credits and childcare costs will not be relevant to there? I never managed to combine work and parenthood mainly because one of my children has special needs, but it is do-able, though probably in a different role to social work to be honest. If you decide to go ahead with a family and want to work, I am sure you will be able to find something suitable (possibly childminding as someone else has suggested as this would mean you don't have added childcare costs to pay), and young kids don't have to be as expensive as you might think!

conradmum

We too are looking to move abroad in about 4 years, though not for our children's education. My experience of schools in this country has been excellent, and don't forget that a lot of legislation exists to protect children here that doesn't exist elsewhere (possibly because of our anti-child culture, it's true!) For example, did you know that corporal punishment is legal and practised in schools in the Carribbean?
Not getting at you for your decision, as I said we're hoping to do the same ourselves, but I wouldn't be too optimistic that your child(ren) will have a better experience abroad than in British education. I lived in a developing country which had a friendly, child-centred culture, yet ds1 had his arm broken as the result of racism when he was 5.
Just saying the grass may not be greener abroad!