lone parents - what job do you have?

wazza

Hi, i am a lone parent. A father of three children under the age of 10. Was working till last year when my wife left us.

The youngest is only attending afternoon session at school. I am claiming what is due to me.

I am interested to learn what type of jobs other lone parents (especially fathers) have and what is the arrangements regarding school holidays etc. Do they find they are financially better off working or found they should have stayed at home?

I have qualifications in mechanical engineering but find that in this field the employer prefer to offer full time employment.

thanks

loobs40

I am an IT contractor. I try to take work reasonably close to where I live but that inevitably excludes London which is where by far the majority of jobs are. Occasionally I can do part time work eg 30 hours per week, but that is very rare in this field.

My kids are 9 and 15, so the 15 year old pretty much sorts himself out during the holidays, but my nine year old goes to holiday clubs which she enjoys. She also goes to an after school club after school (naturally!) I have always worked (even when married) so the kids are used to it.

And before anyone jumps in with how do I know what the 15 year old does when I am at work, all I have to know is that he is on course for 9 A* at GCSE and has been the perfect (well OK, nearly perfect) teenager.....so far.....

mariauk

Hi

I am still looking for a part-time term time only position and have 2 children aged 15 and 12. Apart from school dinner ladies who work for 1-1/2 hours per day I can only find positions available for teaching assistants for which you need qualifications in that field. I find that parents of pre secondary children have quite a few options during school holidays but once they hit Secondary school they become virtually non existant. My 15 year old is quite capable of looking after herself but I feel at this important time in her her life with Gcse`s looming I need to be here for her to support her during holidays and that my 12 year old is no where near old enough or mature enough to be left especially during the summer. I know parents who do leave their children at this age with an older sibling "in charge" but feel it isnt my daughters responsibility to look after her little brother and apart from that , they would probably end up shouting at each other most of the day and I really dont think either of them would be very happy. Catch 22 hits again with a lot of children left to their own devices and street crime increasing, Parents are told to go back to work but then blamed for not being responsible for their children, You cant win whatever you do. My daughter is doing very well at school and has just been made a prefect and is team leader for her catering and hospitality lessons and is responsible for not only her year but the years above and below her year. I am sick of hearing about how "bad" kids of single parents can be and have always made even more of an effort as a single parent to ensure they have always done well at school and also understand the value of Manners, respect and above all self worth. Just because you are a single parent it doesn`t mean your children turn into a "monster" of society. As the OP says, yes he does know what his 15 year old does during the holidays as I would with mine but I feel "single" parents are put into a certain bracket by society , working or not. Good luck in your search for work loobs and wazza, I have the greatest of respect for you as I know how hard it can be. :A

Becles

Do you have any skills you could build into some form of self employment?

Things I considered were:

Domestic cleaning and ironing (maybe a bit girly for you, but maybe you could consider gardening or DIY work?!)
Dog walking for people who work long hours or who are ill.
Looking after small animals and fish when people are away.
Virtual PA/Secretary for small businesses who can't afford a permanent member of staff, or who are just looking for a hand at busy or holiday times.

In the end I started doing merchandising and mystery shopping work, which I really enjoy.

What ever self employment route you go down, you can do as much or as little as you like depending on your daily circumstances.

I tend to go out and do visits during school hours and type up the reports on an evening once my boys are in bed.

My Mam can babysit mornings only, so I just work mornings in the school hols allowing me to have plenty of time with the children. You can also be flexible for unexpected things like illness, or take whole days off in the school hols for trips out.

loobs40

mariauk wrote:

Hi

As the OP says, yes he does know what his 15 year old does during the holidays as I would with mine but I feel "single" parents are put into a certain bracket by society , working or not.

I'm intrigued. If OP (Other Poster?) is me, what made you you think I was a 'he' ?

mariauk

loobs40 wrote:

I'm intrigued. If OP (Other Poster?) is me, what made you you think I was a 'he' ?

Sorry loobs, got my knickers in a twist and sort of went off on one and got OP(original poster) mixed up with you. Apoligies :eek:

Maria

filigree_2

mariauk wrote:

I am still looking for a part-time term time only position and have 2 children aged 15 and 12. Apart from school dinner ladies who work for 1-1/2 hours per day I can only find positions available for teaching assistants for which you need qualifications in that field.

No offence intended but I think you could possibly be mistaken about that - have you made detailed enquiries? I haven't got any specific childcare or teaching qualifications but I found work as a classroom assistant. Maybe my local authority is desperate for staff I left that job about two years ago but I don't think their policy has changed.

Just checked and they're advertising now:
********* School has a vacancy for someone who can work with groups of children aged between 8 and 11 years of age under the direction of class teachers.

Good communication skills, good standard of literacy and numeracy are essential and the ability to cope with children who have emotional and educational special needs.

When I was doing the job I looked into the possibility of gaining qualifications and there were courses available at the local adult education centre. I think folks on Income Support can take these courses for free but I'm not 100% sure. My local authority are advertising several part-time/term-time jobs in school admin too - have you tried your local council website? Most of them will have job search pages. If you don't have suitable admin skills that's something else the tech college might offer.

Nil desperandum - you might not be able to get a job tomorrow but there are steps you can take towards it

mariauk

filigree wrote:

No offence intended but I think you could possibly be mistaken about that - have you made detailed enquiries? I haven't got any specific childcare or teaching qualifications but I found work as a classroom assistant. Maybe my local authority is desperate for staff I left that job about two years ago but I don't think their policy has changed.

Just checked and they're advertising now:
********* School has a vacancy for someone who can work with groups of children aged between 8 and 11 years of age under the direction of class teachers.

Good communication skills, good standard of literacy and numeracy are essential and the ability to cope with children who have emotional and educational special needs.

When I was doing the job I looked into the possibility of gaining qualifications and there were courses available at the local adult education centre. I think folks on Income Support can take these courses for free but I'm not 100% sure. My local authority are advertising several part-time/term-time jobs in school admin too - have you tried your local council website? Most of them will have job search pages. If you don't have suitable admin skills that's something else the tech college might offer.

Nil desperandum - you might not be able to get a job tomorrow but there are steps you can take towards it

No offence taken! Thanks for the advice! I am looking for a more sort of "Admin" based position and am just about to apply for a detailed Access course as a lot of the school positions require some form of Access qualification, unfortunately I live smack bang in the middle of at least 5 schools and term time only jobs around here are few and far between. The school Admin officer at my kids primary school has been their since day dot and its not likely she will be going anywhere for a long time :rolleyes: I have already done a course in Word and excel so getting Access under my belt will be a help as well. Having been a childminder for quite a few years I think in all honesty I would like to maybe not be "involved" on that side with kids but be in the background. My daughters school have advertised TA vacancies but have always required some form of experience. Maybe primary schools are a bit more relaxed? A friend of mine did start as a Ta in a primary school without any qualifications and has now qualified via training in work. I just feel I would be better suited to admin, thanks for the advice :T

Maria

elisebutt65

I've got 2 boys - both in Primary (5&10), and am taking full advantage of them being at scchool by going back to school myself.

I'm doing a BA(hons)Marketing with Tourism, the idea being that I can then find funding(from somewhere) to do a Masters in journalism afterwards and then go on to do some freelance travel writing or similar, once I've got all the qualifications under my belt.

By then both kids should be in 2ndry school so I should be a bit more flexible with my time.

I actually get a few more bob from the student loan, dependents and childcare grants than I do on Income Support, but the downside is that the housing people class the student loan as income so I still have to pay most of my rent out of it - last year I got £23/week housing benefit and of course as a student, get full council tax benefit.

Having said that - I signed off Income Support 2 weeks ago now and they are still paying me £40/week? I'd better ring them sometime this week to make sure they haven't cocked up as I don't fancy paying loads of dosh back.

Prudent

Hi

I am a lone parent with one daughter now aged 13. I work as a teacher, so do have the advantages of school holidays. I still need to cover inservice days, parents evenings etc. When my daughter was younger I needed before and after school childcare. The hardest part is when she is sick, especially as she has had times in hospital. I have no family locally and most childminders won't (understandably) take a sick child. Mostly I have relied on friends to help out. Employers very good also.

I try and take as much of my preparation work home as possible. Same with paperwork.This means I can be in the house and help her with homework etc. I often get up at 5 or 6 am and work before she gets up.

As I have a fairly demanding job with a lot of responsibilty I do find it fairly hard being a working single parent. However I would rather be the parent with care than miss out on loads.

mandym

I'm a lone parent and although I work full time for the DWP, a lot of my colleagues work part time and/or term time only. I've always found that our managers have been great when people have needed time off when kids are ill or there's been an assembly or sports day to attend, but I think a lot of that is to do with flexi-time.

Only thing is, with a lot of offices closing and jobs under threat (mine included), very few vacancies are advertised externally, unless you live near one of the big processing centres where they are crying out for people.