I work 8:30-1:00 Mon-Fri as a legal receptionist. It's not intellectual at all (I have a Master's degree from the London School of Economics) but at least it does let me be there to pick up my kids from school and be there for extracurriculars and homework. It also enables me to be around adults at least part of the day - I appreciate this quite a bit.

I don't know about preschool jobs. I've been looking for months and they all want someone with a teaching degree.

I work 32 hours (4 days) per week and am home by 5 on each of those days. It's the same job I had pre-kids, they just let me downshift to 32 hours after the kids were born. Interesting work, flexible schedule, telecommute once a week as well. Kids are preschool age now but when they're school age I may shift to five shorter days per week and skip aftercare. I also think it's a good mom job, though as a previous poster said the downside is lower pay than I might be able to get elsewhere.

For moms who just want a little extra money and something to do, I know quite a few who teach preschool (the 9-12 kind) while older kids are in school or substitute teach. They don't make much (probably comparable or less to the yoga post) but I think they find it satisfying to be working in some manner.

I have a decidedly not mom-job, with inflexible and unpredictable hours. Luckily I love my job and my husband has some flexibility!

Anonymous wrote:I work 32 hours a week, and am a manager of a department at my company and have a lot of responsibility as well as high visibility projects. I have a lot of flexibility now, but I have been at this company for over 10 years and more than paid my dues before having kids. Nobody questions my work ethic when I walk out the door at 3:30 every day. I consider it a perfect mom job.

This is what I want! I just adjusted my schedule to 7am-3pm, which is great. I'm able to pick up DS from K each afternoon and have much more quality time with him, but I miss the morning routine and I'm not getting enough sleep. I'd rather work 9am-3:30, but I can't quite afford the pay cut yet.

Anonymous wrote:I work 32 hours a week, and am a manager of a department at my company and have a lot of responsibility as well as high visibility projects. I have a lot of flexibility now, but I have been at this company for over 10 years and more than paid my dues before having kids. Nobody questions my work ethic when I walk out the door at 3:30 every day. I consider it a perfect mom job.

I used to have this, and it was great. Very balanced. The downside was lower pay and no benefits, since they felt that giving me time flexibility was such a big bonus. I see that a lot in companies. Sad, because a lot of us who work this way are twice as productive and do super work.

I currently have a crappy mom job not in my field. It's tormentingly dull, extremely low paying, zero benefits, but I set my own hours. Hate it, but sometimes you take what you can get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach yoga. Help others, bring in some income (about 20k/year, which we didn't need so is used for more extravagant vacations and extra community giving) and get to do something I love while my kids are in school. Fun mom job.

What does that come out to, $12,000 a year after taxes?

Haven't broken it out. Maybe? That's 12k that we wouldn't have had though - and I get to volunteer in our women's prison system, kids schools, DV shelter etc. I suppose I could sit on my ass and do nothing but I like this and it betters my community. It's a job and I'm a mom - was there a minimum to post here that I wasn't aware of?

Anonymous wrote:I teach yoga. Help others, bring in some income (about 20k/year, which we didn't need so is used for more extravagant vacations and extra community giving) and get to do something I love while my kids are in school. Fun mom job.

What does that come out to, $12,000 a year after taxes?

It depends if you are willing to take a pay cut as these tend to be PT or flex time.

I work 32 hours a week, and am a manager of a department at my company and have a lot of responsibility as well as high visibility projects. I have a lot of flexibility now, but I have been at this company for over 10 years and more than paid my dues before having kids. Nobody questions my work ethic when I walk out the door at 3:30 every day. I consider it a perfect mom job.

I teach yoga. Help others, bring in some income (about 20k/year, which we didn't need so is used for more extravagant vacations and extra community giving) and get to do something I love while my kids are in school. Fun mom job.

I think most telecommute jobs or flexible schedule jobs can be considered "mom" jobs. I work 7:30 to 3:30, I am home by 4:00, I consider mine a mom job.

I work from home on a contract basis and it seems to be a great fit. I am home to take my kids to and from the bus stop. I can still sometimes get some work done when a kid is sick or no school. I still work 40+ hours a week - it is amazing what you can do with commute time.

I assume a mom job is basically retail, work 10-2.

In another thread, someone mentioned their "mom job" and how happy it made them. What exactly is a mom job and where would I look to find one? I'm currently in a job I hate, with zero time for my kids and husband (not to mention me). I am desperate to make some changes so that I can actually stop shortchanging my kids, but I'm not sure how to go about this. Any thoughts? TIA.