Anonymous wrote:I disagree somewhat with previous assessments of teaching. I have worked in federal consulting and teaching and I found teaching to be much more family-friendly than consulting. True, the first couple of years were incredibly overwhelming and I was often at school for 12-13 hour days (and I didn't have kids then) but once I got the hang of things, I only needed to work outside of school to grade papers - and that was maybe three weeks/quarter. I also got really good at prioritizing how I used my prep periods once I had kids of my own at home. The vacations were aligned with my kids' vacations, and I had so many more sick/vacation days that I could use if I needed to stay home with one of them.

The only family-friendly benefit of consulting is the ability to work from home - obviously that couldn't be done when I was a teacher. But my project does not allow regular work from home, so I don't get to take advantage of it that often.

You clearly aren't teaching now. And, I might add, you were doing the minimal, which , while we understand a person should not have to take that much work home, but teaching is pretty much an 18 hour a day job. The work never ends. With the new evaluative systems in place, you would be earmarked for "ineffective." Also,my colleagues with kids run out of sick days before January. None carry over for the next year for cumulative days. They have had to use sick bank.

I disagree somewhat with previous assessments of teaching. I have worked in federal consulting and teaching and I found teaching to be much more family-friendly than consulting. True, the first couple of years were incredibly overwhelming and I was often at school for 12-13 hour days (and I didn't have kids then) but once I got the hang of things, I only needed to work outside of school to grade papers - and that was maybe three weeks/quarter. I also got really good at prioritizing how I used my prep periods once I had kids of my own at home. The vacations were aligned with my kids' vacations, and I had so many more sick/vacation days that I could use if I needed to stay home with one of them.

The only family-friendly benefit of consulting is the ability to work from home - obviously that couldn't be done when I was a teacher. But my project does not allow regular work from home, so I don't get to take advantage of it that often.

Social Worker here who has found it is to be very family friendly (been doing this 15y and have 2 kids.) I work in healthcare and have very standard hours. Granted, I can't work from home, but I am in at 9 and out by 5 nearly every day. I don't get paid as much as many of you on this board (about 70k), but also get a lot out of my job.

Social work nor teaching are family friendly in my experience. My DH did both and both can require significant overtime. For a teacher, your work does not end with the class day ends and yes as someone else said teaching can be very, very draining. The turnover rate is high because people go into it thinking it will be easy and fun.

Same with social work, very easy to burn out. Pay can be terrible and is a lot of work. My DH worked for an agency that required a lot of overtime. I'd be cautious with social work, with so many government cuts it's not the most stable area to go into. Even though demand is high for social services, funding is a big problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Undergraduate or graduate admissions consulting. $20k for 5 hours of work a week for 8 weeks a year. Obviously also possible to do more if you want it.

How do you find employment in this area? I have helped friends with grad school applications (all got in)- I enjoyed the whole process.

Two paths - have a top tier phd or MBA and have volunteered with the admissions office while you were a student, or b) start working in an admissions office, many of them hire PT readers. Best way to do that? Contact your school and talk to the alumni organization, they (in my experience) love having passionate alum help.

Anonymous wrote:I have found being a programmer is family friendly, as long as I'm willing to do the tasks other people aren't interested in. In exchange for handling the mundane, I don't live my life for the code so for the most part I work regular hours and am rarely called in for an emergency.

Some people have difficulty handling the isolation. Some people also have difficulty dealing with the overwhelming maleness of the culture.

How does one get into this field? I'm a librarian considering a career change, and would think some of my background would transfer.

Anonymous wrote:BEST THREAD EVER! I am a SAHM who needs a family friendly career when I return to work.

100% agree. A BIG thanks to all the contributors. Please keep the responses coming.

I agree with others about psychologist. I went back to school to get my PhD with three kids, and the many years I was in training were tough on my family. Now that I'm through that it's a great career and pretty good in terms of flexibility, hours and pay. Getting here was a slog, though.

BEST THREAD EVER! I am a SAHM who needs a family friendly career when I return to work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some things I considered: realtor (really need to be good at sales, which I am, and have a good network, which I don't, at least here), teaching (at least your at work hours align with school-aged kids, but there's a lot of work to be done after hours), nursing (could work the 3 12 hour shifts, although my friend who does this says that those 3 days she basically doesn't see her children at all), psychologist/talk therapist (can make your own hours, but getting started requires a lot of practicum hours, and probably doesn't pay all that much if you don't work a lot, and often need to have evening hours)

I instead just negotiated with my current employer, with whom I had been working for 3 years, to work part-time/compressed schedule. Better would be part-time with some at home work to cut down on commuting time (not to substitute for day care). This would be harder for you, but I think it's what a lot of people do in actuality. My job also ends when I leave the office 90% of the time, and it is fairly low stress 70% of the year. I have no travel requirements right now outside of the area or overnight. It isn't ideal, but there really is no ideal. I am a Federal employee, MPA or MBA required for my role. I could advance in my agency or transfer out if/when my career path needs adjusting.

I'm a licensed clinical social worker, have been in the social services field 15 years, 5 years with my advanced license, and am JUST getting to the point where I am going to be able to make a go of a private practice. LOTS of time spent either in the trenches and in specialized trainings to get here. That said, it's very very family friendly once you get here.

Social work, depending on what you do is not friendly. It was terrible for me. I quit due to the long hours and inflexibility.

I'd marry a doctor.

Anonymous wrote:Great topic. I am in the same situation and am considering speech therapy. I spoke with the SLP at my son's school and she recommended it as you can work for a school, hospital, nursing home, or private practice depending on your pay and flexibility requirements.

I'm a speech therapist..... ask me anything
Actually, speech therapy would be 2 years full time but most likely 3 years because there are certain sciences/background classes you would need for a masters program. There are masters programs that will provide the 3 years and others that will require to take those classes first. I absolutely love my job and find it very rewarding and also flexible. I work for the school systems and have worked with Autism programs, Infants and Toddlers, General populations, preschool. I have also done private practice and worked in a group home for adults with intellectual disabilities, adults who have had strokes and what not. That being said, teachers and "specialists" like the occupational therapist, physical therapist are all on the same salary scale. Which means, you can do less schooling but still be paid pretty much the same (although the more credits you have the more money you could make). I would consider being an ESL teacher. Much less schooling and they are working on language development like a speech therapist would. They also have the ability to have a more flexible position (don't have to be full time like a teacher does) and have small groups of kids (versus a whole classroom). The same thing goes for a Reading Specialists. My experience is with Montgomery County Schools. It may be different in other counties. Salaries are pretty decent and the benefits are great. School counselor positions are good but in my experience (even with the boomers retiring) somewhat hard to come by and some of those positions were cut with the recession.

Anonymous wrote:Furniture restoration. Love it.

This is what I want to do! I've done small projects for myself, but how do you get into this as a career?

Anonymous wrote:Undergraduate or graduate admissions consulting. $20k for 5 hours of work a week for 8 weeks a year. Obviously also possible to do more if you want it.

How do you find employment in this area? I have helped friends with grad school applications (all got in)- I enjoyed the whole process.

Anonymous wrote:Not teaching. Although the hours and holidays generally line up, there is a lot of work to do outside of the hours and it's emotionally taxing.

Agree- you will NEVER stop working as a teacher. It is not family friendly job. if you accept the fact that you will work after hours, be a lawyer, because at least you will earn the money. Your salary as a teacher will be in the 90-100K range- only after 25 to 30 years of teaching.