Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many things teenagers should be considering when choosing a career path, and unfortunately these kind of discussions don't happen. It's all "we need more girls in math/science careers!" but unless you teach what job in those fields are flexible??

Plenty -- there are lots of jobs in technology fields that are quite flexible. I am able to telework pretty much when I want, as is the case with most of the other members of my team and other teams at my employer. Such an arrangement is common in tech.

The people I know with the most flexible jobs are STEM jobs. Now the people I know who work the most hours are also in that field (aside from the archaic and hopefully dying 'big law' model- I knew few people in that anymore anyway), so its definitely a mixed bag but its there for sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many government agency let federal employee work from home as many as 2 to 3 days per weeks which is very good for someone who has school age kids.

But you are not suppose to be watching your kids while you are working.

Kids go to school all days. Working from home save 2+ hours commune time. Can start the dinner and kids homework early

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm with you. I really wish I had focused on kid friendly careers and mommy tracked myself. I wish I was a teacher. I just wish job hours and school hours went together more.

Huh? I'm a teacher and I work from 8-5:30 everyday. Most of my colleagues do too. I am actually only paid for 8:50-3:50 but there is no way to get the job done during those hours. Yes, you have summers off but I have to work in the summers too to make ends meet. I pay for my kids to be in before and after care like everyone else. I get one personal day per year. Teaching is not a flexible job. Now, if you could work PT but after taxes, etc, it isn't even financially worth it. Heck, after taxes, FT teaching is barely worth it. I've been teaching for 5 years and after taxes, pension, insurance, etc etc, I net just over $1000 every 2 weeks. Yes, really. I did just finish paying off my Master's degree though!

+1 I'm not sure why everyone thinks teaching is cake walk. Especially when you first start out, you spend many many hours learning, taking required classes, setting up, planning, etc. And the pay is not fabulous. And, after spending your day with children, it's not so motivating coming home to more kids, especially if they are cranky/had a bad day. I'm lucky in that I'm a Speech Pathologist that works for the schools and can easily go part time and also get some side work doing private practice if I wanted. Most teachers that I know cannot go part time.

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm with you. I really wish I had focused on kid friendly careers and mommy tracked myself. I wish I was a teacher. I just wish job hours and school hours went together more.

Huh? I'm a teacher and I work from 8-5:30 everyday. Most of my colleagues do too. I am actually only paid for 8:50-3:50 but there is no way to get the job done during those hours. Yes, you have summers off but I have to work in the summers too to make ends meet. I pay for my kids to be in before and after care like everyone else. I get one personal day per year. Teaching is not a flexible job. Now, if you could work PT but after taxes, etc, it isn't even financially worth it. Heck, after taxes, FT teaching is barely worth it. I've been teaching for 5 years and after taxes, pension, insurance, etc etc, I net just over $1000 every 2 weeks. Yes, really. I did just finish paying off my Master's degree though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many government agency let federal employee work from home as many as 2 to 3 days per weeks which is very good for someone who has school age kids.

But you are not suppose to be watching your kids while you are working.

I have one of these gigs. I also am able to use credit hours. I could easily make more money, in fact I used to make three times as much as I do now in private practice, but I keep this job and don't seek promotions because of the flexibility. It is invaluable. My child is at school all day, so it doesn't help with childcare, but it frees my time in a ton of different ways (no getting ready in the morning, no commute, stick chicken in the oven...) and gives me the ability to attend midday meetings easily when coupled with the credit hours. It also makes it easier when unanticipated events occur. In all, I think it is the best way to go.

I think this is key. I have one of the "flexible" jobs named here - teacher - and while I am home when my kids get out of school, the job is very inflexible otherwise. I cannot run out during the day, it is really hard to make doctor's appointments for myself because if I am not at work I am with my kids, and I never have time to run errands. I would love a job where I had a little more flexibility to get all the little stuff done, as well as see my kids. My friend works for the govt from home and seems to have this in abundance. I am jealous of her schedule.

+1 I'm a librarian and when I was returning to work after being a SAHM I applied for both school and corporate library jobs (I had past experience in corporate libraries and lots of school library volunteer work) since I was unsure which would work best for us and where the right opportunity would be. I realized as I went through the search process that while the school job has the benefit of giving long stretches off in the summer and winter/spring breaks it is absolutely, completely inflexible during the school year. That's hard to deal with. I ended up in a corporate job that is very flexible. Yes, my kids have to go to summer camp (which they enjoy) but I don't worry about working at home on a teacher work day or if a kid is sick and I can go in to attend a school event or chaperone a field trip. DH's job is flexible too but that flexibility varies a lot by which project he's working on and he travels fairly often.

OP, your question is impossible to answer because you say nothing about your education, skills or interests. What are you doing now? What do you enjoy? What do you consider challenging?

No one could get useful advice from your questions.

For example, if I wanted a flexible schedule I would become a freelance programmer /management consultant. Whether that's something you are qualified for / would like, I have no idea.

I was on the research side in pharma and 9 to 5 sounds easy compared to what I was doing!

Some tips: you & your spouse alternate drop off/ pick up. We reduced our daycare hours significantly by doing so.

Or now I work in sales and have incredible flexibility while making more money. Win-win

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many government agency let federal employee work from home as many as 2 to 3 days per weeks which is very good for someone who has school age kids.

But you are not suppose to be watching your kids while you are working.

I have one of these gigs. I also am able to use credit hours. I could easily make more money, in fact I used to make three times as much as I do now in private practice, but I keep this job and don't seek promotions because of the flexibility. It is invaluable. My child is at school all day, so it doesn't help with childcare, but it frees my time in a ton of different ways (no getting ready in the morning, no commute, stick chicken in the oven...) and gives me the ability to attend midday meetings easily when coupled with the credit hours. It also makes it easier when unanticipated events occur. In all, I think it is the best way to go.

I think this is key. I have one of the "flexible" jobs named here - teacher - and while I am home when my kids get out of school, the job is very inflexible otherwise. I cannot run out during the day, it is really hard to make doctor's appointments for myself because if I am not at work I am with my kids, and I never have time to run errands. I would love a job where I had a little more flexibility to get all the little stuff done, as well as see my kids. My friend works for the govt from home and seems to have this in abundance. I am jealous of her schedule.

Anonymous wrote:
I have one of these gigs. I also am able to use credit hours. I could easily make more money, in fact I used to make three times as much as I do now in private practice, but I keep this job and don't seek promotions because of the flexibility. It is invaluable. My child is at school all day, so it doesn't help with childcare, but it frees my time in a ton of different ways (no getting ready in the morning, no commute, stick chicken in the oven...) and gives me the ability to attend midday meetings easily when coupled with the credit hours. It also makes it easier when unanticipated events occur. In all, I think it is the best way to go.

This.

What I find with some of these posters wanting more flexible hours, etc is they also want to make the same amount of money or close to whatever it is they are making.

It does not work like that ..... you have to make a choice as to whether the flexibility is sufficiently important to you that you are willing to make whatever financial sacrifice it entails.

You can't have your cake and it eat it.

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, once children are in grade school working isn't much of an issue. My youngest started kindergarten and I returned to working full time. My kids love it because they see my husband much more. It isn't a "we see mom less" scenario. They love after care at school because they see their friends too. I think we sometimes don't see the situation from a child's perspective. My kids are happy I am working. It really had no negative impact on them.

The dog is a different story! He is having adjustment issues.

+1 I was a SAHM when my oldest started K and he, and later DD, begged to go to aftercare with all their friends. They were happy when I went back to work FT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many government agency let federal employee work from home as many as 2 to 3 days per weeks which is very good for someone who has school age kids.

But you are not suppose to be watching your kids while you are working.

I have one of these gigs. I also am able to use credit hours. I could easily make more money, in fact I used to make three times as much as I do now in private practice, but I keep this job and don't seek promotions because of the flexibility. It is invaluable. My child is at school all day, so it doesn't help with childcare, but it frees my time in a ton of different ways (no getting ready in the morning, no commute, stick chicken in the oven...) and gives me the ability to attend midday meetings easily when coupled with the credit hours. It also makes it easier when unanticipated events occur. In all, I think it is the best way to go.

In my experience, once children are in grade school working isn't much of an issue. My youngest started kindergarten and I returned to working full time. My kids love it because they see my husband much more. It isn't a "we see mom less" scenario. They love after care at school because they see their friends too. I think we sometimes don't see the situation from a child's perspective. My kids are happy I am working. It really had no negative impact on them.

The dog is a different story! He is having adjustment issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, it's really hard to give meaningful advice not knowing your field, experience, etc. But just to counter some of the people who say it can't be done, I'm working as a freelancer, doing my old job (mostly editing, some conference planning work). I choose my hours and can do most of what I do from home. I think the #1 thing you need to do is ask about part-time/telework options within your company. If they don't even know this option is on the table, they won't think of offering it to you. Speak up about the things you want/value. It just might happen that your company (or a company in a similar field) is looking for what you have to offer on the terms you can offer them. Anyway, don't just assume. I know a lot of women in the same boat as you! (and I!)

Do you mind if I ask how you find work? This is exactly my field (editing and conf planning), I have 10+ years of experience and a CMP, and would love to go freelance/part time. But I have no idea even where to start looking. I am already part time but have actually had to increase my hours and face time this year due to management pressure, so I can't cut back further with my current employer.

I'm in a different field, marketing research, but I also switched to freelancing when I had my first DC. I got work from 1) My former employers, both the one I just left and ones before that 2) Former colleagues who'd left to start their own businesses or went to other places 3) vendors I'd worked with in the past. To be successful freelancing IMO, you need to have kept in contact with people you've worked with and be comfortable reaching out to tell them you are available and following up with them.

After freelancing for 7 years I had no trouble moving into a FT position in my industry with family-friendly hours, a regular telecommuting day, and the ability to WAH when ever I need to for kid/house issues.

Anonymous wrote:There are so many things teenagers should be considering when choosing a career path, and unfortunately these kind of discussions don't happen. It's all "we need more girls in math/science careers!" but unless you teach what job in those fields are flexible??

Plenty -- there are lots of jobs in technology fields that are quite flexible. I am able to telework pretty much when I want, as is the case with most of the other members of my team and other teams at my employer. Such an arrangement is common in tech.

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm with you. I really wish I had focused on kid friendly careers and mommy tracked myself. I wish I was a teacher. I just wish job hours and school hours went together more.

omg

another goddamn moron

Read the other threads.

Pollyannas all over the place on these boards . . .

b/c teaching is a family-friendly profession! lmfao