Another thought on the SAHM

So what kinds of jobs would offer some degree of flexiblility so I could
be
home during that time. Working in the school would make the most sense.
But
getting in is easier said than done. I also thought of some sort of temp
work
where you only say you're available during the school year. I still have
a few
years before I need to worry about this. But I want to at least start
giving
it some thought.

Yes, that is a problem, but unfortunately it's even more complex than that.
What about when they are sick? I had a kid home at least one day a week
*every* week last year from about Feb. 10 until the middle of April. A
couple of weeks, it was two different kids, totalling three days .......
What kind of employee would that have made me? I'd love to go back to work
PT school hours only when Holly is older but it just won't fly for me. I
have no family whatsoever close by who can be called on in a pinch and with
dh out of town or working 14 hours a day, it is most unfortunate that I also
don't have the much-desired handy neighbor or friend who will take on a
puking kid at 5 minutes notice with a nod and a smile :-)

Of course, I do have 4, so the odds of problems and sickness are greater.
But basically, for myself, I have given up on the idea of working til at
least the older ones are old enough to stay home alone if moderately(!)
sick. I don't really know yet when that would be. Perhaps around 10 or 11?
And I still haven't worked out what to do about summers.

PS To give you a couple thoughts on your question of *what* you could do,
the preschooler mothers I know who worked and didn't want to use childcare
had to alternate work shifts with their husbands (the wife worked say 5 - 9
after dh came home, and then, say, all day Saturday). And almost all those
mothers worked in retail. Loads of flexible PT hours available there (at
least there were a couple years ago), including late night inventory (til
midnight + sometimes).

Another friend was an accountant for a neighbor's business, so she worked
from his house (just down the street) on some evenings and Sat. a.m.
Another was a fertility nurse so she did the weekend shifts for the IVF
patients (7 - 1 or something like that, both days). Another still is a NICU
nurse but only does night shifts, so FT work is "only" 3 nights a week (she
does Fri Sat Sun most weeks). Nurses can also "float" (or whatever it's
called), where they work just for a few weeks or months and then move on to
another hospital.

My SIL had a job where she had to call clients of one of the big accounting
firms, whose projects had just been finished, and fill in a customer
satisfaction survey. That was all over the world, so sometimes she was on
the phone at 11pm or 4am, but it certainly fitted round taking the kids to
school! Other than working at home like that (typing?), tupperware etc., or
weekend work (restaurants etc), that's about all that comes to me off the
top of my head. If you wanted to do office work and you worked in a small
office you might also have some flexibility to leave early and take
assignments home to finish by next morning.

phew Had no idea I knew so many PT / temp workers!!

--Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)