Single Parent & Work

I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet. I don’t know if it will work out more expensive to send her to nursery until she gets funded hours or not. I don’t know yet I have zero support no one that can have baby it’s literally just me and baby

@Paige this is my problem. My LG is 15 months and my mum and dad massively helped with childcare when both me and my ex partner were working but unfortunately my dad is poorly and I just don’t have that option anymore so I’m trying to figure everything out. Mind is boggled! 🤣

I have just had to reduce my hours at work because it became a bit too much trying to juggle everything. I was just upfront with my manager and told her I was really struggling. The idea is that when he is in full time school I will be able to work more days and hours x

Yeah so is my mind. I need to work out everything still and there’s apparently waiting lists for most nurseries. It’s just hard. My job ain’t exactly school type hours either. It’s hard. She’s only 7 months at the moment

I literally left my job and luckily found a part time one i can take my daughter to (shes 19 months). Its a private PA job for 22-26 hrs a week. She goes to nursery for 15 hours a week which i study during. I was going crazy trying always stay afloat playing for childcare just to be able to work

Exactly why I went back part time xx

I dropped my hours to part time when I returned after maternity leave. There is no way I could work full time as a single parent while he's not even at school yet. X

@Ellie this is exactly what I’m thinking! I don’t want to go part time forever - just until I can obviously sort more hours OR until she starts school. I’d honestly LOVE to be able to work full time because I strangely enjoy my work but I just don’t think it’s manageable at this stage of my life and I also think if a workplace didn’t take that into consideration are they even a good company anyways!? X

@Paige I managed to get her in a lovely little one near home but they don’t stretch the funded hours so I actually end up having some months where I pay more than half wage and others where it’s more manageable. I can completely understand why people genuinely become SAHMs until their child/ren are in school x

@Elena I’m so glad you’ve managed to make it work for you and your LO. Thank you x

@Alix thank you for your honesty. Sometimes you just have to face that you can’t do EVERYTHING right? xx

It’s hard but not impossible. I do work full time and i’m a single mum and I look after my daughter throughout the week, her Dad sees her for a few hours on a Sunday once or twice a month. My daughter is 4 so gets a full week at a council run nursery during term time. I’ve hired a student nanny to do the wraparound care on 3 days a week between 3-5pm - she brings her home until I finish work. I pay her hourly, it adds up and I don’t get the tax relief but it allows me to earn a full time salary which I need. On the other 2 days I finish earlier or a friend helps with pick up if something urgent comes up. There just weren’t any childminders in the area. Check out Koru kids or see if you can hire directly. It does get easier once the funded hours kick in and they’ll then be at school. Hope helpful!!!

I'd say definitely start by asking your employer about your options. Idk what kind of work you do but I work full time hours and cover a chunk of those when my kid goes to bed. Its not ideal at all but I keep remembering that it's only temporary and yes it might be pricey for childcare now, but I don't want to have to pay the price of de skilling myself by taking a less skilled, part time job just to "stay in work". I'd rather be in a job where I'm getting something out of it and paying the fees so that when the time comes where my kid is in school for free, my skills and experience will be built and I can move on to something even better. I'm pretty sure all employers have to consider a flexible working request as well and can only reject it with reasonable grounds. Check your rights online and have a think about alternative work patterns that you may be able to do, even if they seem sporadic, and then speak to your employer:)