Careers That Fit Around Family Life

With child care costs rising and the average wage certainly not increasing at the same pace, having more than one child makes returning to work full time impractical for most of us.

Unless you were lucky enough to have a particularly well paid job that you loved doing before having kids, the reality of returning to work and missing out on time with your small children is often not worth the sacrifice financially.

Finding a job that you enjoy and which fits around your kids’ hours is the ideal compromise and easier than you might think. Consider our pointers for inspiration:

Working on a freelance basis

If you have a marketing specialism, such as PR, web design, social media or copywriting and still have contacts in your industry becoming a consultant or working on a freelance basis can fit well around your family life.

Employers are increasingly looking to outsource their work and as well as being able to choose your hours you will experience great tax benefits and avoid commuting costs.

Working in a school

One way to ensure that your hours fit around your children (if they are school-age) is to work in a school! Obviously becoming a teacher will require at least a year of teacher training, but there are plenty of other roles that are based in a school or university.

How about a playground supervisor or lunch time supervisor/dinner lady? You could also work in the administration side of the business if this is where you have previous experience, or become a school secretary or a classroom assistant. These roles can be pretty competitive but are worth going for, especially if you have worked in similar roles in the past.

Fostering

There is a false misconception that fostering is badly paid and can’t be considered a career, but this is actually not the case. There are plenty of chances to undergo training and develop further skills as a foster carer, and depending on the age and individual needs the child you foster has it can actually be very well paid. 

You need a spare room in your family home before you can consider applying to become a foster carer, but as long as you have this, coupled with a caring, resilient and energetic attitude, fostering can certainly be one of the most rewarding changes you make in your life. You may also find that it has a positive impact on your children, opening their awareness up to the hardships some children have to face and encouraging a more compassionate and understanding attitude in them.

Creating your own company

Starting your own business can be time consuming and expensive, but  there are ways you could do it on a small scale; for instance, renovating furniture and selling on Ebay or creating an Etsy account to sell paintings, crafts etc you have created in your spare time.

If you are a master baker you could begin a cupcake order company, you could do pet portraits if you are artistic, or if you are good at sewing how about a curtain making business? Starting small like this can be pretty informal and avoid any big costs up front, as well as meaning you can work from home and fit your time around your family.