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I'm still plodding along too lots going on in our office with a possible merge so we have worked today to do a new missin statement and values with the other people. Seems so pointless when they keep saying IF the merge happens. Why get us all in and do extensions to the other office if it's NOT happening. So confused
I think is an age thing with your DD and a school thing. As I said before DD had never ever had an issue with me working before starting school - but as they get older they start comparing "why can so and so's mum pick up every day, get time off in school holidays, get to every school event and you can't" and I think at the 6-7 age they just don't really get enough about the way finances employment work to get it. Even if you tie it to having to work for a particular reason, e.g mortgage, food whatever - they can't get why other people can have these things and their mum can still pick up, stay home school holidays etc. I think that realization that not everyone can have the same things comes later.:
Must be extra hard for your DD OP as she will remember when you didn't work I assume.
I don't think schools and people in general help though, the number of times get asked "are you going anywhere?" - or said to DD "will be nice to be home with mum" . I think teachers forget because they are off for two weeks, that a lot of peoples lives are just the same but there is no school (I don't begrudge teachers their holidays at all, I think they are pretty overworked - but they do seem to hype the kids up a bit about the holidays).
The long summer holidays I have not had to deal with yet but I dread - this year sounds like we will be lucky enough to have my parents come over from UK and will take the kids away all holidays and we can join them depending on what our jobs allow.
FF - that sounds great, hope that it continues. I do think opportunities for 'freelance' type work will keep increasing in general - so hopefully more opportunities for future generations to fit work around life rather than the other way round.
BD - that sounds frustrating. Uncertainty is always unsettling.
Childcare don't have an extra day for DS :-( what do you reckon is better a day at another centre or try get family day care or nanny for just the one day? (he is already at Daycare 4 days, is 3 year old kinder age, likely to be able to get 5th day from 2016). He loves where he is (as do I) so wouldn't change the 4 he has. Rebate limit won't stretch over 5 days anyway so whether or not the care is applicable for that doesn't really matter.
Thoughts?
FDC charge by the hour not the day and I don't think nannies get the ccb/ccr. Do you have any family that could watch him? Reason I ask is if the answer is no and you call Centrelink and tell them that no one can watch him you have to work full time and you are gone from 6/630-530/6 they give you 60hrs covering that 5th day. I get this now only down side is you have to call and have the same conversation every 6 months :(
No family, but I wouldn't be gone 10 hours that is one of the benefits of this new job if get it (they phoned me on Sun to make sure submitted refs so are very keen it seems, but will keep saying 'if' until have signed). I think our CCB would be minimal anyway and as far as I can tell that only effects CCB. Yes nannies don't get CCB/CCR generally yet but as CCB is minimal for us and CCR when paying 115 a day runs out half way through the year if using five days a week then I figured financially nanny or daycare wouldn't really matter for just one day (although I think for seven hours a nanny would surely cost more than childcare, plus not really so keen on that as our tiny flat is not such a fun environment, but maybe ok temporarily I suppose - people always say it to me "have you looked into using a nanny" but I must be missing something because can't I personally can't see how would work out better - perhaps if multiple children?)
Wow I thought 97 a day was high
Ours is one of the cheaper ones round here too! And from June I forgot has been 118 for 3 and 4 year old and 123 for younger!! (Prices go up every year without fail and is not like you can shop around to get better price, everywhere has a wait list and is hardly fair to have to change your kids around anyway. They have a captive market and they know it):
Yeah every July 1 ours go up to
not looking forward to next week - no job to go to and practically no money. I HATE short teaching contracts (term or semester and not full year ones). I had to do the centrelink application for parenting payment and I'm anticipating in that DH will earn just that little bit too much to actually get anything to help. It was that way at the beginning of the year but he was working a bit more then as summer is busier that winter for tour guide operators. I've applied for one position today for next term & need to look closely at another teacher librarian position (not sure that the school philosophy will fit with me comfortably long term - it's permanent; pentecostal christian school. Some of what they ask is often a bit much for me in the application. I'm a practising Christian but sometimes some schools come across picky/fundamentalist leaning. Will need to read all the details later tonight carefully before completing application).
Great to hear the interview went well last week.
I hope your you get something sorted soon Leckert, the short term roundabout sucks.
I got the job. Very happy - so just got to sort out DS - but DH hasn't got sorted yet so not panicking until he does (he should hear end of the week on two he is in the process for). Long-term this is going to work out really well am sure.
:leap: :happydance: :leap::
Wooohoooo such great news WYSIWYG
:yeah: great news WYSIWYG.
Fantastic news wysiwyg!!!
I haven't posted in a while, but been reading along. I've been feeling pretty down and also really busy. On one hand I'm really enjoying all the time I have with the kids at the moment, but also realizing that such a (near) complete division of labor really doesn't work well for our family. I need to get a job and DH needs to be able to work less and spend more time with the kids. So I really need to finish my PhD and get that job, but progress is really slow at the moment (what with all the time with the kids...). Trying to enjoy the present and all the time I have with them now and trust that things will come good soon(ish).
Good to hear from you nyigi. I think often it isn't obvious what solution is the best for a family until you try a few things and work out what doesn't work. I am not sure the situation we will have in a few weeks is what I would have thought best 5 years ago - and maybe it won't work forever.
DH got the job he was after, so he starts a week on Monday, I start new job week after and our crazy neighbours (who some of you might remember) looks like they have moved out - so has been a great week, and is DS birthday tomorrow. Next week need to sort out the extra day for DS but I am sure something will fall into place for that.
Yay wysiwyg that is great news!!
We are using a nanny FYI one day a week. She's great. I find it a lot easier than dragging them out to childcare and before school care. She does all the running around on Mondays -
School drop, kinder drop, school pick up and sometimes kinder pick up. In between she plays with them and has fun. It's working well for us so far.
I might ask you a few questions on FB about that, we might be forced that way anyway. My main concern with that is the size of our flat (and the state of it if I am honest, we all have a high mess tolerance but am not sure could impose on someone else), but maybe if organize for DS to do a playgroup that day would only be home for half a day.:
When DH has placements (he's doing Masters of Teaching) I think we're going to have to find a nanny ... there wll be school and kinder drop offs etc,:
Peanutter, Im doing my masters of teaching too. Just have the prac left for next year (had a baby or Id be finishing up now):
Great news re your DH's job wysiwyg! What a fantastic week of good news.
And you're absolutely right, you do just need to try things out and see how they go.
Cool trishalishous, how are you finding the Masters of Teaching? It's something I've been thinking about maybe doing but I'm still not sure how I'd go teaching in a school (I absolutely love the teaching I've done but it's all been adults at university or individual kids).
I'm still recovering from a wild afternoon on Wednesday. DS2 choked on some food and we had a rather dramatic trip to hospital. Thankfully he's absolutely fine now. But I'm still calming down.
I'm a middle school (yr 6-10) trained teacher librarian. Over the years I've expanded to straight secondary teacher / teacher librarian. My first prac was in a primary school (yr6/7 class) and I struggled with it my second prac was secondary and that was much better. I discovered that I was more suited to the changing of students during the day than having the same students all day. Having said that I've enjoyed my time interacting with the primary students when in a reception/foundation to Yr 12 schools.:
Im enjoying the masters, but I did secondary teaching as my undergrad so had a fair idea what I was in for, content-wise.
The workload is full on though (plus I work 40hrs a FN!)
Thanks leckert and trishalishous!
I think I'd be the same leckert and would also prefer changing students during the day.
I've loved helping people gain in their knowledge, understanding and abilities so I think teaching would be great for me. I'm going to try and keep doing that at the university level but I worry about the lack of jobs and so sometimes think about secondary school but I worry about dealing with teenagers en mass, how long it would take to retrain, and whether the job situation would really be any better (especially after your posts leckert!)
Do you guys feel like you get to see much learning?
That does sound pretty full on trishalishous!
How did people organise their own kids during placements?
Kids didn't exist for placements for me ;)
Got some good news today - offered & accepted a 4 week contract teaching English & ESL at a close school (secondary side of a R-12 school). Unfortunately not the whole term but it's something at least (extended sick leave position that the school only found out this week about)
There are some students that you see such a growth in and can see the connections & learning happening & others that just aren't there with you. The teenagers aren't that bad and senior secondary can be so rewarding particularly if you're passionate about the subject & students join in that passion with you. Job security in (any) education seems to be slowly dying - lots of comments in different Facebook groups are also saying this at times. (This week SA ed dept - DECD - has a lot of next years permanent jobs going up so hoping to have one on there for me that's perfect & I win it):
Thanks leckert for that! I still think I'll give this uni thing a shot first but secondary teaching does sound like it would be another good option for me.
Fingers firmly crossed for that perfect permanent job for you!!!
DH is going parttime for my next (last) placement, so will be the SAHP.
DS is going to go to a childcare center near DH work, DH has had a look and we are going for orientation tomorrow. DS is really excited about it (which is a good thing, only concern now is if he likes it too much as it isn't meant to be a long term option). He thinks going to work with Daddy will be the best. This morning he said where am I going today and I told him normal childcare he said "when am I going to my new place" I said "tomorrow to see if you like it" he said "I already know I like it". He is an enthusiastic optimist like his mum.
Well atleast you know you won't have to worry about him hating it.
Yes is great - the only person who is likely to dislike it is DH and that is only because he won't be quite so speedy getting to work, and DS will engage him in conversation all the way on the tram and DH takes a while to warm up to conversation in the morning (although at least DS non stop questions are about a subject close to his heart - Star Wars).:
How are you traveling BD?
Yep I'm good. Still stuggling with this working FT and being a mum of 2 with a part time hubby (works away and all odd hours at times) I've been in my job 5 months today. You would think I would have the hang of it by now. It's just way more challenging with 2 than it was with just 1. My house hasn't been clean since I don't know when and I'm always grumpy and irritated by the time I get home. Then the house is a mess so I get more annoyed then I just yell and get more upset cause I'm yelling. I can't win. I really want to get a cleaner but I just can't extend the money far enough at the moment
Hugs BD. I do think that 2 is more than 2x as challenging as 1. I am really lucky in that I have a very high tolerance for mess and dirt (our floor has not been cleaned since my mum left in Feb!!) much to my mums distress (but I think it is one of the greatest gifts she gave to me as I think it has made motherhood 100 times easier). DH also couldn't really give two hoots as long as his stuff is organised. Sometimes I think I should get my act together and sort stuff out but there always something I think is more important/interesting to do, and I also think - ok 6 months and the floor has not been cleaned and what has happened - nothing - no one has got sick, the house doesn't stink - the only time it really concerns me is when someone might come round because I am a little tiny tiny tiny little bit ashamed of it - but generally not enough to do anything about it apart from plan to do it when I get some time.:
School still annoys me with some of its attitudes (an information session they are delivering there are 4 sessions during school hours between 9-3 - and one session outside of those hours (which was added as an afterthought) - there is a definite vibe given off by some that if you cared about your kids education you can reschedule your work to attend. But I am getting involved in various things around communications to try and shift that perception, being 'visible' at the school is not the only way to contribute.
Now just to sort out a new work wardrobe - this environment is a bit more corporate than I have been working in and have actually had to buy real shoes (as opposed to black trainers) and my target way too baggy black trousers (baggy because I have had them way too long) just won't cut it. Shoes are my nemesis - I have no tolerance for anything uncomfortable and really do not do any heels well - so now I have some shoes sorted (3 pairs) I am hoping the clothes will be easy - but as I hate shopping not so sure on that front. Do I do what I always do and go to Target down the road the night before and use the pressure to force me to buy something - or should I be brave and go to Chadstone tomorrow night (the thought of it makes me feel weak!).
Yep this is my house:
Today is one of those teeny tiny bit ashamed days as have someone round installing aircon/heater - so they can see the hovel.
It is impossible to keep a house clean and tidy working full time with little kids. Just rest assured it will get easier when they are big enough to throw all the little kid stuff out.
As for work clothes WYSIWIG, since having a child I just have black pants and black skirts and a nice top for each day of the week and one or two black jackets. I have found that target quality is just as good as more expensive brands. personally I think it is difficult to tell the difference in black pants as long as they fit well. I can only do Chaddie for a few hours at a time. It wears me out!
I didn't go to Chadstone - couldn't face it - I only wanted to go to to to Uniqlo so I just ordered what I wanted online - hurrah. Target clothes do me well but the black pants seem to bag out really quickly - I get a size 12 that is a tight fit and in a few weeks they are all baggy - normally I don't care and just wear and wear them but this place is a bit more formal (not much though - am two days in now).
New job is ok - is slow going waiting for access and stuff - but it will get busy soon enough I am sure. Is nice to be able to pop out at lunch and do stuff like the bank etc. - and I love love love the walking to work/school even yesterday when it was raining we all enjoyed it. DS love his first day at new kinder too.
Just having a mild panic attack. I've agreed to a week (well eight days) contract that will see me doing about 10 hour days. It is big, big $$ and only a week so figured I could try it out and see how I go with the longer days. We have a nanny booked for three days, grandparents for two days and hubby for three days. I'm also trying to fit it in around swimming and music classes so fingers crossed I can pull it off. It will be 4 figures a day so if I can cope, I can do these contracts every couple of months and be set!
Well off to start the first stages and project timeline.
Sounds great Foss. I hope it works well, as you say you won't know how well it works till you try it and if it works out and you can do it every few months sounds great. I have a few friends who contract but more 6 month type affairs and who do it so they then can take long periods off in between, often they are stressful during but for the time off between they think are worth it.