Returning To Work After Significant Break - Your Experiences

[Astrolady]

This is my story. At 5mths pregnant with my first born I stopped working. I was doing work via a recruitment agency so was jumping from job to job all the time as I went where I was needed. It all got a bit too stressful and in hindsight probably a good thing I told them to stick it as Kameron stopped growing in utero from 30wks, so I was always back and forth for monitoring. It wasn't until Lachlan was born that I started attending a playgroup. A few months into that I was asked to be Playgroup coordinator which I did for the next 4 years. I was also on the Kindergartens Governing Council. I found out from the director that I was going to be offered a job within the Kindergarten until they heard I was pregnant with my 3rd (Ashton) They assumed (wrongly) I would turn them down so I could stay home and look after the baby, since that is what I had done up until then. The job instead went to a friend of mine who to this day (over 7 years later) continues to work there.

As soon as Ashton finished up with the Kindergarten, so did I. I started volunteering on the P & F committee at the school until just this week. So I was with them for 6 years. I did a Cert II in Business through the kids school, but didn't really get anywhere with it. I did however though do placement at another local schools library and I remained volunteering for them for nearly 2 years doing up to three days a week.

Last year through another friend I heard about a pathways to Children's Services so in Term 1 of last year I started that. Term 2 saw me signing up to a Cert III in Children's Services and I did placement at another brand new local Children's Centre (Kindergarten, Occasional Care, and Parenting groups) During my placement in my Cert III I was asked if I would be interested in doing relief work. I jumped at the chance. As luck would have it the days of Occasional Care changed, and one of the staff could not do a day as she worked elsewhere as well. I got asked if I wanted to take on that position. At the same time I stared my Dipoloma in Children's Service.

During Term 4 last year I was doing 3.5hrs a week of Occasional Care. The same Occasional care lady applied for and won a position at a school, so they knew she wouldn't be returning this year. I was then offered both Occasional Care days starting Term 1 off this year. So my hours were now 7hrs and 45mins a week. My first day back this year I was asked if I would like to backfill SSO's while they did one on one support. My hours suddenly increased to 17hrs a week and that is how it currently stands. 17hrs a week work with part time Study and all the usual household stuff to do. There are days like today where I feel like I am not coping with it all, but we desperately need to the $$$ and doing my Dipolma is now or never as well as my course was free.