Time for a change?

One of the big problems about being a lone parent with younger children is that finding work that fits into their requirements and needs isn't always easy. Having moved to Cumbria to be nearer family I discovered that most of the jobs advertised where completely unsuitable as in retail, tourism and care work they all want flexibility with evening and weekend work. If you haven't got access to childcare at these times then these jobs are a no go.

It just about leaves working in the education sector with mostly term time only hours. Most of these vacancies such as teaching assistants or school admin have an awful lot of applicants as there are many mums (mostly) seeking family friendly work. I was very lucky a couple of years ago to be successful in getting a job in a local secondary school even if its only 20 hours a week.

Whilst I get plenty of job satisfaction working with young people I am not earning enough to get us off needing top ups in the form of Housing Benefit etc. It does also worry me what will happen to me as my children get older if I am not earning a decent salary. Also I am not using much of the skills I spent 4 years acquiring at university...

In the past I had contemplated training as a teacher but this was a logisitical impossibility as the courses were all too far away to juggle children's childcare etc. However the school I work at is going to be offering Schools Direct training from this September. It will all be based in my local town or close by so its doable.

So I have bitten the bullet and spoken to the co-ordinator who told me I needed to get some in class experience at both keystage 1 and keystage 2 before I can apply. With a short time frame I spoke to my children's school. They have agreed that I can spend time in class from next week for rest of the half term! 

I will be 44 this October so still have time to start a new career (especially if government keep raising state pension age!). So a new year and change of direction? Obviously the course wouldn't start until September but I need to apply and hopefully get an interview. Then if successful I would need to apply for funding... apparently there is extra help for lone parents but its a big leap to leave a job and take this chance!

Watch this space...

This is how scared I feel!

Life Circle: Introductions

This is my second attempt at joining in at Kate's Life Circle as she has re-started for 2012. So time to re-introduce myself!


So I'm Becky and I am now 41 years old (where do all those years vanish!). I live with my 2 children, my daughter who is 8 and my son who is 5, in Kendal, Cumbria. We came up here 18 months ago after my now ex-husband left the country and I wanted to be nearer my family.


Despite graduating with a BA in Geography and an MA in Human Geography I spent 15 years working in IT. I only stopped 2 years ago when balancing a job and raising my children single handed became a bit too much. So I now have various little pots of self employment:

• I sell Usborne children's books as Becky's Books
• My blog earns me money for paid posts
• Kendal Family History Services is my genealogical business

I am trying to find another employed position but so far nothing has come up that I have either managed to get or that is suitable to fit in with the children.

For me LifeCircle is all about continuing me on my journey to be self sufficient again after divorce. I also need encouragement to ditch the excess weight and this time keep it off. So a bit of coaching to get my head in the right place is just what I need.

This is a linky so check out Kate's post to see everyone else.

Life Circle: Week 2 Planning Ahead

Kate has asked us to think about where we want our lives to move onto after our initial reflective posts. I am going to put some of my thoughts into this post.

5 Years On

That seems like a lifetime away when I think that my son is not yet quite 5 and so will be twice his current age and in Year 5 at school and his big sister in Year 8 at secondary school. I am not wishing my children's lives away but this will give me so much more freedom. This will enable me to have both a more active social life and time for a career.

I would hope to have got myself a decent job or made a success of my own business and moved well away from my reliance on benefits. This would hopefully mean that we could be living in a slightly larger home with more space for us .

By this stage I should have managed to maintain a new healthy weight and be keeping up my levels of fitness. If there was a significant other in my life by this time then it would be the icing on the cake.

1 Year On

This obviously has to be more realistic than the first set of goals! My son will be well established at school and I hope to be working at least 16 hours a week with a regular and steady income. This will have taken me on to tax credits instead of Income Support which is a confidence booster.

My home will finally be completely sorted after the re-shuffles and sorting out all the possessions we have! I would hope that my social life would have extended somewhat and that hopefully my participation in things like the Kendal Passion Play will have introduced me to lots of new people.

By then I should have got my weight down to a healthy slim 14 (I've tried size 12 and didn't like it!) with plenty of exercise for me and the children. 

Click on the logo up the top to find out what everyone else is hoping for.

Career decision making aged 6..

my daughter and I had one of those slightly bizarre conversations you can have with a young child today. She had been talking about 1666 and saying that 1566 & 1466 were also bad years..

Me: What will it be like in 2066? How old will you be? take 56 and add 6

E: 56.... no 62. Will I be a granny?

Me: You could be depends on when you have children

E: 30 seems a popular age to be a mummy, I don't want to work just be a mummy so I might be younger

Me: well you can have a job whilst waiting to be a mummy

E: what jobs would be good to do whilst pregnant?:

• artist - good as you can sit around all day
• policeman - no good as you have work night's
• midwife - bit scary helping other people have babies when you are pregnant
• chemist - good as you just have to give out medicines all day
• teacher - you can sit down all lot and just give out number work

think she seemed to believe artist would be the best option!