Family-friendly job?
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
Forum Description: For mums, dads, parents-to-be, grandparents, friends -- you name it! And you name the topic you want to chat about!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=22077
Printed Date: 08 May 2026 at 3:24pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Family-friendly job?
Posted By: busymum
Subject: Family-friendly job?
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:17pm
|
What would your ideal family-friendly job be? A job-share in an office, typing/sales work from home, hospitality industry (e.g. owning a motel)....?? -------------  |
Replies:
Posted By: Brenna
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:19pm
I've just secured mine - job share teaching position. Lots of time off for holidays as well as a nice balance between work/home during the term 
|
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:30pm
|
Ideal?? Self employed. Either as a conveyancer, or as a property developer (buy crap houses, renovate, sell again). I'm starting on my Diploma to be able to do the first one in Feb next year. The second one needs lots of money LOL
Other than that...some kind of office job - not admin though, more management or insurance underwriting etc. |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:40pm
|
Kate by conveyancer do you mean lawyer, real estate agent or legal exec? (Just curious!) ------------- |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:46pm
|
I worked in hospo for a million years after I got out of hairdressing...it is the LEAST family friendly occupation. Granted, I was a chef, but if you do hotel/motel management etc, it is 24/7, people are, um, strange, and filty dirty people when not intheir own homes, you work when people are on holidays (Christmas, summer, long weekends) it is difficult to get staff to cover these times, so you end up doing them, um, lots of other reasons why I would say if this was a plan, do it when the children are WAAAY bigger.
Job share of some kind? I would have thought something in admin etc that meant monday to friday, no stat days, no weekends and normal hours? ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:51pm
|
Job sharing in admin would be mine. I actually like my job at the moment, who I work for a very family friendly (well the units I work for are, even if the army as a whole isn't) as they all have young children as well so understand children get sick etc. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:55pm
|
I work in admin and yup once kids are at school its very family friendly, especially if you can get school hours, Mon-Fri, get the weekend and public holidays off, and its the type of work that will fit in really well with flexible working arrangements.
My cousin is admin at her sons school, think that would be the best family friendly job. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 8:58pm
| Teresa - conveyancer, another thing entirely!! I'm already a legal exec, but you can't have your own firm as a legal exec. With the new Act (Lawyers and Conveyancers Act) registered conveyancers can set up their own practice dealing solely with conveyancing. The NZLS and other associated parties have FINALLY come to an agreement about the study needed to graduate as a conveyancer, and then you have to do 3 years practice before you can open your practice (same as what a lawyer has to do before they can go out on their own). The Diploma in Conveyancing is finally available from Feb 09 and is 2 years of fulltime study, with some cross credits available for legal execs. It gives those who want to deal only with conveyancing an opportunity to progress past the legal exec stage, without having to attend Uni and get a law degree. I've been waiting for it to come out for 2 years now LOL |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 9:15pm
| Mine is teaching. I get a LOT of sick days (about one wwas used on me!), and at a pinch, I can bring the kids to school (which i have done once - Taine LOVES coming in). I think it is coupled with having a great boss though. |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 9:27pm
|
I totally agree, while the Army isn't all that family friendly as a whole different units and managers are different. Nigel's direct boss isn't family friendly as she doesn't have family but his bosses up the chain are great with family stuff. As are my direct bosses in the bosses in the units I work in - very family focused. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
lizzle wrote:Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 30 October 2008 at 10:27pm
| my added bonus was being able to teach the students about the perils of being young parent, by having Taine have an enormous tantrum in the middle of the school. I called it "birth control" |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 7:30pm
ROFL Liz!!!!  ------------- |
Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 7:49pm
| Teaching in a shared role, pref 3 days a week instead of a morning/arvo split, but they are next to impossible to come by in Chch unless you know everyone at every single school (as they don't legally need to advertise). |
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 7:53pm
|
There's a girl who used to work in my Office who left to have children. She pops back in on a casual basis whenever there's too much work on. I always thought she was onto a very good thing - she can work the hours she wants, when she wants, and because she's so good at what she does even if she can't make it from time to time, my boss will always ask her again.
Of course, like I said, it probably helps that she's really good at the job as well as just being a nice person! Good to see that that pays off sometimes tho  -------------   
|
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 8:22pm
|
I am in my ideal family friendly job atm. Small business- 5 women and all have kids, 3 of us with under 2's, great boss, flexiable hrs (I basically got to pick what days & hrs I wanted to work and if I want to work some extra days I can) and the ability to do some work from home in the evenings if I want to get a bit of extra money. And only 15 mins drive from home. Plus I actually enjoy the work (well most of time, it is still work). ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 8:46pm
|
What type of work do you do?
Certainly sound like great working arrangements. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 9:25pm
|
When (IF) I go back to work, i will go back to admin, definately. Hopefully back to my old job... They will hopefully offer it to me first everytime it comes up.. well, that was the "agreement" we had, however one or both of us migh tchange our minds.
At this stage, i can't see me going back to work, but we will need a bigger house in about 7 years? so I may have to then! ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: Neeks
Date Posted: 31 October 2008 at 10:15pm
|
Buy an old derelict hotel, give it a make over and running our games which a character based murder mystery types for whole weekends and sometimes even weeks from the same location and living on site when they aren't going on... have open nights where we do meals and shows (if not both) and charge a cover fee -------------  
|
Posted By: 11111
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 8:44am
|
early childhood teaching. would be mine, but not having my diploma mean's I would have to study we well not sure I could cope with that. ------------- Deborah Mum to:   
|
Posted By: baalamb
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 9:54am
|
I'm in admin/customer service but I have shifts on the weekend and evenings. I love that the hours don't change from week to week so I can plan things, and my weekday shifts are from 3pm for 4 hours Mon-Wed. I still get to spend a really decent amount of time with Ashlee during the week and weekends. Our department is small (about 8 women?) and our boss is pretty good and understanding and I'm not complaining about the money, either! The actual work can sometimes get a bit mundane but the best thing is, it doesn't come home with me.
My job and hours are ideal for our current family situation and probably up until baby #2 is ready for daycare, kindy or school. When that time arrives, I'll be looking elsewhere for school-friendly hours if they can't offer me any such thing where I'm currently working. I really want to be at home for the kids after school. I'll likely look for office type jobs with minimal customer service! I'm so done with customer service. |
Posted By: Kels
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 11:09am
|
plunket nursing suits me and my family. I am able to choose days and times to suit. LOVE IT! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Busy mum to Miss 15yrs, Miss 10yrs and Master 4yrs |
Posted By: james
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 11:38am
ditto butterflymum am hopeing to start next year ------------- <a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/nLJ5p13.png" alt="Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a> |
Posted By: Mum2ET
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:02pm
|
my job is a bit of mix bag. I do some product development work on Christmas product , have been setting up an online retail store and a bit of account management. ------------- Mum to Ella (5) and Tom (2) |
Posted By: emz
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 12:52pm
| I would highly recommend never owning a small hotel or motel. Worked at one for a few years and my bosses never got a break, or when they did they had to pay someone to come in and look after the place. Not to mention you're working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week (kind of like motherhood, but less rewarding lol) |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 2:50pm
|
What about family businesses? Do any of you like that kind of idea?
Is owing rental properties almost as stressful as owing a motel? ------------- |
Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 3:04pm
|
Probably not your thing, but I think farming is up there. I grew up on a farm, and we did so much as a family - and learnt how to work hard as well! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 3:10pm
|
I actually quite like segmenting work life from family life so for me the ultimate family-friendly job is one that respects that I have two roles.
I get to go to work, be challenged, have intelligent conversations with adults and get paid then I get to come home and be 100% focused on family life. There is very little overflow between the two roles in the job I currently have. I start and finish early which gives me more time with the kids. I also work very close to home which means I could go home or meet them for lunch and I don't waste a lot of time travelling. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: Hopes
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 3:19pm
|
I grew up on a farm too, Becs, and wish there was a way to bring our kids up on one. I reckon we got to spend more time with Dad than we would have otherwise, because we'd go out on the farm with him. At least our kids will have both sets on grandparents on farms to visit. -------------
|
Posted By: Mikaela
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 7:51pm
|
I think mine is pretty perfect! I write for a website focussing on discounted kids designer clothes called http://www.kidstylefile.com.au/ - KidStyleFile and it means that I can:
a) Work in my own time, like when Alex is asleep, so I get to hang out with him the rest of the time b) Work in my PJs or oldest trackie daks and it doesn't matter if I have huge bags on my eyes if I've been up with Alex at night
and c) Spend lots of time oggling gorgeous kids clothes and toys and getting them at discounts - which I never get tired of! It helps that my boss rocks too, she's so understanding if I have any problems. ------------- http://www.bump-and-beyond.com"> 
|
Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 9:39pm
Oh yes, hun, oh yes. Even if you go through a rental agency, there is still the worry of "bad" tennants - you know, not just wreckers, but ones who don't pay their rent, smoke inside regardless of what your rules are. Plus there is the money you spend on getting the place back up to scratch in between tennants if previous ones left the place a shambles - agencies are not always that good with that stuff,. also you need to cover your mortgage in between times as well, so if you have a week or so in between tennants, or have to have major repairs done, you are covering those costs yourself. ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: Red
Date Posted: 01 November 2008 at 10:35pm
| Yep owning rentals can be rather stressful, esp when you have had a run of bad tenants who don't think that they should pay their rent! |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 8:06am
|
i would never own rentals. I have seen both my in-laws and my parents have huge problems with tenants. My mum's house had an inspection beore the tenants moved out - she failed to notice a bloody great hole in a wall. one that you could walk through to the next room. And the tenants broke into the shed and stole all sorts of crap.
And hate to admit it - as a renter - but we have a lot more rights than the landlord it seems. When our last landlord was selling the place we could refuse open homes (which we did), not let them come in unless we were home (which we did) and all sorts of stuff....they ended up waiting until our contract was up and then put it on the market. |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 7:48pm
|
T-Rex, I was going to mention farming too but forgot LOL
Thanks everyone for your replies, I was really just curious... I like my job (office work, 35 hours btwn 8.30am and 4pm) but sometimes DH and I talk about whether it would be possible to have more family time, even if it was via a family business. Seems we've probably got it as good as any though! ------------- |
Posted By: jaz
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 7:53pm
|
At least when you come home Theresa your time with family is your time. You don't have to keep working. Once the children get older they will be up later and a 4pm finish will be great. At the moment it is probably a little hard because they go to bed early so you probably don't feel like you have a lot of family time. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: miss
Date Posted: 02 November 2008 at 11:16pm
|
Relief teaching with one fixed day a week to tied me over financially through the holidays. Lily comes to school with me (awesome boss) so that's cool.
Businesses tend to take up a lot more time than you can imagine. there have been some great articles in Next magazine over the last few months about it if you are considering a business, you could read them at the library,. -------------  
|
Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 03 November 2008 at 8:02am
|
I worked for a family owned business, and the husband was always at work! Not sure how family friendly it is. He did have his teenage sons work for him, so that may be one thing.
Didn't have weekends off though. IMHO office work offers the most flexibility for the $$. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 03 November 2008 at 9:56am
Tennants suck! Our first ones got so bad at paying rent at one stage they even asked us if we could cover them for a few weeks- OMG we have a mortgage to pay  , the second ones did heaps of damage, nothing major but it all costs, then the skipped the country so we have had to pay for it all,..the current ones have only been in a month and we get calls most days to come and do something,...grr,..SO DONT DO IT!!
My ideal job would be a nursing job that is 9-5pm 2 days a week- I found the prefect job 2 weeks ago but didfnt get it , bugger! |