What did you do when your children were young?

[Daisy]

Reading about GrannyJules' DD's new job got me wondering what we all did when our own children were young, say under 11? Did you work (full or part-time) or were you at home, or studying?

[Oma]

I worked shift work in Supermarkets , one week I worked Mornings next week afternoons , With Both Children I stayed at home while they were very small then went back to work when they went to nursery , There was 8 years between my two

[grannyjules]

I started working the "Twilight" shift at Asda when the girls were 2/3. Hubby would come in the door just before 7pm and I would be on the doorstep to take the car keys off him, like a relay baton. Gosh those were the days.
When they went to school I changed shifts and worked over lunch in the new Morrisons which was closer.

[Nanto2girls]

I stayed at home when ours were little.
Didn't go back to work until the early 90's.
Worked in a special needs school,until it closed in 2001.

[Gemini]

When DD1 was a baby I sometimes did a little work for the theatre my then OH worked at. Bits of costume ironing, just stuff I could do without leaving the baby, as we knew no one in Sussex.

After that I didn't work until DD2 was 4. We had moved to York by then, and I got job at the local playgroup. I stayed there many years, taking courses and becoming supervisor. I then, when DD3 was about 5, got a job at a leisure centre in town, in the creche, where I stayed for 12 years. I worked in other creches, and as a classroom assistant for a few years. All my jobs pretty much fitted in with school hours, which was important to me. I cut down my playgroup hours to one day for a few years when DD3 came along, and mum had her the day I worked for that period.

I also did a biology O level when DDs1 and 2 were small. I was considering retraining to be a midwife and had no science O level. (I got an A so felt proud of myself )
The year after I did a Sociology O level, just for fun, having enjoyed getting back to learning. I started an English Lit A level the following year, but then I got the playgroup job, couldn't easily fit it all in, so gave that up.

Interesting topic, Daisy!

[Daisy]

Interesting topic, Daisy!

Gem - and interesting replies. Well done on your Grade A.


I worked in some form or other for most of the time. When DS1 was born I was self-employed - I ran an employment agency. I was able to fit in working the 'core' hours of the day because my mum lived with us and was able to look after baby for a few hours a day. It wasn't ideal and I do think I missed out a bit on his babyhood.

Then we moved from north to south with OH's job and lived in a fairly isolated village. I volunteered at the village playgroup and chaired the committee that ran it. I had done some teaching at evening classes before I was married and enjoyed it. So I started studying to get better qualifications. The course was one day a week, and I used the college's creche or mum had DS1, and by then DS2. I did all my studying after the children were in bed at night, so it fitted in quite well.

Then we were moved again, and knowing I needed more qualifications I went to the local college to see what courses they offered. What they offered me was a teaching job - full-time! I negotiated a 9-3 timetable, which worked with picking DS2 up from playgroup at lunch-time and DS1 from school, and of course I was home for the holidays.

Then we moved again, and I did a mixture of teaching and studying plus helping out at both the boys' schools. It didn't even seem busy at the time!

By the time we moved here DS2 was 9 and I was offered a full-time job at the local college, plus they gave me a day off a week to do my Cert Ed and a degree.

I think I was very lucky to have found a career in teaching because it worked so well with the children - I never knew what time OH would be home from work, so sharing child care was never an option.

[Plantaholic]

I didn't work until DS was at school and DD was at playgroup. Was offered a job at the playgroup and this I did until I was pregnant again. Unfortunately the new baby wasn't to be and she died full term. We were anxious to move again and finished up in our my present home. As I didn't know anyone in the village, I got a job as a playground assistant at the local middle school and was then offered a job as a teaching assistant mainly art, needlework and cookery. I worked at the school for 30 years, it fitted in with the school holidays and OH was a University Lecturer.

[Gemini]

I think I was very lucky to have found a career in teaching because it worked so well with the children - I never knew what time OH would be home from work, so sharing child care was never an option.

Daisy it was a regret of mine for many years that I didn't go into teaching. My OH worked long hours and away often so like you sharing childcare was not an option for me either.

[Daisy]

Gem - I'm sure you would have been a wonderful teacher, but in those days it was very hard for women to get back into training - there weren't many options back then. I was lucky I taught in a subject area where there was always a shortage of teachers and where there were multiple routes into the profession. My original career choice was pharmacy, but by the time I was 16 I'd had enough of school and wanted to be out in the big wide world.

[Grauntie Mag]

I didn’t work again until the girls were at Secondary school, then I did hairdressing at local nursing homes. I also worked as a teaching assistant for a couple of terms, but I didn’t really enjoy it.
I have always done some kind of voluntary work though. I consider myself lucky that I didn’t have to work when I see how hard my DDs work now just to get by.

[Gemini]

I agree Grauntie.
Although many of us worked for at least some of our children's childhoods, I expect not many of us worked full time and had to return to work as quickly as the majority of mothers today do.
Both my DD's are lucky in that they could afford to A take a fully year maternity leave (although as it is their own business, DD2 didn't actually do this) and B work part time. So many mums don't have these options.
None of my friends worked full time when their children were small, not until they reached secondary school, if at all. Today the mums who don't work, and I do know of a couple, are very much in the minority.

[Daisy]

Gem - I agree. I was very much in the minority being a working mum, and there were certainly no concessions in terms of parental leave etc.

[Gemini]

It can't have been easy Daisy.

[Daisy]

I didn't think about it at the time - I just got on with doing whatever. I had several breaks - every time we moved house, but surprisingly I was never out of work for more than part of a term.

[Gemini]

I forgot to mention that I also was on committees when the children were young, and for some years ran the local branch of the toy library, voluntarily. We have done a lot whilst bringing up the next generation, haven't we