A Mothers Work Meme

This is a spooky one, I favourited mother.wife.me’s post over the weekend and now the ever so lovely MummyGlitzer has tagged me to take part too.

So, lets start with the rules:

Post the rules.
Answer the questions in as much or as little detail as suits you.
Leave a comment on mother.wife.me so we can keep track of the meme.
Tag 3 people and link them to your blog.
Let them know you’ve tagged them.
Tweet loudly about taking part (well OK, that isn’t a rule but how about if we start a hashtag – #amothersworkmeme).

Questions:

Did you work before becoming a mum?

Yes. When I was at school I had a variety of weekend / holiday jobs including paper rounds, cafe work and BHS. At 16 I joined Tesco on their checkouts whilst studying for my A-Levels and sort of just stayed! I had Abbey at 18, so a job with Tesco suited me and I then took part in their management training course and went on to become a Customer Service & Checkout Manager. I stayed with them until 2005 and then I decided I wanted a change of direction and began working for an American Investment Bank as a Client Service Supervisor for FX and Options.

What is your current situation?

I left the bank in December 2011 and am now setting up as a childminder as we could not afford to have two under 4’s in childcare. I am almost there – just waiting my certificates and have my first child booked in from mid April! I never thought I would enjoy staying at home, as have always been fairly career orientated, but I love it!

Freestyle: Got you own point you’d like to get across about this issue? Well, here’s your chance…

I understand that the government have to make cutbacks, but they are currently penalising those who have worked bloody hard to get to a decent job. We are no longer entitled to any help with childcare costs and it makes it an unworkable situation. If childcare places were automatically offered free for so many hours for children from the age of 1, I am sure more people would work and would be less stressed.

I also feel that the hours of childcare available often don’t fit in with modern jobs. Pretty much all retail jobs now expect you to work at least one weekend day and many require evening hours too. That is why I am offering weekend and evening childcare! I also feel that requiring a deposit of 4 weeks in advance is unrealistic too, especially when many parents have been out of work.

Now its my turn to nominate………. I choose you:

@cherylp59

@Eliza_Do_Lots

@JessieMiller1