How Can I Find a Home Base Job.

Wait, you are a single parent who quit your job so you could be a stay at home parent? Did you not think this through? What do you plan to tell the prospective employer? I had a job but quit to take care of my baby now I want you to hire me to work at home while I take care of my baby because I have no money. Sorry, doesn't work that way.

I am confused... how are you paying your bills right now? If I were a single mom and the only source of income, I wouldn't be quitting my job without another one. Stay at home parents USUALLY have a spouse that can cover the bills, and then some. What you did sounds pretty irresponsible and not fair to your child.

ETA - I answered based R.'s ORIGINAL post, which left out a plethora of important details. When you tell a group of moms you don't know, that you left a good paying, stable job and don't mention any source of income, it's natural for us to be concerned about your child. Please remember how important it is to give as much info as possible, to avoid confusion.

I am sorry you didn't like the responses you received. It has nothing to do with negativity, you received realistic answers from realistic moms. Of course it is important to be optimistic but if you want to come here and post a question with the expectations of everything being roses and rainbows you need to get real. Wouldn't you prefer the truth which sometimes hurts, vs everyone just lie to you and blow smoke up your rear? Your child needs your support financially and emotionally and deserves a stable home.

You changed your post from the original posting. In case others look, they ned to know you originally asked about working from home while you were a day care for your child plus other children.

Grow up.

********************************************************************************

Original response below:

Do you really think someone will pay you while you watch your children and other people's children?

Working from home is just that.... WORK. Most jobs you find that are work from home are filled with people who have already worked at an establishment, demonstrated self discipline, self motivation and if children are in the house, they go to day care because you cannot efficiently work and watch children at the same time.

Now you'll get hit up with all the MLM/direct sales, etc and be asked to join their team and even then, you have to pay to sign up (you have no money to do that), have endless parties and houd every aquaintance you know to buy from you and sign up under you.

Why on earth did you leave a good paying job and not have anything lined up for yourself.

I seriously hope you can get your old job back and get your child into daycare until you are financially on your feet. Your baby needs your support. You need to think in reality.

Best wishes.

R.:

WELCOME TO MAMAPEDIA!!!

Sorry to see that you are already disappointed in this site. You will get all types of responses here. I've not read ahead on the responses but here goes my answer. This is MY opinion. You don't like it? Sorry. it's called an opinion for a reason.

WOW!! You must have some sort of savings in order to quit your job in order to stay home with your child!!

You say "SHAME ON YOU"? I say SHAME ON YOU!!! You are a SINGLE mother. Where's the daddy? What's his role in his child's life?

What example are you setting for your son? I mean really. in a 2 parent home, one can stay home - got that - but in an single parent home? Girl you must've won the lottery or have GREAT child support in order to stay home and not work.

Home based businesses? Well, there are a lot of scams out there. And I will tell you this. There is NOT a company out there that will pay you to stay home with your kid. You will be WORKING - they will expect you to be a professional. How can you translate your previous experience to a work from home job? Not sure. But I'm sure there are ways to do it.

I know that if you worked for me? I would expect you to be working. Not on the floor playing with your kid, vacuuming, washing dishes, doing laundry....that is a common misconception about working from home....many people believe that they can have their kids with them and "it will be okay"...

If you can transcribe or data entry - you might be able to do it after your son is asleep for the night....just keep in mind they will be paying for attention to detail and timeliness.

GOOD LUCK!!!

The only actual home based jobs I know of that work are:

1) start your own business (you could baby sit or produce something people are willing to buy)

or

2) work a desk work job for a company for several years until they trust you enough to let you do it from home - not easy to find - and there are still quite a few managers who don't believe any work gets done unless they can stand over you and watch you do it.

You need some income - you have a child to raise.
Can you get some child support from your son's father?
Try to find another job.
Hopefully you have some family nearby that will help you with child care.

Hi R.,

Good for you for staying home with your child! I had to go back to work when my daughter was little, but by the time she started Kindergarten, my husband and I had to figure out a way one of us could stay home.

That was the year we finally found out she had Sensory Processing Disorder--so she was special needs (which we knew already, we just didn't know what she had!). She'd already been going to doctor visits, specialists visits, extra OT/PT visits, not to mention my own dr visits--and then there was going to be the days off school, the days she'd end up home being sick, the winter break and spring break vacations, etc.

My husband was in sales at the time, and there was no way I could count on him to be around to take time off work for any of that stuff. Plus, my job paid for day care, health insurance for me and my daughter (my husband worked for a self-insured company that, if you worked somewhere that offered health insurance, you had to take that over his company's insurance), my parking spot at the university, and my 401k. After that, there was no extra money. So staying home, not paying for health ins (went on husband's), day care, a parking spot--well, let's just say, it was tight, but doable.

That was 7 years ago. My staying home was the best thing we could have ever done for my daughter. Her anxiety level went down, she concentrated better on her homework, knowing that I was always there/around, and we were able to concentrate on therapy for her SPD.

What it came down to was deciding which of us--me or my husband--had a skill that could be used/turned into a work-at-home job. I have been involved with writing and national writing organizations since 1993; I have a BA in history, Spanish, and German. My husband has a BBS in business/accounting. He has worked in industrial engineering, HVAC, electrical, energy conservation, and commercial/industrial construction; he had/has the potential to make the money to support the family.

So it was decided that I would stay home with our daughter, take her to her doctor appts/help her with her SPD, and start my own company. I have had a contract freelance editorial business now for 7 years; I work as a content editor for an e-publishing company editing fiction books and as a proofreader for a small book publisher (again, fiction books), specialty romance books.

It doesn't bring in a lot of money, but it has allowed me to stay home with my daughter and has given my husband free rein to keep developing his specific areas of interest and continue moving up/around and getting into higher positions with different companies around the region. Working/owning my own business also lets me put on a resume that I've been working since I've been home with my daughter--a big, big plus.

Can you take any of the knowledge you gleaned/used in the medical settings you've worked in and turn them into a home-based business, or maybe into contract work? I know there is WPS, a health insurance company in my town, where you can train for 6 months at their headquarters and then, when the training period it over, you can do the work from home. However, that is an actual job; if you did something like that, you would need to dedicate specific hours every day as well as either having your son in daycare and/or having someone come to your house to watch him. Maybe. It depends on what you're doing. If all you're doing is inputting on the computer, if he were older and could entertain himself, then that could work.

It isn't easy finding something that can be done from home that can also be done around childcare/raising your child. I like contract work because I do the work at my own pace; I also didn't start my company until she entered kindergarten/started school. My daughter is now in the 7th grade. I try to get my work done during the day, so I have evenings and weekends open for family. However, there have been many times when a book has got to get edited and I'm working nights/and or weekends. But I can shift/move around when I work, when I run errands, etc. So there are many, many variables to look at.

Where my parents live, there used to be a company that had a program where you could count rebates (they were a rebate center) and you got paid for so many hundreds or thousands of rebates you counted and batched. There are some companies out there who usually use the handicapped to stuff envelopes for companies doing mass mailings; sometimes they'll allow people to do this in their homes. A small town by us has a mass-market flower company that, about 3-4 times a year, looks for extra people to come in and put together flower arrangements (think Valentine's Day, Sweetheart Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving--big-time events where flowers are bought/given). I did that for a while. However, in order to make the big bucks/hr, you had to put in a lot of hours. That one you would have to go there and do the arrangements at the warehouse, so you'd have to have someone watch your son. But if you did well and they liked you and your work, you could get on the roster for when they needed extra help.

Really, seriously, you just need to start looking around your community and find out what type of work is out there and get your name out there as looking for part-time, fill-in help. Pretty much any type of job you'd do from your home will involve you leaving your home to go do it (I'm thinking selling, like Longaberger, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, etc.) unless you have something specifically set up that you can actually do from home.

I'd look at your job skills, then look at what would be marketable that might have a potential to be a work-at-home situation, then find out how you can make that happen. While I love editing, at the moment I'm looking at additional ways I can bring in income and have started looking at other things I can learn to take classes and get accrediated for (at the moment, I'm looking into a possible herbal clinician class I can take to help people with natural ways of healing themselves; it's a 3-year program. Now I just have to decide if I can afford to do it).

Good luck!

It's wonderful you want to be there for your child. This is such an important time developmentally for your baby to continue bonding with you. My sisters were recently talking about medical transcribing, I believe if they were correct it's something you can get a license for and do in your home. Best of luck!

With your medical background what about insurance work, my sister in law has worked for an insurance co from home for years handling claims or something. She works three days a week. Also maybe medical transcriptionist-- typing medical records?
Good luck and great decision to stay home. My husband died when I had my first child and I stayed home. Didn't care what anybody thought. Good luck.

WOW, R. I have to side with you on the crappy and judgemental responses !! But, I will also say that once someone called me on the carpet about a response that I made and when I re-read it I was like damn that was not at all what I meant.

I don't know what your circumstance is but, in home childcare is a great option, sales another, also I have a very good friend that has a business that provides in home visits and care for the elderly. It is time consuming but she can be home with her special needs child.

I hope you find what you need. And you know what....if you are doing what is best, screw the haters!!!!

Something that might work for you is to work at night while your baby is sleeping. Could the baby's dad or grandparents keep the baby while he is sleeping? Then you wouldn't have the cost of childcare. I applaud you for wanting to be home with your baby. If you could move in with your parents or the baby's grandparents, that would also save you rent, utilities, etc. It might not sound ideal. Right now, however, the most important thing is that you are with your baby during his waking hours.

All of the home-based jobs I know that pay enough for a single mom would require you to work a lot of hours without interruption, so daytime hours would probably not work for you. Young children need almost non-stop care to tend to their needs, play with them, read to them, console them when they are sad, keep them from hurting themselves, etc. My (single) mom used to work nights when I was a young and she had a live-in college student who stayed with us while she went to work. But money was tight as she had to pay the house payment and all the bills. I have a sister-in-law who works at night and her husband works days so one of them is always with the kids.

Good luck to you.