Working outside of home

Am I crazy to want to go back to working with children in a preschool setting?
Really want to do something to help with the income of the household?

I would. Apart from the fact that after a child-centred life as a mum & teacher I’ve now kind of gone off rug rats. But if that’s what you want, why not?

I guess you’re thinking infection risk. Do you tend to get everything that’s going or are you one of the many on biologics who sails through? If the latter, don’t hold back!

Not crazy at all. Especially if you are able to do a half day program instead of full day. I’m back to working more hours outside of the house. The advantage that I have is I schedule my own hours, so that helps.

Nope, not crazy at all. If, like Stoney (and me), you can find something where you can schedule your own hours, and it won’t be a disaster if you have to reschedule occasionally when you get a flare, that is ideal. Otherwise regular part-time may work too. Full time 8-5 hours are hard enough to do for a healthy person, so it is probably worth easing in first.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about the infection risk - lots of us had PsA and were on biologics with our own kids going to pre-school and bringing everything home anyway, I’m not sure there’s much difference. If you are concerned about this, just do your research on the specific illnesses that can interact, depending on your meds (eg chickenpox and anti-TNF), and let your employer know that there is no limitation, but it is essential you are told straight away if one of those viruses gets identified. I even did this with the kindy service that my child attended (yes - we had a scare, two kids with chickenpox in my childs class - no I didn’t get chicken pox, and neither did any of the adult carers at the kindy).

I would go mad without some sort of work - and if it is something you enjoy, that sense of achievement can give a real lift to the rest of your life as well :slight_smile:

Not at all. I’d struggle with the physicality of working with small children though. I can sit on the floor but it’s hard to get up again!