Transitioning Out Of Daycare, How Do You Stay Current?

[jojosmommy]

I have always known daycare in my home would not be my lifetime profession. I plan to be home until next year but wouldnt be opposed to being home 3 more years until my daughter goes to school too.

I am a licensed teacher with some family law background as well. As we go through the last year before my son is in school full time, both my husband and I are talking about what steps I should be taking to make myself desirable in the workforce outside of my home.

What do you do to stay current if you are one of those who knows this isnt a lifetime profession?

[butterfly]

I was a licensed optician before starting daycare. At this point, I have no plans to stop doing daycare, but I have kept up on my CE credits to keep my optician license current. I wanted to be able to fall back on that if the time came to close my daycare.

[MyAngels]

What do you plan on doing once you're done? I would probably start looking into some classes having to do with the current trends in whatever field you're going to pursue. Maybe you could also look into joining a professional organization having to do with your field to begin networking as well.

[permanentvacation]

You said you are a licensed teacher. Can you begin a tutoring service after your daycare hours and on the weekends? If so, you can use that as a reference and recent teaching experience on a resume for a teaching position when you decide to close your daycare and go out to work. Are you able to teach an arts and crafts class or some other topic and start a business doing that on Saturdays?

Family law... hmm, I don't really know of law firms that are open in the evenings or weekends, but maybe you can look around to try to find a lawyer's office that has hours that you can get a part-time job at.

To keep current in a different field while doing daycare, I would suggest doing things in that field on a consistent basis and keep a record and reliable references of whatever you do in that field to put on a resume. Some ideas are taking college classes (credit or non-credit whichever would suit your needs best), or classes that are not through the college, but through the community and offer certificates of participation to prove that you gained more knowledge in that field, volunteering, getting a part-time job, and starting a part-time business in that field.