Monday 26 January 2009

Ponderings

I've been reading Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck and finding much help and comfort. I've read quite a lot of self-development books and have found a fair proportion of them annoying due to the author adopting a smug and superior tone, but I really like Martha's way of writing. She's funny, and reveals wry stories of how she has failed and achieved in her own life, which make you feel that she's a friend who really understands.
As a result of reading and thinking and thinking some more, I've come up with some thoughts for possible future careers, and one I'm really interested in researching right now is antenatal teaching. The largest organisation that does this seems to be the NCT (National Childbirth Trust). They seem to be an organisation that some people have some issues with, and I must admit that I have never been involved with them having found them, on a short acquaintance some years ago in a different town, a bit snooty. Anyway, I'm thinking about it as I think it might be something I'd enjoy, the only current stumbling block is the training - finding money for it and also the fact that it involves a couple of residential weekends. Both these issues mean it's out of the question right now, but I suppose both could be got around with some planning.
We are now a couple of weeks into our 'experiment' of having no-one in the house with a full-time job and it does seem to be releasing us both to think about what we'd really like to do and how we might go about that. I feel the creativity is flowing in the house much better than it has for months. If only we were independently wealthy and could drift around like this indefinitely, it's so nice having my husband around all the time. The kids are really benefiting too.

4 comments:

Joxy34 said...

Check with your HV and local PCT too, because some areas are offering free training because it helps with their targets for in areas of bfing/antenatal/postnatal care etc.. and once they have trained you, you're a free resource.

Liz said...

Only if you want to do it on a volunteer basis round here sadly, and though in an ideal world I'd love to be able to do that, in reality I need to be paid for my time :(

Michelle said...

I'm sure the way it works in our area is that antenatal teachers can get funding for the course and they are paid for the courses they teach. I know the breastfeeding counselling is volunteer but from when I was antenatal booking co-ordinator last year I am sure antenatal teachers are paid positions. I don't know if this varies from branch to branch though.

Liz said...

Yeah, the NCT training, as long as you can get funding from your individual branch is subsidised (not free though) and you get paid per class. My previous answer was to Joxy's comment about getting the training free through the local PCT - they aren't offering it here. The only free training I've found in my area is the more informal training which you can use in volunteer positions.
It's all very complicated and really irritating that it varies so much from area to area. makes gettig info really tricky.