photo credit: paper or plastic?

Are you looking for a job or employment or just a great moneymaking opportunity? Your reason could be any of the following:

• You have been laid off or retrenched and currently unemployed
• You are a stay-at-home parent and wish to find a part time or full time job to supplement the household income
• You have a job but you wish to find other sources of income (create multiple streams of income)
• You are a recent graduate and you want to do something while searching for a suitable job
• You are a graduate but find it difficult to find employment and hence you plan to start something on your own
• You hate your current job and wish to look for an alternative work

Whatever your reason is, finding a job in this current economic downturn may not be easy. Being jobless when you need the income is no laughing matter. This is where the list of suggestions below may be helpful to you. The ideas below will give you a wide range of choices to choose from. The hardest part could be deciding which job; task or activity suits you and fits into your family life.

I am unable to give a detail description for each of them in this post, as it would take pages and pages to cover all of them. For subscribers of the WParent blog newsletter,I will provide the job description for free upon request. You may send me a message requesting for the job description at jacquelyn@wparent.com. Please select any 3 of the moneymaking ideas below that you are interested in and I will give a reply soonest. However, I will not entertain request from non-subscribers, as you have to be a subscriber to request for the information.

photo credit: tanakawho

• Offer services:

Babysitting, childcare, companion to the elderly, house-sitting, pet sitting, personal shopper (e.g. clothes, groceries), new parent helper (this is common in Malaysia), house cleaning, office cleaning, window washing, laundry service, carpet cleaning, car washing, rubbish removal, driving services, moving services, sewing services (e.g. curtains, clothing), cooking services (e.g. for working people, the elderly), grass cutting/gardening (tree or shrub pruning), house painting, catering, baking, handy person/handy man (e.g. repair, maintenance), computer services (e.g. computer repair, maintenance, website design), tour guide, newspaper delivery

photo credit: nertzy

• Teaching:

Art teacher, music teacher, dance teacher, academic tutoring, cooking teacher, carpentry teacher, sewing teacher, self-defense teacher, sports teacher (e.g. soccer, football, swimming, tennis), crafts teacher (e.g. candle making, soap making, basket weaving), fitness trainer, cake making or decorating

photo credit: bald_eagle89

• Small businesses (stand/cart/kiosk):

Vending machine, food stand, ice-cream stand, cake stand, snack or fruit stand, hot dog cart, popcorn or candy stand, handicrafts stand, T-shirt stand, toy stand, jewelry stand, book stand, secondhand stuffs stand, party organizer, photography, writing (e.g. ebook, books, articles), eBay business or other internet business (e.g. blog, website,internet marketing, MLM, affiliate programs)

photo credit: Doonvas

Successful people duplicate their business ideas and expand them. Eventually, they offer the same business opportunity to other people through franchising. The above are some of the ideas that you can look into. I am sure you can come up with more ideas of your own. Please add your ideas below if you do not mind to share them here.

Every parent has different views on how to instill the sense of responsibility in their children. Below are some common helpful suggestions on where to start in your journey of teaching your child to be a responsible person. You may have heard the saying ‘It is better to start teaching them when they are still young’, may ring true in this matter.

House chores

The first place to start is you can ask your kids to do house chores. You can make it enjoyable by doing the chores with them and make it into a fun game. At the same time, you will be spending quality time with them. Common chores are like setting the table, washing the dishes, washing and waxing the car, mowing the lawn and putting away the laundry.

Family business or part-time job

If the family has a business, a store, a workshop, a farm, a fruit orchard, etc., you can ask the child (if he is old enough) to help out. You can also encourage him to do part-time work in his spare time. However, the work should not interfere with school work or school activities.

Volunteer work

Another approach is by encouraging them to participate in a volunteer program or it could also be a church related youth program or activity. It would be good if you are also participating in some way to lead by example first.

Participate in school

Your child can also learn about responsibilities in school. Taking up a special or active role in school, for example as the school librarian, school monitor or prefect, etc. will help your child to develop this area much faster.

Personally, I have started my kids in doing some simple house chores and also encourage them to take active roles in school. In doing so, I have taken some steps to develop their sense of responsibilities.