Would you recommend nursing to your daughter?

Nurses General Nursing

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My daughter is 17 and graduating this spring and plans on going to college this fall. She has expressed a desire to go into nursing but I really have a problem encouraging her to do this. I don't know if it is just the mother in me that wants her to go on to something else or if I just don't want to see her emptying bedpans and taking the crap we have to. She is so young and shy I am afraid she will be eaten alive. AM I being to overprotective or should I be more supportive and encourage her even if I think it is a mistake?

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

My daughter let me know as soon as she was old enough to talk that being a nurse was gross and she would not ever consider it. She got a BS in Human Ecology (Formerly known as Home EC) The girl can't boil an egg properly, hates to clean, etc....she's working in a bank making $12.00 an hour. She plans to try to find something else once the baby is born. The Dollar General corporate office is just miles from her home, they have wonderful in house childcare, great benefits. Her minor was in fashion merchandising and will try to go at that angle. I would have liked it had she become a nurse. I think nursing pays well and is very flexible for a working mother. I would discourage her from doing med/surg more than a year or two. Her husband would love to go back to school to be an RN. He's has a culinary degree and is a chef. Go figure!

My son, a senior, thinks he may want to be a Dermatoligist. Music to my ears, pain to my bank account.

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i would never encourage my child to go into nursing. if he/she brought it up i would make sure they were fully informed and have them check out other career options. especially the therapies if part of the interest was in "helping people".

if they were adamant, i'd give support, of course. then years later i could say "i told you so!!" lol! just kidding!

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I am a new grad RN and love it so far. I was also an LVN for 10 years. The possibilities are endless in nursing. So yes, encourage encourage encourage!!

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I am a new grad RN and love it so far. I was also an LVN for 10 years. The possibilities are endless in nursing. So yes, encourage encourage encourage!!

I agree with you 100%. I do not know what all the other people are saying that they would not reccomend nursing. OK everybody if not nursing what would you reccomend???

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My daughter is 3/4 of the way through the first year of a 2 year program. She was as aware as a person could be of all of the bad and good things I go through at work. I thought she might come home 6 weeks into the program. Personally, I thought it might be too demanding for her because she is only 19 now, 18 when she started. Well, I was wrong as wrong could be. She is doing great. She studies her behind off and is doing better than 3/4 of her classmates, many of whom are my age. She goes to a great program which is difficult, but provides a lot of clinical experience. She reaklly enjoys patient care. She said she might like to be an NP one day. I think she has made the right decision for her. It is her decision, not mine.

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Specializes in LTC.

"Would you recommend nursing to your daughter?"

How about our sons?

As a male, I was discouraged by my parents to pursue nursing 20 yrs ago and had to pay my own way despite being offered a 'free ride' if I would have chosen another path. In any event, I was happy with my decision, have a job that recognizes my worth and I am paid very well.

My wife is also a nurse, so our three children have seen and heard it all first hand. Despite that, our daughter wants to pursue nursing.

She'll soon to be 17, will be entering her last year of high school and then off to university. We are first encouraging her to stay in high school for an additional year to pick up all her advanced academic maths and sciences before going into university, and yes, we have done our share of discouraging her, or perhaps, offering up alternatives and pushing for a general sciences program in her first year. We are firm, however, that should she hold firm to nursing, that she, at minimum, go into the program to obtain her NP and/or Masters. With the changes we both see in the profession over the next decade, we both feel this would be most prudent, as well as opening up so many other opportunities like research and teaching, as well as private practice, eventually.

as an afterthought, she has held at least a 97% avg over 3 years in the academic program with her sights set on a scholarship: one of the many reasons we would like her to go for her masters.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
i have just changed my degree (again) to nursing. my parents were not very supportive of my decision either. i really looked into everything before i made my final decision. i really believe that nursing is for me. my parents have just started to support my decision and i ask you all to keep an open mind, and ask that your children do the same.

below you will find the reasons why i did not choose a different career. keep in mind that i am a single mother living with my parents. i previously served in the air force.

princess

wasn't born one, william is taken, harry is going to war. i guess i am out of luck there. :lol2:

lottery winner

i buy the tickets but odds haven't been in my favor yet.

owner of her own business

i took two years of business school, and i hated it. not to mention in accounting we learned that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail a year, and as a single mother that is not a risk i am willing to take. i'm not a big risk taker. :idea:

lawyer

i thought about law school for a while, and i even contacted a few. it is an additional 3 years of school after you finish your bachelors. the time in school is very intense with memorizing laws and reading case after case. then you have to be ready for the socratic method of questioning. not to mention it is very competitive. if you want to make a six figure salary then you have to be at the top of the class. if not you will be another nickle and dime divorce lawyer on the street corner.

physician

i also thought about becoming a dr for a while. i was all ready to take all the chemistry, math, english, and physics courses required for med school. then i found out medical school is 4 years long, you get in 100k debt, after you finish medical school you have to go through residency which is anywhere from 3 years to 7. in that time you are making about 50k, you are on call a lot and have to stay the night in the hospital. then when you are finally finished, you still can't make your own hours. unless you are derm, er, or opto you will have to work a lot of hours. oh and these "family friendly" specialties are the most competitive so if you want derm you better be in the top of your medical class in one of the best schools.

cpa

like i said earlier i took accounting classes. this career is very family friendly if you get into a good firm. the problem is, would you be happy crunching numbers all the time. i really enjoyed accounting at first, but now, i would rather barf then talk about depreciation, credit and debits, or look at another balance sheet. :barf01:

physical therapist (better pay than rn, more autonomous)

this is one career i can say that i never looked into, because i never had an interest. i have seen them in action and in their working environment, and i just have no desire to do that.

sales (furniture, major appliances, high end cars, insurance, investments - something with a good commission structure)

yuck! not me. i would not be happy being a salesperson. i worked as a salesperson (not commission based) before and i really disliked it. i hate pushing people to buy things that i wouldn't buy.

real estate developer

i think real estate would be fun, but it is another risky career. i think to really benefit from a career like this you would need enough money. you could join a corporation or partnership but then the return would not be as lucrative.

dispatcher for a taxi cab or trucking firm, or an ems/police agency.

this just wouldn't be fun to me i don't know about the pay or anything associated with it because i am not interested.

:idea: novel thought, a homemaker/stay-at-home mom; after raising her family, she can go to work

i stayed at home with my parents for a year after i had my daughter and i went insane. my brain felt like mush. i needed some kind of outside stimuli. i applaud all stay at home moms. i couldn't do it.

writer

some of us are born good writers, and some aren't. i unfortunately wasn't. my mom, however, is. while working on a novel you have to be able to have some sort of income. most people freelance (write articles for magazines without being employed) but they are picky and you have to be really familiar with their magazine. (they don't want a story that they wrote about 3 years ago) :trout: you have to be really good with your money too, because sometimes the money will flow in, and sometimes it won't.

trader on the various markets - futures, currency, stocks and bonds

in the business world that is the most competitive area to work. they recruit from the top business schools like harvard, kellog, stanford, and wharton. these are really hard to get into and are not funded. the work hours are crap and you have to be able to support yourself in a city with a hedgefund or ib like new york. the average ib works an 80 hour work week (the same as some doctors).

tv or radio personality

that would be awesome but the pay for tv or radio personality is around 20-30k. but if you are a star that will shoot up in no time. if you aren't then i hope you have another source of income.

educator

if you like to teach this is a great path. you need to have a phd (a min. of 4 years undergrad, 1 year for masters, and however long it takes you to get that dissertation) unless you want to teach high school or elementry school. most schools will hire you though before you finished your dissertation. i need a job sooner than that. also acadamia careers are very competitive and you have to be willing to move. you must also research and write. the saying goes... publish or perish.

travel industry

that could be a fun job. i never really looked into it. i imagine it has its high and low seasons though. you might want to work somewhere like vegas too. that is where our vacation lady works.

real estate - but not in a dangerous role (agents are subject to craziness from loony buyers who want to rape and mangle them while out showing property)

oh my! i have never heard of such stories. but again i don't like to push sales. the real estate market is going down now too.

heck, she could be a museum curator or sociologist or zoo directress.

i was an art history major and museum curator is the most competitive job, and the pay really sucks (30k). if you get it then at least it's 9-5 job but you still work holidays.

i hated sociology so i never really looked into it. but from what i gather you need to learn at least one other language (unless you are studying american sociology) and you have to be willing to travel to your area of interest.

zoo directress? i don't know about this one, but i want to stay far away from those poo flinging monkeys. :monkeydance:

seamstress

i can't sew. :o

model

the modeling industry is brutal. has anyone seen the agency on vh1. i am too short anyways.

playboy bunny? :uhoh3: :nono: i know, i know. not good for the image of modern women

i sent my picture in but hef said no. haha! just kidding ;)

one other thing. when the economy sucks so do more than half of the jobs you listed. a lot of lay offs happen. my uncle just got laid off from a prestigious bank in new york, now he is a manager for terminex. :angryfire

sorry this post was so long! i am not dissing any of these professions. i have respect for everyone no matter the job, because every job has its highs and lows. if there was a high salary, 9-5, holidays off, higher-educated not needed, job, i think... well i think it would be made up. :lol2:

lol pumpkin....what you said about accounting makes me laugh. i've always wanted to do nursing, but was afraid to go after my dream because i knew how hard it was to get into. so instead of taking pre-reqs required for the nursing program, i declared my major business/accounting. i hated everything about my business classes, too.... and i'm still taking accounting right now and i agree- if i ever see a balance sheet again, i might throw up! :barf02: thank god i've decided to pursue my nursing dream.... i really can't picture myself in a business atmosphere....what was i thinking?!?! :smackingf

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LOL Pumpkin....what you said about accounting makes me laugh. I've always wanted to do nursing, but was afraid to go after my dream because I knew how hard it was to get into. So instead of taking pre-reqs required for the nursing program, I declared my major Business/Accounting. I HATED everything about my business classes, too.... and I'm still taking accounting right now and I agree- if I ever see a balance sheet again, I might throw up! :barf02: Thank God I've decided to pursue my nursing dream.... I really can't picture myself in a business atmosphere....what was I thinking?!?! :smackingf

Haha! Well, we live and we learn! At least we can honestly say we tried other things and they didn't work. I'm so glad that you are pursuing your dream of nursing. Good luck with everything!

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Yes. There are so many different positions you can hold as a nurse. I've been able to change jobs and positions to easily accomodate my family life.

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Absolutely not! But, it's a mute point as she has already said she wants nothing to do with nursing after hearing all of my 'horror' stories, as she likes to refer to them! Why encourage our daughters to witness aging and death on a continual basis? I would much rather protect her from that. Sorry, I've been an ICU nurse for too long.

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Specializes in icu,ccu, er, corrections.

I encourage my dtr to be a nurse, then she could support herself and her two kids without any help from the person who fathered her children(can you tell I don't like him?)

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When I was a kid I thought nursing was gross and said I would NEVER be one. Well, never say never, here I am. Now both my son and daughter are RN's. Figured I might as well encourage them once they decided to do it because they had enough years of listening to me gripe about my bad days, so they knew what they were getting into. Bottom line is, somebody has to do it. Somebody has to take care of US when we get old! They at least have been able to get jobs in the locality of their choice.

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