RN students that work and have kids

JustPlainJenn · Sep 3, 2008

you can do anything you set your mind to! :up:

(which isn't to say it will be easy)

i'm sure you've heard of randy pausch (if not, take a break from studying and check out his lecture - you can find the abbreviated version on youtube). one of my favorite quotes from proff. pausch is:

"the brick walls are not there to keep us out. the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

:yeah:

Blessed2BeMommy · Sep 3, 2008

It's not easy, but it is certainly possible.

I am finishing up my first year as an RN. During that year I have gotten both my PALS and ENCP certifications and have cross trained from my area (pediatrics) to ped ED, NICU, postpartum and peds burn.

During nursing school I worked full time plus (as many shifts as I could cram in) because I am the sole breadwinner for a family of eight. All six of my children were homeschooled and my husband is disabled with a progressively debilitating disease.

I graduated with the third highest grade in my class... the second highest grade went to a woman with three children but who did not work and the first highest grade to a woman with no children and no job. I worked as a PCT, then a CBC, then an LPN throughout school, often 5-6 12 hour shifts. I also received our school's nursing chair award of excellence.

Granted, my house looked like heck, but, oh well, you know?

Anyway, all of this to say, it can be done. It just takes a lot of prioritization and you need boffo study skills and the ability to never waste a single minute. Everything I ever needed to learn got put on index cards. The sheer act of determining how to put something in a question/answer format and then writing it out on the card accomplished at least half of the studying right there. I would keep 10-20 cards in my scrub pockets at work and whenever I had even 30 seconds of downtime the cards came out and I flipped through them until I had them cold.

josiah0814 · Sep 4, 2008

Whatever you do, don't give up. It will all be worth it in the end. Best of luck to you.

allnurses Guide · Sep 4, 2008

Yeah you can do it! People all the time ask me "how do you do it?", single mom of 3 kids, homeschool (although 2 are finally in college! and one is now attending a school), Scout troops (plural), and taking classes for my masters as well as teaching clinicals, and still doing nights in the ER. I just did it, and managed to have fun in life along the way. I graduate next spring.

Set aside time that is only for you and the kids, remind yourself "this is not study time, this time is not available for studying! and I will not feel guilty or stressed about it". That way, when it is study time, you aren't allowed to feel guilty about studying instead of being with the kids either. If you pull a B that could have been an A if you ignored the kids and studied a little more, you'll regret the kid's time more than the A after you graduate. honest. (My dh did that when he was getting his master's - the B's I mean :coollook: and when he passed, he had had more time with his kids than most dad's do in a whole lifetime. And a master's degree.)

You can do whatever you set your mind to do, if you just ignore the naysayers. :redpinkhe