Best schedule for work-life balance for parents?

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Specializes in Endo, L&D, med-surg.

Hello fellow nurse parents! What schedule do you prefer for spending time with your family, and why?

I'm currently working 4-10s with no weekends or holidays, which is great right now while the little guy is in preschool. But eventually he'll go to kindergarten and have summers off, and I wonder if going back to 3-12s would be better because I'd have more days off? But the weekends! (My husband works a Monday-Friday job, so having our weekends together has been really nice.)

Conversely, there's a job posted at my hospital that is 5-8s Monday-Friday. The job sounds amazing, but I can't imagine working 5 days a week, especially in the future when the kid is out of school in the Summer.

I should probably just be a school nurse, but I don't know anything about pediatrics ?

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High school nurse here. Honestly I know nothing about real pediatrics either. Schedule's great, pay is between terrible and OKish, depending on your location.

It's not all Tylenol and bandaids though...you have to be ready to independently handle anything from insulin pump problems to questions about anal sex. Check out the school nurses forum under Specialities, it's a great group!!

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Specializes in Endo, L&D, med-surg.

Thanks! Glad to know you don't necessarily need peds experience. Before nursing school, I had a job where part of my job involved educating teens about birth control, so I think I'd enjoy those random questions! Most of the school nurse positions in my area are just PRN, but I think some of the surrounding counties have full-time options. I'll have to look into it!

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It sounds as if you are pretty satisfied where you are. You get three days off every week and every weekend off. Not a bad deal.

The 3 -12s schedule seems like you will be going backward if you have to work weekends.  Mon to Fri 9-5 sounds like a grind after doing 4 days. And if transitioning to school nurse cuts your pay, you may need to work summers to make up the shortfall (unless you do not need that income).

I've been working straight Mon to Fri, 9 to 5 for a couple of years. It works pretty well for family and friends. In a perfect world, I would pick the school nurse schedule (summers off!?). But I would need to know I would not lose any money in the transition. And honestly, the school nurses I have seen in action have to deal with a lot of crap from students, faculty and parents. I am not sure I could handle that. That's like having three sets of patients. The school nurse schedule certainly seems like the most family friendly, just so long as it is an area of interest to you.

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