Considering Nursing as a second career

Lots of meat in your questions. I will try to answer as best I can.

Is nursing school difficult with kids? Heck yes. That being said, tons of people manage to do it. You will need a very supportive spouse or coparent and plan A, B and C for childcare, particularly for sick child care. The hours required for clinicals are dictated by the state. There is very little to no leeway for being out sick, both for yourself and for your children. We had people in my program have car accidents, broken legs etc and they had to repeat the semester. It isn't a matter of being understanding...the number of clinical hours required by law to sit for NCLEX are what they are. Also know that the outline they give you for how much time is required each week will not take into account required volunteer work, group projects, preparations for clinicals (making care plans, looking up and knowing medications, reviewing patient records...oh and picking all the info needed for these tasks at the hospital the day before, which takes an hour or two with no kids allowed...and that is just the data gathering portion, not the homework portion of it), other homework, etc. Nursing school is a full time endeavor and you will need full time day care, which is expensive. It sounds stressful and overwhelming, I know, and it is. You'll have to be fully committed. Lots of people do it, but you need realistic expectations, a village of helpers and a plan in place. You won't be able to do it without full time care for the kids and sick care when they inevitably get the usual childhood illnesses.

Are new grads having trouble getting jobs? Yes and no. Acute care jobs are harder to come by than they used to be, but people still do get them. It is a matter of being proactive, building relationships and knowing when to apply. Students in accelerated programs have a harder time getting hired than those in traditional. In general they are less prepared to enter the workplace. In the DFW area, most of the hospitals only hire new grads into their residency or internship programs, which in general are opened up twice a year. The application period can be up to 2.5 months prior to your graduation date, so you will want to be on top of that. All of my nursing school classmates got into acute care eventually but most not in the specialty of their choice and many had to drive long distances to towns outside of DFW.

With the age of your kids, I would strongly urge you to consider a more traditional educational route. Accelerated programs are fully immersive and you will be able to do little to no mothering during the program. Your (and their) stress will be slightly less in a more traditional nursing program and you will be better prepared for your new career.

Whatever you decide, I wish you well.

The previous poster is correct. An accelerated nursing program is for individuals who already have a degree in another major who now wish to become a nurse. The degree plans referenced by the poster above are RN to BSN programs, not accelerated programs.

Nursing might not fulfill your desire to help others, either. A traditional floor nursing position at a hospital or other type of facility entails very little face time with each patient. Most of the nurse's time is taken with redundant documentation, paperwork, phone calls to physicians, fetching snacks and blankets, reviewing laboratory results, hourly rounding, and other miscellaneous tasks.

Modern day nursing is a business first and foremost. Caring and helping patients is secondary to the number below that bottom line.