CRNA school with children

Nursing Students SRNA

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Just looking for some advice on attending CRNA school with kids. I know it's probably not recommended thing to do but I'd love to go back to school. My kids are 9 and 11 years old and I have good family support. Has anyone gone through this? Please give any feedback, comments, suggestions. Thank you.

My comments are not directed only at women.... I think women need to have successful careers and not rely on their husbands. Then they will be making plenty of money and can work part time to spend the rest with their kids, but they should do it before having kids. And I'm not saying that working full time is wrong if you have kids..... what I'm saying is that the CRNA program is sooo demanding (way more demanding than a full time job) that your family life will suffer.

You need to just stop while you are ahead :angryfire

This is getting no where! And it is only making people angry because of these REDICOULOUS comments. Because many many people have gone to school with children and have made it through just fine. She was asking for advice about HOW or the BEST way to get through with children not to be told that she is selfish and she shouldn't. So bow out gracefully and let it go...So the thread can be peaceful again and people can offer worthwhile advice that she actually asked for.

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Great post, ellarose.

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My comments are not directed only at women.... I think women need to have successful careers and not rely on their husbands. Then they will be making plenty of money and can work part time to spend the rest with their kids, but they should do it before having kids. And I'm not saying that working full time is wrong if you have kids..... what I'm saying is that the CRNA program is sooo demanding (way more demanding than a full time job) that your family life will suffer.

So you are saying that after women establish a career, they should then work "part time"? What would you say to women who have established their career, whether that be before, during (gasp!) or after kids who choose to work full time?? Does this make a woman any LESS of something? Please move along with this somewhere else...do you realize it IS 2006?!!

This is really no mystery. I read your other threads and realized that you are still an student RN, and have been aspiring to "be a CRNA". Tell us how and why do you know this? I''m betting that you have a great deal of self-discovery to go. There are many people who have been extremely successful in balancing their personal lives and obtaining graduate education--anesthesia school included. It takes one type of person who has a long way to go in career development (you) and another type of person who is actually able to manage a family AND be self directed enough to become a anesthetist--many that you will encounter here on this board.

You have a very long way to go.

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I remember being young and making stupid comments...and later eating my words when you realize things in life happen. I personally have a 6 year old child and I am applying this year. I have had that worry in the back of my mind about having enough time to devote to my child with the class load anesthesia requires. Does having a child make me any less qualified to be in anesthesia school? No. Does being accepted into anesthesia school make me less of a mother and mean I don't care about my child? No. I've come to the conclusion that I'll just have to learn how to balance both.

I think you should realize how lucky you are to find yourself in a position where you can devote your 20's to school and you already know what you want to do with your future. For some people, it takes longer to figure these lifelong decisions out, and there's nothing wrong with that. For others, they find themselves having to work to make a living and not being able to go to school so young. Ask yourself if you even have any idea what you're getting into with anesthesia school, especially considering you're not even finished with school yet. In 2 or 3 years when you've got your experience behind you, then come back here and let us know your perspective on anesthesia school with family responsibilities.

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I'm just going to cut to the chase and say SHUT YOUR MOUTH to avlis. Obviously this person is truly idiotic and assanine for posting such STUPID comments. Hopefully, avlis will GROW UP and learn a few things in the process. Good luck to you all, I start in two weeks with a 2, 4 and 9 year old. I think I'm better prepared to handle the stress because of my family situation. Can't wait to get it started.!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.
My comments are not directed only at women.... I think women need to have successful careers and not rely on their husbands. Then they will be making plenty of money and can work part time to spend the rest with their kids, but they should do it before having kids. And I'm not saying that working full time is wrong if you have kids..... what I'm saying is that the CRNA program is sooo demanding (way more demanding than a full time job) that your family life will suffer.

junk.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency.

i'm sorry.. i'm compelled to say - women, watch out !! your independence and life choices are at stake here.

sincerely,

whole-hearted male

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You guys are so great!!! Ahhhhhh to be a yung 'un again & "know it all" :uhoh3:

I want to go to CRNA school myself now, and you are the ones who really got me interested in it.............I will be about 41 when I go IF I even get accepted into the program..........glad I am not the only one who got :angryfire :trout: over that comment from that poster.............and I, as all of you feel, wouldn't change a thing about the way I've managed either with kids...............you guys are great!:lol2:

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I'm just going to cut to the chase and say SHUT YOUR MOUTH to avlis. Obviously this person is truly idiotic and assanine for posting such STUPID comments. Hopefully, avlis will GROW UP and learn a few things in the process. Good luck to you all, I start in two weeks with a 2, 4 and 9 year old. I think I'm better prepared to handle the stress because of my family situation. Can't wait to get it started.!

WOW! Good luck to you too! A 2, 4, and 9 year old---I admire your determination! Mine will be 12, 14, and at last, 18...and I am pre-planning for them and my departure to school. The 18 year old will have graduated when I plan to start, so I'm hoping this will help...but I've often wondered if it would of been better when they were young like yours. In any event, I believe it is an excellent opportunity to share with one's children---the pursuit of education, and learning, which is a lifelong thing. And just personally, for me, I would of never had the stamina in my young 20's to do this. Some people do, and thats great. Anyway, good luck again and let us know how your first few weeks are!

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i'm sorry.. i'm compelled to say - women, watch out !! your independence and life choices are at stake here.

sincerely,

whole-hearted male

Do I sense a little sarcasm here????:lol2:

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I think it is incredibly selfish for someone to attend such a demanding program when they have kids, you are just neglecting your kids and its not fair to them. You should have thought about your career and future before you got married and had kids. I mean, most people usually dedicate their early to mid 20s for school and career, then they get married and have kids. This way they can devote themselves to their children. It shouldn't be the other way around.

It sounds like you don't believe a parent can both attend school and have small children without neglecting their children. Assuming you don't also feel that way about having both a job and children, (because people generally don't have all their career building in their 20s only to completely quit their jobs in their 30s and 40s to have kids), then by simply treating school like a job, you might find that you can have family time just as you do when you're working. CRNA school will essentially become my new "job". In my experience, I've seen several people successfully balance grad school and young children when they have good support networks.

There are just so many things to contend with regard to career, education, and finding a spouse in our 20s and 30s and 40s, that probably the only "good" time to have kids in our lives is during our retirement!

When I see people on this list in their 30s and 40s who are pursuing further education, I am inspired. I am almost 28 yo and expecting my first baby. My husband of 5 years and I already thinking about how we can work in another baby, about 2 years of CVICU experience, and CRNA program applications into our future. With his support, I know that I can successfully complete grad school and be a wonderful mother to my young children.

Actually, the 20s and early 30s are generally the best time, biologically speaking, for a woman to bear children. Unfortunately, the institutions for work and education in our society weren't developed to be flexible enough for people (especially women) to have children at earlier ages when our fertility is usually higher and pregnancy outcomes tend to be better. In a more flexible society, I would think work schedules, the ability to start and stop within a career to care for family without sacrificing one's progress on the career ladder, educational programs, and the like would better allow people to marry and have children at younger ages and devote more time to their young families when they are in their 20s, and accelerate their careers and education when their children are a little older and more independant. But that simply isn't the way things are. When you see people on the list who are pursuing higher education with younger children, you are seeing some brave people who are doing their best to work within a societal framework that isn't always so family friendly.

Also remember that it is often not financially feasible to knock out one's entire lot of educational aspirations in the 20s and 30s. We live in times when many well-educated college grads can't afford to live independantly in some major cities...Boston, SF Bay Area, NYC, DC, etc....and they end up moving back home with their own families. Working to repay undergrad loans, housing expenses, and the like may elongate the time period it takes for them to get their financial houses in order to quit work entirely to go to grad school full-time.

The dilema you find in pursuing higher education, furthering one's career, and having a young family is not as black and white as you try to make it out to be (going to school and building career in the 20s and having family later). I urge you to consider a wider range of possibilities. If you discovered exactly what you wanted to do with your life in your 20s and were able to finish everything you needed to do for that during those years, more power to you; but for most of us, career choices, educational options, and loving relationships become apparent at different stages in our lives and we've got to be flexible enough to accomodate those opportunities as they become available.

Adonai

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Specializes in Cardiac/CCU.

well said Adonai

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