My whole life, I've planned on becoming either a History or English teacher. But as I"m about to go back to school to finish my degree, something is telling me to consider nursing school. I spend most of my time perusing the nursing pre-reqs instead of the education dept and lurking on allnurses.com! :)
I think my only hold-outs are
1.My family fashions me as a teacher-type and to some extent, so do I. By considering another field, I feel that I'm abandoning my former self or something. But the truth is that surly students that don't really want to learn, self-entitled parents that think their child can do no wrong and hours upon hours of unpaid work and detention duty sound less than appealing. Helping my son with his homework is painful for me, as he is a typical 6 year old that would rather play video games than write sentences. Shouldn't a future teacher enjoy motivating him??
2. My mother is a nurse and we have a less than great relationship. She missed most of my life events growing up and always blamed it on "the job." I always thought that nurses had a profession that made being heavily invloved in their child's life near impossible. Now, as an adult and parent myself, I'm starting to think that her lack of involvement was more a matter of her personal choices and less due to her profession. (She's a very selfish person who puts herself before her family 90% of the time.)
I understand that there will be things that I miss out on as a nurse. Holidays are required as a hospital employee and I feel my family can work around it. (Celebrate the day before or after for instance.)
I guess my questions are...how do you feel your work/life balance is?
Do you think that this is a good fit for a mom who's willing to make extra effort to not neglect either her job or her children?
How long do most nurses work in the field before part time becomes a viable option? I want to have this option if my home life begins to require it, but I know that I'll likely have to be full time to get my skills up for a certain period of time.
How did you know that you wanted to be a nurse? As I said...I feel a calling. It's a feeling I can't shake, although it doesn't really make perfect sense to me. I do well in biology, but math eludes me! I'm more of an English and history person.
Mom RNs: What shift do you work and what is your childcare situation?
You remind me of how I felt when getting my first degree - in Sociology. I was always an English and history girl, too - and terrible at math (which intimidated the heck out of me)! About halfway through college I decided I wanted to be a nurse, and even applied for a program and was accepted, but I was intimidated by the field and not sure if I was making the right decision. So, I finished my Soc degree and worked for a few years.
Well, needless to say, I went back to nursing and am now a RN! In many ways it was one of the best decisions I have made. I also didn't really want the nights, weekends, holidays hospital schedule, nor did I want to do Med-Surg. I am working at a homecare agency as a Community Health Nurse and spend half of my time out visiting clients and half at my desk doing mounds of paperwork. I love my job (even though I just started a month ago!) and work M-F 8:30-4:30 with no nights, weekends or holidays. If nursing is truly your calling then follow it - you'll be surprised where it takes you. Good luck!
i guess my questions are...how do you feel your work/life balance is?
let me preface by stating i'm a nursing student for a while longer, but i've worked in healthcare x 20 years and raised several children. work/life balance is entirely up to the priorities of the person involved. if you want to work days without weekends and/holidays, you may find you're happier working in an outpatient surgery practice, physician office, etc.
do you think that this is a good fit for a mom who's willing to make extra effort to not neglect either her job or her children? one thing nursing has going for it when it comes to being a mom is that your kids, their friends, their friends' parents, etc. will have great respect for all you know/do. you will be sought out for field trips and other events that might make more time to spend with your kids. depending on your marriage, lots of parents off young kids work only on weekends when the other parent can be with the kids. that would give you weekdays free with the kids and you could help with homework and tuck them in yourself every weeknight.
how long do most nurses work in the field before part time becomes a viable option? i want to have this option if my home life begins to require it, but i know that i'll likely have to be full time to get my skills up for a certain period of time. again, i think it depends on whether you want to work inpatient or if you would be willing to work in an outpatient facility or even in home health care.
how did you know that you wanted to be a nurse? as i said...i feel a calling. it's a feeling i can't shake, although it doesn't really make perfect sense to me. i do well in biology, but math eludes me! i'm more of an english and history person.
i always knew i wanted to be a nurse, since i was a child. i've always been more of a communications person...people fascinate me, but numbers are not my friend! it has not held me back whatsoever.
mom rns: what shift do you work and what is your childcare situation?
sometimes moving forward in life means letting go of our old ideas about ourselves. and once we are able to give those us and move on to what we really feel is our destiny, that doesn't mean anyone else is going to be there to cheer us on. your family may have some adjusting to do in order to see you in a new light. so be it!
from a strictly financial point of view, nursing will likely yield more security for your family than teaching would do.
Salamanda NP, MSN, APRN, NP
57 Posts
You remind me of how I felt when getting my first degree - in Sociology. I was always an English and history girl, too - and terrible at math (which intimidated the heck out of me)! About halfway through college I decided I wanted to be a nurse, and even applied for a program and was accepted, but I was intimidated by the field and not sure if I was making the right decision. So, I finished my Soc degree and worked for a few years.
Well, needless to say, I went back to nursing and am now a RN! In many ways it was one of the best decisions I have made. I also didn't really want the nights, weekends, holidays hospital schedule, nor did I want to do Med-Surg. I am working at a homecare agency as a Community Health Nurse and spend half of my time out visiting clients and half at my desk doing mounds of paperwork. I love my job (even though I just started a month ago!) and work M-F 8:30-4:30 with no nights, weekends or holidays. If nursing is truly your calling then follow it - you'll be surprised where it takes you. Good luck!