How has having/not having children affect your career?

mybrowneyedgirl, BSN, RN · May 31, 2009

Pro: Having had a child, I can handle the "gross stuff" with ease.

Con: Having a child makes it more difficult to find study time for myself and my child. I have to juggle my own schedule and his.

Kids are great. School is hard. We'll all get thru it :)

prudence09 · May 31, 2009

Well I don't have children and always told myself how lucky I was because I did have more time to study and do the things I wanted. One of my classmates got pregnant while in nursing school and had less than a month to spend with her new beautiful baby boy. I always thought how hard that would have been for me and how hard that was for her. I guess since I don't have children a lot of people think I don't know anything and I was treated alot different in school by the people who did have children.

dreamon · May 31, 2009

I'm switching careers, having my little one wasn't much of an issue back then since her dad and I were still married.

Now I'll be embarking on this new chapter in my life- trying to get into NS as a single mom. Honestly if I wasn't a mom I would move to some other city to go to school, kind of like starting over after the divorce. But I need to be in a place that has a good quality for life for her, surrounded by family.

I do like the fact that I have already had my child before I started my career, as opposed to after.

Like Mybrowneyedgirl mentioned, we'll get through it. I certainly intend to.

domal02 · May 31, 2009

Having children definitely keeps me motivated. I'm hoping that as tough as the world is today, and the struggles I've went through (I was a teen mom for one), they'll see how hard I'm working in school, (hopefully) watch me graduate, and think to themselves that if mom can do it, so can we. However, sometimes having children is a curse :) Some days I think, for me anyway, it would be so much easier to be doing this without children. Uninterrupted study time, no one else to worry about but myself, etc.

But I also know my child free friends that are going through NS with me have their own set of struggles so I guess no one is exempt from them. LOL

beth66335, BSN, RN · May 31, 2009

I guess the effect on me of having children before starting down this path was I had to wait. I didn't go to school for my nursing degree when I was 19 because I was a terrible student back then and I just wanted to be a wife and mom. So, when I got married at 21 and started having kids at 25 and the feeling came back to me to become a nurse, I was trapped so to speak, with a household of 3 kids under 5! I decided that when the youngest went to school all day I would pursue my dream. I started with a CNA degree in 2003 and worked for a hospital that paid half my tuition each year for my prereq's, and now I am getting ready to finish my last year of my RN degree! Study time has been hard won, the house threatens to swallow me at times, and these other people need me for food and transportation, but I will make it! It would have been easier as a single, childless, 19 year old though, lol! Especially, when I think of the money I could have been making all this time!

abak2kab · May 31, 2009

I too, was a teen mother but managed to get through highschool and actually go to college "on time." But when I think about it now, I was not mentally ready for nursing school at the time. I sort of blamed it (that sounds bad but I don't mean it in a bad way) that I did not apply to nursing school because I had a child. It made me stray away from applying to the program even though I had all my pre-reqs done because I felt like I would have no time for my daughter. But when I say I wasn't "mentally ready," it was because I did not try hard enough on my pre-reqs or even studied hard enough so had I tried to apply to the program, my straight C's (science only courses) would not have gotten me in. Now though, and still a young mother but with THREE kids, two who are still only 2 and a newborn (thank goodness for my 9-year old), I wish I was ready to do it then because I don't even know when I'll have time to study! I managed to re-take my Anatomy class this spring while pregnant and aced it but that was only one class I was taking. I'm kind of nervous of how it's going to turn out when I'll actually be taking a full load. I actually kind of feel like my baby in my belly gave me super powers to help me get that A lol. It's hard but as someone said earlier, they definitely give you motivation. I do regret (one of my only regrets) not doing it when I had a better chance to do it and have more study time and more availability for it. It is very difficult to schedule classes and study time around the hubby's work schedule, his school schedule, my child's school schedule, and my babies. But we gotta have faith.

MissRn09 · May 31, 2009

I am a mother and just graduated with my BSN on May 16th. I don't know what it's like to NOT have a child and go through school. I, like some, was a mother at 18 with a husband and waited before starting school. Aftermy first semester I became a SINGLE mother. I only waited a year after graduating to start college but it did NOT take me 4 years. Can we say 6 1/2!!! It was by far the HARDEST thing I have done. My child does not know what it means for mommy to be out of school. I started when she was 18 months and she's now 8 :crying2: There were many many days when I said, "Lord, this would be soooo much easier if she wasn't in my behind all the time!" But I made it. I must say that unlike the people who didn't have kids and the ones who had almost grown kids, my grades were only average and I stared at the four walls of my apartment for 5 semesters of clinicals. I also felt like if it wasn't for her the grades would have been better...LOL! On the other end, that kid has motivated me like no-one ever! She was the soul reason I pushed as hard as I did. I had all those feelings like I could have been done and making money but her and I sacraficed together and made it through together. We are now about to start another chapter with financial stability....and MORE school because I start graduate school in the FALL!!! LOL :loveya:

Ellean55 · May 31, 2009

Hi Prudence, like you I dont have any children. I dont know your views on this, but said that I had some wonderful opportunities come my way in my career, however it may not have happened had I been a mother. Oh my goodness the hell I copped for that comment - you would have thought I was advocating for the death penalty lol. (That was a slight digression lol). In all seriousness have you noticed a difference in the way you are treated and percieved by nurses who are mothers, I have.

mama_d, BSN, RN · May 31, 2009

If I wasn't a mommy, I'd probably have my master's degree already instead of still being a LPN.

Honestly, I think that those who manage to put off having kids until they have their careers and degrees solidified managed to do better than me; I'll admit that I get envious sometimes. I totally agree with you about the career opportunities; just by having to put family first and my education on hold I've been missing out for years.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · May 31, 2009

Having a kid make me an expert at utilizing small scraps of time because otherwise nothing around the house would get done. This helped me when it came to studying for NS--I'd grab 5-10 minutes here and there to review stuff, so at least I've have an hour or so of studying under my belt each day when I sat down after bedtime to REALLY do schoolwork.

On the other hand, it did make handling clinical hours hard (fortunately I was/am blessed with an excellent childcare provider), and it will affect my job hunt since my better half works long hours as it is--we want to make sure the little one gets to see at least one of us each day :)

justiceforjoy · May 31, 2009

I honestly don't find it that hard having a kid while being in school, with the exception of how much I miss my daughter during the day. She's in a great schedule for bed time, so I get a few hours of study time... The house gets messier than heck during the week, but that's a small sacrifice...