Mom of 4 - can I handle nursing school?

Qteapi · Jun 27, 2015

It won't be easy, but any dream worth filling won't be easy! You can do this and you ain't old! Only thing gets old is shoes and those come back in style....just everybody on the same page....your hubby can't be looking ugly in the face when he has to pull more than what he thinks is his share. Hey I went back and got my degree in Nursing and yes it meant that I had to pull late night hours after getting the kids squared away but it was well worth it when I marched across that stage and passed NCLEX and went from making $8 an hr to $33 dollars an hr as a new grad!

SaraAN · Jun 27, 2015

I'm in a similar position. I have 3 boys (2, 6, and 9). I've been home with them and a military wife, traveling all over. I'm starting nursing school in August and feeling pretty confident about it. I feel so much more equipped this time around. When I went to college the first time, I didn't really know what I wanted to do so I just picked something. I did fine, but now I'm much more focused on my goal and have a better 'toolbox'. I think if you truly want to be a nurse, and have a good network of family and friends to help you juggle your home and personal life, you'll be able to find a way to make it happen.

I definitely have some of those demon thoughts too. But I keep telling myself that I will find a way to make it work and it will be worth it in the end! Good luck!

4boysmama · Jun 27, 2015

yes, you can do it and be successful! I did :) My boys were 4, 7, 10, and 12 when I started nursing school. They helped me study, they cheered me on, and they celebrated every victory with me! It was hard (of course) and meant a lot of lost sleep studying while eeryone in the house was quiet and dreaming, but I'd do it over again in a heartbeat.

Seattlemamalama · Jun 28, 2015

I think you can totally do it! Especially since your kids can all go to school. There were very many older students in my prerequisite classes. The average age was about 30 with a handful in the 40+ age range. I'm starting this fall and I have a 2 year old, 1 year old and I'll be giving birth to #3 in November, about 2 weeks before finals! So I'm pretty sure you can do it also. My husband is also gone from home 14+ hours a day and goes to bed at 7pm for work so I'm mainly alone with the kids allllll by myself. I think it depends on your ambition and if you prepare yourself for the work you have to invest in studying. It's not easy with the kids screaming and crying all day (baby #2 is a cry baby).

You can space out your prerequisites at your own pace, which is nice. And by the time your finished with those your yongest will be a bit older.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2015

Having four children and going to nursing school is not doable. My kids are still young (3, 5, 8 and 11) and I'll miss out on too much/screw up our family because I have to spend all my time working towards a nursing degree.

On the contrary. Your children will see their mother working towards something that is fulfilling and benefits others, and that is an excellent starting point for conversations. My kids were the only ones in their classes who knew how to do their own laundry, cook meals, and take care of pets, from age 6-7 onwards. Yes, indeed. And they were proud of themselves for doing it.

If you haven't already, start NOW to get them doing more around the house. Goal: They learn more skills, and you have them thoroughly inculcated BEFORE ADOLESCENCE HITS. Trust me, instituting this after adolescence rears its ugly head will not be pretty.

An 8-year-old can do a load of towels once a week, fold them, and put clean ones back in the bathrooms. The 11-year-old can do his/her own laundry entirely.(Bonus: you have the best possible answer in the world for the whine, "I don't have anything to wear!" It is, "And whose fault is that?") (Actually, my kids did their own laundry at age 8. it's not rocket science. No, I'm wrong, the younger one insisted on doing his at 6 because his sister (with a year of experience at age 9) did hers, and when I remonstrated he showed me how he could push this box over to be able to reach the controls, and ... Who could refuse?) Those two can also pack their own lunches for school. The 5-year-old can set the table and feed the dog. The 3-year-old can, with a little guidance, help with all of the above.

Every time you cook something between now and when you start school, make double and freeze the extras. Spend a Saturday making 26 quarts of spaghetti sauce in a big pot and freeze it in 1qt bags. If the 8-and 11-year-olds don't already know how to cook basic stuff like pasta, hamburgers, pork chops, frozen veggies, salad, and mac and cheese, teach them and let each pick one night a week to cook. Daddy cooks one or two nights a week. Do not worry about having hamburger once a week-- it will be good for all of you in more ways than one :) . The cook gets taught to clean up as s/he goes along, after dinner everybody puts their own dishes in the dishwasher, or everybody shares the washing up (make a regular chart and put everybody over 5 on it, including the adults. "We're all in this together!" is the attitude to inculcate here.

School lunches? Hell, when I (divorced single mother of 2) had the worst headache of my life my three-year-old made us PB&J for supper and we all went to bed at 7:30...and I went to the hospital in the morning with meningitis. (Their father took them for the five days I was inpatient). A three year old can make PB&J. :) Any school-aged child can make a sandwich, scramble eggs, fry a hamburger, heat up frozen veggies in the microwave... .

Have family pizza night once a week so everybody gets a night off from cooking, and you can use that to have some sort of special treat for everyone because they are helping you get through school.

I wanna tell ya, years before my kids went away to college or summer camp they already knew how to cook basic meals, cook from a cookbook, take care of their own clothes, had small sewing kits so they could sew on buttons and torn hems, feed the pets, and all sorts of useful household skills. My son used his skills at sewing on his own BSA merit badges with his own "merit badge application kit" and then earned good $ in college hemming trousers and sewing on buttons at the military college he went to-- when anybody ragged him about having a sewing machine he said, "It's just a small power machine. That'll be five bucks." My daughter baked bread in the dorm kitchen and sold it for pin money.

I think I got started on all this when I saw a documentary on some aboriginal tribe whose children were on their own at three, when their mothers had the next baby. They found their own food, made their own shelter, and so forth. I figured if they could do that, my three-year-old could pour her own Rice Chex, and so she could. Go for it.

Goose2015 · Jun 29, 2015

I say go for it! The pre reqs will be a good tool to figure out if you can handle nursing school. Not sure about your area, but in ours, a 4.0 is a must, that itself will be challenging. (PS I'm doing it with young children and was about to pop out another one during finals, just think, where will you be in 2 years if you don't do it??)

lsvgsdawn · Jun 29, 2015

I went back at 38. I have 5 kids at home and one was under 2 when I went back to school. It was challenging and I had to learn to study whether they were around me or not. I would wake up at 3 am on test days just to study one last time without interruption. I never failed a course or an exam. I graduated with the highest nursing GPA in my class. It can be done. I studied for NCLEX relentlessly once I was out of school with all the kids home for summer and the little ones on my lap most of the time. I was the first one of my class to take the NCLEX and the first to pass. You can do it!!! I am now working as a nurse and just turned 40! No one has had an issue with my age:)

cvandyke · Jun 29, 2015

I'm 39 and I just started nursing school. I feel that I am a better student now than when I was younger, I think because I am now more serious and focused on school.

I don't have kids but there is one girl in my program that also has 4 kids like yourself, her husband and mother do a lot with the kids. There are also a few girls who are single moms, one with 3 kids and one with 2. I think it is possible if you have a good solid support system. But know right off the bat that nursing school is demanding and be prepared for it.