Mom thinking about going back to nursing school... NEEDS ENCOURAGEMENT!!!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi everyone!

I of course am new here, and so happy to find this forum!

I am a 36 yo, SAHM... who has been a wife and mother for the past 10 years. Now that my two youngest (twins) will be in school full time next year, I am considering going back to school for a nursing degree... something I have wanted to do for years!

I am so scared of going back to school to begin a career! Is anyone else here my age, have a spouse, kids, home to care for? I feel like I am already spread pretty thin, but this is something I really want to do.

Is it doable? Is anyone else in my position or similar, doing it now?

Can it even be done??? :eek:

Thanks for any suggestions or encouragement! Honesty is much appreciated! :lol2:

I can understand your thoughts re going back to school. Im doing it as my 3rd career at 52 and im telling you after being out of school for sooooooo long its tough but rewarding as well

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Specializes in Hemodialysis.
You can do it!

I am a 38 year old SAHM. My kids are 10, 7 and 2, and my hubby is about to leave for an 18 month military deployment. I started spring 2009 with pre-reqs and am now in my first semester of nursing school.

I suggest starting part-time (one or two classes at the most) and build up from there. You'll find you actually have an advantage over many of your classmates because you are more mature. Set your priorities and goals and work to make them happen.

Ahh, I feel you! I'm going it alone too! For the OP, YES, it is totally doable. I went in to school with all my pre reqs done, but I can tell you that I'm a SAHM of 4 children, ages 12, 10, 3 and 2 (Irish twins) and I went into an RN program and then decided to go accelerated after the first semester. Less than a year left before graduation. It's been a tough haul, my husband has been overseas in Afghanistan for almost 2 years now. I also packed up my family and relocated them 400 miles for the purpose of going to school, so can it be done? YES, it can.

I can tell you the hardest thing I have to do is the time management part of it. I have active kids, but there comes a time where you have to put your foot down and do what you need to do for yourself (I call it the greater good.) Everyone will be much happier and have a better life when I graduate, so I have to make them understand it's for them too sometimes, so if I limit them to one extracurricular each, well that's too bad. Lack of support has been a big issue for me, so I count on a babysitter I hired when I started school and now am contemplating day care because sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. If your kids are in school all day and you're not (if you're only in a few hours a day a few days a week besides your clinicals) I just stress and highly suggest that you use that time effectively to study in peace. If you're persistant it will work out fine, just don't give up! (There are days I've thought about it but refuse!)

Count on your husband and develop a good support system and make them understand that nursing curriculum is unlike anything else and that you need your time to do your schoolwork. And keep us updated!!

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Hi, I was 39 when I went to college my kids were starting highschool and I worked full time, yes it can be done, its tough so if you dont have to work dont work if you do have to work try part time, although I did it working full time and with teenagers it was really tough on me and family but we got through it. good luck and its well worth the struggle.

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Specializes in med surg,telemetry, Psych, ICU.

yes, a thousand times, yes...i was 46 when i began into my post-secondary education for nursing, after my kids were pretty much grown..before that, i had been a stay at home mom for 20 years. (is that what sahm stands for? LOL) Then when i was going into my final semester, my husband was critically injured and was now a T-10 paraplegic, soi had to drop out of school. I passed the LPN boards and worked as an LPN until i could go back to school, then completed my RN when i turned 50. I love nursing, and now enjoy a very rewarding, fulfilling and guilt-free career in the ICU. Like one post stated, you really have to want it. But it is so worth it :D

I also worked full-time at the hospital as a CNA then as an LPN while going to nursing school to help meet expenses, so it can be done. Good luck to you.

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As the ave age of nurses is now late 40's we welcolme new young blood!!! Even when I was going through my bsn program,(80'S)the ave student age was late 20's which means, even then, nursing was not just for the very young.

Good luck on your studies...I found the hardest courses were A&P and pharm.

It's a hard job. You can't PAY us enough for what we do - we all survive though the secondary gains we receive...the satisfaction of (fill in the blank)! I hope you enjoy!

-Pat BSN,MS, NCC, CNM, APN, OK, and a bunch of other initials.....(why is nursing initial happy?)

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Specializes in PHN, NSG Supervisor.

I returned to nursing school with a 7 year old daughter, a 12 year old step son, was married and worked full time. We had a night nursing program at our community college. The first year, I took prereqs along with others who were around my age. I then applied to the night program and was accepted. I worked full time during the whole program except for the last semester and then I was able to quit work. It was very rough but if you want something bad enough you can do it. You just need to be committed to completing your education and have help from your spouse and my parents were very helpful with my daughter as well. I graduated at the top of my class and I never regreted my decision! Good luck! You can do it!

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Good for you! You've decided to be more. I'm 40 now. I started the return to school slowly. I took all science courses one at a time and had them all completed before nursing core courses. Your family will also experience a (nice) slow build up to you being in school full time. It is an adjustment; for you and everyone whose lives you touch.

I learned to say "no." It's hard to do initially as a SAHM is used to baking, helping in the classrooms, and driving everyone everywhere because you don't 'work.' It's easier to say and your children learn that you're never too old to better yourself and your family's lives.

I graduated nursing school 20 years after I graduated HS. I love my career as a Labor and Delivery nurse and wouldn't change a thing.

There may be times when one of your children is home sick and you need to study. Feel free to include them. They can hold flash cards and test you, even though they're ill. Life happens, be flexible and make it work for you and who you want to be!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Geriatric Psych, Med/Surg.

Well, let's put it this way. When I returned to school I was 38 with two children and newly divorced. No car and the place I went had an average of 300 inches of snow a year. I walked everywhere, worked in a bar until two a.m. and had to be in class or on the clinical floor by 7 am. I made it and so can you ~ and I was one of the better case scenerios. There was another lady a little older than I was with NINE kids who drove 1 1/2 hr each way every day and ging through a divorce at the time and she made it and a younger classmate who gave birth to twins during our med/surg semester. You become like family to each other and help each other through (god knows most of our instructors don't ~ the old saying is nurses eat their young and in our schools case it was very true). There are hundred of pages to read, get yourself either a Mosby review or NCLEX review book an it will pretty much tell you the same thing in 10 pages just the strict outline of what is necessary and important (say you are studying a certain disease ~ it gives you the signs, symptoms, care plan for it, etc. as well as practise testing in the back and is much easier to understand than reading 237 pages of the same thing said twelve different ways). This works for most but not all things and then of course your lecture notes. A lot of the testing is made up of these two thigns and your clinical experience.

Can you do it? Absolutely ~ IF YOU WANT TO. Everyone from our class made it through and all of us passed the boards on the first try. Remember that you cannot memorize things, you need to understand how they work together so that it is logical to you on the floor. Good luck and remember ~ reach for the stars. Everything having is worth working for and you're setting a GREAT example for your kids to follow!

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You CAN do it. :) I'm a SAHM to an almost 4yo and 2 1/2yo and I will finish up my pre/co-requisites next semester. :) When you truly want something, you'll find a way. Some days I feel like I'm crazy for all that I do, but I know it'll be so worth it in the end! Just remember to manage your time, and prioritize. If home isn't quite, hang around school a little longer, and study in the library, if you can. Sometimes, when I need to study, I give my munchkins "school work" to do along side of me. They love it, and I feel better knowing that they wont feel left out or ignored.

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I am 46, I have a handful of scattered credits from over the years, and just started back to school this month. I am weeding through the information on getting into a nursing school, fearful of the much younger competition, and worried that I can't do it - but I want it! So I'll muddle through.

I have 3 children, ranging in age from 5-19; a disabled husband; and haven't worked professionally outside the home in more than 10 years.

I'm so glad to have found this thread - the encouragement just from reading these pages helped cancel out the discouragement in a day's worth of reading all the pre-reqs I don't have!

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Have been a nurse 28 years now. I am considered to be professional, conscientious and caring.

NO WAY!!! would I do it again. We work like dogs, are unappreciated by administration, doctors and ancillary staff.Would you like to work Xmas eve for straight time, leave your kids at home on Xmas day and Easter? Also see the blog regarding physical abuse.

Nursing IS NOt soothing the fevered brow... rather a mind-numbing, back-breaking and exhausting effort to provide decent patient care in a field that is now a corporate controled environment.:eek:

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I have to agree with the nursing is hard work. I've never done anything harder. As I get older the 12 hr shifts are harder to handle, even if I only work 3 days a week. The problem is that some of those 12 hr days turn into 14 hr days or longer. If you haven't had time to chart during the day, then you stay late charting or helping start an IV because the night shift is short staffed.

I love what I do though. I know that is contadictory, but I can't help it. I always wanted to be a nurse. I went to school the first time when I was 32 and became a LVN. I started prereqs a few years later and then was accepted to an ADN transitional program. I wish I had my BSN, but don't think I'll do that at my age.

I wouln't discourage anyone from going back to school. I would encourage them to really get a good feel for nursing before they take the big plunge. Education can only benefit you, regardless of what field you choose.

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