NP's with families...

[smkiya, BSN, RN]

I have young children and work full-time. I do not want to be in gaduate school for 5 years, but am afraid that I will completely miss two years of my childrens lives if I go full throttle. How did you balance school, family, and work while in graduate school? How long did it take you to complete your graduate program? If you went full throttle, looking back, was it worth it or would you have done things differently? If you took your time, same question, would you have done things differently?

[Blessedx3]

I would encourage you to look back a couple of pages. Someone posted "My heart isn't in it anymore." There is a lot of good advice there. I am graduating in 3 weeks. Worked full time with full time school the first year. I have 3 children. I still stand by the fact that you can't do it all GREAT...just not humanly possible.

Things I would have done different: 1)I would have taken all the writing courses and extra non-clinical courses BEFORE starting clinicals. Clinicals and the required paperwork take so much time. When you add multiple 8-10 page papers--it's very hard when everyone needs your time.

2) Go part-time at work. Apply for grants, scholarships, save in advance. Whatever it takes to still have quality and memorable time with your children. Regardless of how much school you have that day- Keep your rituals-whether it's a bedtime routine, walking the dog--whatever--that they can look forward to.

Parenting is the most important job you will ever have. You do lose a lot of time with them if you are in school full time..and although I am proud to be finishing--it's always at some cost. I waited until my youngest started kindergarten--had saved quite a bit of money--etc... It can be done--but I wish I had planned a little more in advance. Hope this helps! Best of luck.

[peaceful]

I agree with Blessed X3, go part time take all writing courses, core courses (theory, research, patho, pharm, assessment) first.

[mom2cka]

I am 2 years into an NP program, going part-time (it will take 5 years total) while working full-time. It's tough, but working - my kids are 11, 1 1/2, 3 1/2. I tend to do a lot of school stuff after the kids go to sleep, listen to my patho lectures while driving to work and try to keep my school separate from the family time. I know I won't be able to do that the whole way through, but for now it's working. I'm also taking all that I can before I jump into the clinicals, at which time I am hoping to save enough PTO and work with my very supportive director to take either a LOA or temporary drop to PT (I hold our benefits, my husband is a SAH dad). Good luck!

[BCgradnurse, MSN, RN, NP]

I worked part time, went to school full time, and put pretty much all else aside for 2 years. It did help that my kids were older (middle school and high school). We all had to make sacrifices, but I am so glad I did it this way. I'm back to work full time on a great schedule, and we're all better off financially and life is back to normal (whatever that is!).