NS with school age kids-

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Hi everyone,

I am hoping to be accepted to start in August 2010 to a two year ADN program. My question is how do you all get the kids to school on clinical days or when they get sick and they can't go to school? Do you have a sitter on reserve or a full time person? I am married but our kids go to 3 different schools and dh has to be at work early. i have been in school for years but it is always around my schedule and if someone is sick, i usually can miss one or two days without falling behind. I know that won't be the case next year. I do have someone that comes into help on Mondays and I can probably hire her for another day but the other three, I am out of luck without hiring someone else. No family nearby either.

Thanks for the ideas.

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In your situation, can you do one of the aftercare places that do pickups? Many around here at least, have a bus that they send around to the schools to pick up the students and take them to the center for aftercare.

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I, too, have school age children... and it's amazing how everything seems to work. I have missed a day or two of lecture for sick kids, and my husband has had to miss a day or two of work, but we've made it work. ALL the luck to you!!!

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We are lucky in that my mil doesn't work and lives nearby. She will help out in a pinch in the afternoon with getting our oldest off the bus and staying with him until one of us gets home. We only needed her a handful of times.

My husband has a job with flexibility and has been able to put our oldest on the bus in the morning--I take my younger two to daycare on my way to school. I know our daycare has a program where they drop-off/pick-up kids from school and they even have some school buses that stop there as well.

I had clinicals Sat/Sun and that worked out well last semester. I'm not sure how we will work it next semester if I'm not on the weekends though. We will figure it out though. Probably will have to rely on neighbors for our oldest.

My husband agreed that he would be the one to take off if a kiddo was sick and his mom couldn't make it.

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you need back ups to your back ups. You probably do need someone full time and then several back ups just in case. My school is not so forgiving of missing lecture or clinicals. If the poster above went to my school she would have failed. We are allowed to miss one day. If you miss two you fail, If you are late twice that equals one absence. Therefore 1 absence and 2 tardies equal fail. My husband schedules himself around part of my school week, my mil schedules herself around the other part of the week and I have 6 people on back up.

I suppose you will need to hire someone you are not in pre-reqs.

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Thanks for the replies. We live in a smallish town (50k people) and don't have any daycare services that take kids to school. My dh is a higher up in a tech company so taking days off, unless it is a dire emergency, isn't possible. I have decided, in an effort to not worry over things that may not happen, to quit worrying. If this nursing school gig is meant for me, then God will provide the open doors I need for help. I seem to be my own worst enemy sometimes and have been doubting this whole continued school thing. I really think it is the fear of failure, even though i am an A student, that is causing me all these worries. So, I am taking this off the table. If I get in, then I will hire someone to help I guess. Thanks for the replies!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Having an emergency person is good idea. I don't have anyone here for help. My husband works out of town 5 months of the year. He just left a few weeks ago. First semester I got H1N1 and so did my daughter, I missed a clinical day (we can't miss more then 2 or we are dismissed from the program). Well my daughter got sick on a Friday and I was hoping she would be better by that Monday which was my clinical day. She wasn't, my husband is self employed so he was able to stay home with her, only problem was, he is the one that makes money so every day he can't work it's money we don't have and he doesn't have employees or anything.

By wendesday he had stayed with her every day and she was not getting better, she was getting worse, (well she got better for like a day and then got worse). I took her in and she had gotten the H1N1 also but what was keeping her sick was she got Bronchitis. (she is 2). Anyway, by Friday she was finally able to go back to school.

I have no idea how that would have worked if my husband was already gone. Now that he is gone I keep trying to tell myself she already got sick so she is good now. If there is an emergency though on a clinical day I am not sure what I will do, no family close by, friends work and are in school with me. I suppose worst case scenario is I would keep my Teenage son home from school to watch her. He already will be watching her and his brothers 2 days a week for my clinicals (I am on evenings this upcoming semester) so hopefully because of that I could find back up easier.

Thankfully the only person I have to take to school is my daughter. 2 of my sons go to Elementary and it's right across the street from my house and my oldest is in his last year of Middle School and takes the bus.

All you can do is try to have a plan A,B and C in place.

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That is the exact thing I worry about Mi Vida Loca! I got so sick with H1N1 and ended up hospitalized twice over November. I ended up taking an incomplete in math and kids missed lots of school with so many emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Luckily my dh did take off some time with this one because it was so dire. But i know I can't count on him as my sick day kid back up and I'll have to line my ducks up ahead of time. I really have to have FAITH that so far, I have worked things out and done well. I have decided not to worry about what if's anymore! Glad you all got better!!

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