Nursing School and Child Care

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For all the moms, how do you handle child care? I am a mom of three and was just accepted into nursing school for fall 2010. The schedule was just posted and it's a mess. Normally, it's a three day a week program, but the clinicals are split over two days next semester, so now it's four days a week. I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 am two days, which make finding daycare really hard. My mother-in-law said she would help out a couple of days a week, but showing up at her house at 6 am would probably be more than she could handle. Lecture is two days a week, but they are all at different times. That won't work for preschool since they start and end at the same time. They are also on set days, too (MWF or TuTh). I've been calling around and spending way too much time trying to work this out. Any suggestions?

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I started NS when my kids were 1 and 2.5, and it was a major ordeal...I feel your pain! My husband has always had a flexible job, so on the mornings when I had to be at clinical at 6:30 I would lay out all of their gear for the day and he would get them ready and take them to my parent's house or my in-laws. Then, they would shuttle them to daycare, and my husband would pick them up.

Now they are 5 and 6.5, and both in school so it is much, much easier. I pay for before and after school care, so my husband drops them off on his way in to work and I pick them up in the evenings. It's one of those things that you can't ever really plan out much ahead of time...it just works it's way out. That's what I found anyway.

Good luck to you!

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Hi!! I wanted to let you know how I handle nursing school....first off I am a mother of four boys and a second semester RN student. My kids ages are 13 yr, 5yr, 2 yr and a 15 month old :lol2: so you talk about TOUGH. My oldest two are in school and my youngest two are in Daycare but on Thursdays I have clinicals from 6:30 am til 1:00 pm...so my grandmother comes over on Wednesday evening and spends the night. I leave my house around 5:45 am so she gets the kids up and ready for school and then takes the youngest two to daycare for me. I really could not do this with my grandmother's help. As for my other classes....Mon they are 9:00am - 3:00 pm, I am OFF on Tuesdays ,Wednesday 9:00 am - 12:00 and then my clinical day is Thursday AND OFF on Fridays. Now for summer semester I have not EVEN began to think about...I just wanna get through this one:uhoh3:!!! Good Luck to ya!!!

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I wish my husband could help out a little more, but he's always out of town. When he is in town he has to leave at 6:45 am. That makes it so hard. I considered before school care for my oldest, but I still would have to do something with my other two kids. They are 2 and 4.

Wow...four boys. If you can do it, I can find a way! I wish my mil would come to my house in the morning so they wouldn't have to wake up so early, but she only likes for the kids to come to her house for some reason. That's great your grandmother will do that. I know if my mom didn't work she would help me out.

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I have 2 boys ages 4 and 2 and with my ever changing schedule the ONLY way I make it work is keeping them enrolled in daycare full time. It's expensive but I always have care available and I don't have to screw their schedule up because mine is so screwed up.

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My college offers a weekend/evening option for their spring RN program, so that is what I am going to do.

But for you...I am wondering if you could perhaps hire a college student who could sleep at your house (like the above poster's grandmother) and take care of them in the morning, and take them to daycare at a reasonable time for you.

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Maybe look for a flexible daycare center in someones home. This is my first semester so my schedule isn't too crazy and I guess I'm lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) to have my clinical on a Saturday in the evening so my husband is able to care for our nine month old daughter. Next semester is going to be hell though, as my schedule is going to be totally random and clinicals will start at 6am, but the expectation of us is to be there at 5:45am and I live about 30 min from most of our clinical sites. To top it off my husband is in the military, and his next duty station is an hour and a half away and he has to be at work by 7am fighting traffic and all! I may be dropping my daughter off at 5am maybe earlier! We have no family in the area to help whatsoever. Luckily my provider is AWESOME! She is more than willing to take her that early...she told me not to expect anything pretty answering the door though! She also told me if there were any last minute changes, just make sure to at least text her when I was around the corner to make sure she could throw some decent clothes on! Lol. Good luck to you though, hope you find a provider or someone who will be flexible with your schedule.

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People literally fight over home daycare providers around here. I doubt I'll be able to find one knowing what friends went through when they were looking for someone.

I looked into full-time care, but it would be $1400 a month for the two younger ones and an extra $144 a month (2 days only) for before school care for my oldest. That's crazy!

I told my mil about my schedule and she wasn't too happy. She's going on vacation for two weeks in September, too. That just about knocked the wind out of me. I only decided to pursue nursing because she said she would help me out. Now that I'm finally here, I feel like she's changing her mind. Ugh.

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I have three kids--one in 1st grade and the other two are daycare age. Our schedule is all kinds of nuts and there are days where I'm at school or clinical everyday--this week is one of them. I leave my house at different hours and get home at different times almost everyday. Dh puts the oldest on the bus and I take the little ones to school, except on clinical days. Dh takes everyone that day. Wednesdays that I have exams, I have all three and I have to drop my oldest with a neighbor to catch the bus. My mil normally watches the oldest after school (out of town this week; neighbor helping out) and when one of the kids get sick. Dh fills in any other gaps that absolutely need filling.

It's a crazy schedule, but daycare is the only way I can make it through. Expensive, but keeps some of my sanity intact.

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i also start nursing school in fall 2010, but i don't know what the clinical schedule will be like. they did tell us that we will be in school everyday though. i have a 4 yr old and an almost 2 year old. the 4 yr old will be in prek this fall. my husband works 3rd shift and usually gets home at 8:30am. thankfully his job has been working with him thus far and will continue to do so. so if i have clinicals on say...tuesday, he can request to have mondays off so that he'll be home on tuesday mornings and he can drop the kids off. if something were to happen and his job couldn't work it out, then i'd have to hire someone to come get the kids and drop them off.

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Maybe you could find a babysitter who could come to your home and care for your kids for you. There are lots of college kids looking for an extra way to make money. you could interview people and pick the best candidate. I know a lady that has an autistic daughter, and she hired a speech path major to care for her daughter in the afternoons.

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I'm all about the nanny option. My husband would love to help as much as he could but his job can have some crazy demands that he has to meet and I can't really rely on him without a backup plan. Right now I'm not yet in nursing school but I work part time two days a week. I have a college grad student that picks up my kids (2 and 4) from preschool on one day and gets to my house at 7am on another. I've found that with more than one kid the nanny can be cheaper than full time daycare. I start prereqs this summer, a 4 week A&P. I'll be using a part time nanny and hopefully a neighborhood teenager that can play with the kids while I study.

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