Question on majoring in child physcology

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Hello Everyone ,

My name is Alicia! I'm 16 years old and i'll be a junior in high school! Well.. My mom wants me to look into child physcology for a career! I'm looking on how to major in it and does anyone know know if it's called something different? I've been trying to look it up on the net for about a day now and all it gives me is other stuff! I'm trying to find colleges and stuff, which features physcology! I'll take any information you have if your welling to give it out to me!

Thanks,

Alicia

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Specializes in NICU.

I could be wrong, but I believe psychology is a lot like nursing - for your bachelor's degree, you just major in psych and learn every age group. Then if you want to specialize in child psychology, you get your Master's degree in that area afterwards. Just a bit of advice - it's VERY hard to get a good job in psychology without a Master's degree, and the competition to get into psychology Master's programs is FIERCE! If you still are interested in nursing, that is probably the "safer" route to go, because it's much easier to find a job. But again, nursing and psychology are two different fields, so you still need to go with your heart. Good luck!

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Yeah, I'd rather be a Nurse! But.. I guess my mom has other plans for me! I just know I want to do something with children!

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Specializes in NICU.
Yeah, I'd rather be a Nurse! But.. I guess my mom has other plans for me! I just know I want to do something with children!

Then go for nursing! You WILL be able to get a job working with kids. There is the pediatric floor with stable sick kids, pediatric intensive care with very sick kids, doctor's offices, school nursing, camp nursing, etc.

Seriously, I know seven people who graduated with degrees in psychology. Five of them have jobs now that have NOTHING AT ALL to do with psychology because nothing is available. One actually wants to do marriage counseling, but is living and working at an all-boys math academy as an advisor to the kids instead (all he could find) and has been trying to get accepted into ANY school's graduate program to get his Master's degree - for over two years now. The last one is on his way to a PhD in psychology. He's been out of high school for ten years now, and except for student teaching and office jobs at his university, he's NEVER had a real job.

Everybody I know who has a nursing degree got a nursing job within a few months of graduation, and all of them where in their area of choice!

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Yeah.. my mom has huge expectations of me though! So.. I don't know what i'm going to do! She said for nursing you have to take a lot of tests after you graduate! So.. She didn't want me to do it!

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Specializes in NICU.
Yeah.. my mom has huge expectations of me though! So.. I don't know what i'm going to do! She said for nursing you have to take a lot of tests after you graduate! So.. She didn't want me to do it!

The only test you have to take after nursing is your state board test - the NCLEX - and I know many more people who have passed that than have gotten into psychology graduate programs!!!

If you want to do nursing, do nursing! It's your life, not your mother's. Maybe ask her what exactly she has against nursing? Child psychology is no more prestigious than pediatric nursing! She seems very negative about this profession.

My mom worked in a doctor's office for 30 years, and when I wanted to go to nursing school she tried to stop me. She didn't understand that doctor's offices and hospitals are very different - she thought I would be bored in an office. I would be! Instead I work in the hospital in a NICU (newborn/neonatal intensive care) and now she's always bragging to everyone about how I work with such tiny, sick babies, and help them survive. Talk to your mom!!!

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How about psych nursing? Or maybe somehow combining psych nursing and pedi nursing (is that possible?).

Nursing is a lot more flexible in terms of jobs. If for some reason you don't like psych or pedi stuff later, you can always switch to something else. In psychology, if you find you don't like it, you are stuck. As mentioned already, with psychology, you really need at least a master degree and getting into graduate school in psychology is really really really tough. Actually with psychology, you really want a Ph.D. With just a bach degree, you are not going to get anything in your area unless you are extremely lucky.

And if you are really into research and stuff, you can always go to nursing graduate school and yourself a Ph.D. in nursing.

Maybe another question is - what is your heart telling you?

Guess you really need to find out why your mom wants you to go into child psych. Remember most people don't know too much about modern nursing and have no idea how varied it can be (from Nursing Informatic to Nursing Attorney).

-Dan

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You guys know a lot about Nursing that's all I can say! I think i'm going to into Nursing even though my Mom isn't to happy with it! I love kids and I just want to help them as much as possible!!

Gompers-- with the NCLEX is it hard? haha.. I mean most tests are and everything but I get really get stressed over tests so I figured that's why my mom didn't want me to go into Nursing! My family doesn't believe in medicine a whole heck of a lot! I think that's the problem by grandfather has a business in the chiropractic field! My granfather is very old fashion and doesn't take any medication! I don't even think he has a family doctor! He doesn't even take advil! So.. I think that's why my mom is a little worried! I talked to my mom last night and she said she just doesn't want me to limit myself!

Danu3-- My heart is telling me to go into pediatric nursing or neonatal! I just know I want to work with kids!

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You guys know a lot about Nursing that's all I can say! I think i'm going to into Nursing even though my Mom isn't to happy with it! I love kids and I just want to help them as much as possible!!

Your mom may change in the future after she finds out what nursing is really all about. It is ok to disagree with your mom as long as you do it in a respectable way, a way that honors her. Your mom might have other fears in which you might want to find out and address them if possible.

Gompers-- with the NCLEX is it hard? haha.. I mean most tests are and everything but I get really get stressed over tests so I figured that's why my mom didn't want me to go into Nursing!

In psychology at the graduate level, you also need a "test" usually in the form of an oral exam and that is no cake walk. With NCLEX, at least you can prepare for them and get support/tips here and everywhere else since it is a standard test.

There is a funny book call "I always faint when I see a syringe - Nurse Student Tales" by Florence Hardesty. The author is a psych nurse and she is a prof. Anyway in there she has examples of student nurses who did not do well on test and they turned out to be great nurses.

Try "Majoring Nursing - From Prerequisites to Postgraduate Study and Beyond" by Janet Katz. Small book, easy read, good if you are wondering if nursing is for you. Also she has a good sense of humor too like she confessed she hate blood. Here is a quote from the book to give you a feel "...A nursing degree can be used to work in or out of hospitals, in helicopters, on boats, and in the home. Nurses work for the US government in the military, at the National Institutes of Health, at the Centers for Disease Control, and in Congress as representatives or senators. Nurses work internationally for relief organizations, large corporations, foreign schools, or small village clinics.

Nurses save lives, take care of people who are dying, provide pain relief, do scientific research, run hospitals, and design computer systems. With advanced degrees nurses deliver babies, run their own clinics, provide primary care, give anesthesia to people undergoing surgery, and become lawyers in medical law. All nurses are teachers and counselors and, in one way or another, help people live healthier lives..."

Now does your mom know all these? Talk about flexibility.

My family doesn't believe in medicine a whole heck of a lot! I think that's the problem by grandfather has a business in the chiropractic field! My granfather is very old fashion and doesn't take any medication! I don't even think he has a family doctor! He doesn't even take advil! So.. I think that's why my mom is a little worried! I talked to my mom last night and she said she just doesn't want me to limit myself!

This is going to be semantic, but nursing is not medicine. Nursing and medicine are actually two different fields and they do overlap. You might let your family know gently that you are not into medicine, but nursing. With medicine, your focus tends to be on the disease or illness. With nursing, your focus tends to be on the whole person, from biological to pscyhological to social to spiritual dimension of the person. A good health team will consists of people who are in medicine and people in nursing and other people in other special areas. As for limiting yourself, nursing actually have the opposite effect, it expands your possibilities.

Danu3-- My heart is telling me to go into pediatric nursing or neonatal! I just know I want to work with kids!

Then go for it especially if you feel it is a "calling". You want to be the lucky people who actually like their professions.

Maybe you want to read the above books suggested (don't know if they have it in the lib or not) and show some interesting parts to your mom. Your mom has your best interests at heart. She just need to be educated as to what MODERN nursing is about as it has changed a lot since your mom's generation.

-Dan

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Thanks Dan! I'll look into buying those books depends how much they may cost! I love barnes and nobles! They probably carry them there! Yeah.. I guess i'm just the generation, which will change things in my family a bit!

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Greetings!!! Take things one at a time. Try to arrange a visit with a pediatric nurse...maybe you could follow one for a few hours on their unit. Also, there are lots of volunteer jobs a most hospitals...maybe you could present yourself to the Candy Striper Director and let her know you are interested in peds and see if you can be assigned there. Also...let your mom know this...I am a Psych RN...do charge work...anyway the Social Workers and Therapists on most Psych units have their Master's degree...I think I make more $$ than they do...and there is about a 6 to 1 ratio of RN's to therapists where I work...so that translates to more job security with Nursing!!

Anyway...don't get your Mom too upset...use some "theraputic communication" (that is what Nurses call how they talk to patients) with your Mom. Tell her that you are really Thankfull for her suggestions and that you will for sure keep them in mind while you are checking out all of your options....she may actually have some contacts with hospital staff since she worked in a doctors office and could help you with networking and getting hospital visits set up.

One more thing....know that any post high school education that you do will require LOTS of studying and LOTS of tests....no matter which field you go into. Most people over time get "use" to taking tests and having litle time for anything else but classes and studying while in school...but it is very rewarding in the long run!!

God Bless and Good Luck!!!

PS...Glad you like Barnes and Noble....spent LOTS of time there with my books and study groups going over lectures and preparing for tests!!! ( Maybe I should have bought B and N stock!!)

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You kinda got me a little mixed up with Dan! haha.. My mom isn't a doctor! I wish! No worries though! Your advice was still excellent! Yeah.. I love Barnes and Nobles to bad it's about an hour and a half away!

I talked to my mom a bit in the car tonight on the way to an appointment! I told her about the book "Majoring Nursing"--Prerequisites to Postgraduate study and beyond By Janet R. Katz! I think I'm going to order it over the internet and have it shipped to me when I buy a couple other books from Barnes and Nobles! She told me that my grandfather "might" disown me after going into Nursing! But.. If he can't get over it I really don't care! Well.. I do but not all that much! The hospital we have around here isn't all that big! But.. next summer i'm thinking on checking into a camp they have there and seeing what I can get myself into! At my school they have something called "Shadowing" where you follow someone around for the day! And.. the teacher i'm going to have this year! I think she said 2 years ago her sister was a nurse! But.. if she isn't I know a lot of people that have contacts who would probably beable to help me out on some level!

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