school nurse as a mom

Specialties School

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I am debating on switching to school nursing. im curious on how you handle your own children's school events. im worried about missing field trips and field days. i love going to their classroom to read. but how do you make this work? thanks!

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

I've been a school nurse for 3 years and I have 3 kids in school. I think it works great. Granted I work in the same school as my kids attend - that makes a big difference. I can pop in to every class party, I do read books to their classes - only know its about handwashing and the flu! If I want to go along on a field trip, I just request the day off. You could always ask admin if you could go along as the school nurse. I was given the ok to do this for our track and field days. I took a chair, blanket, cooler of water, and first aid bag and watched my kids do their events all while getting paid! Just as in any other job - there are ways to make it all work.

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Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.

You're right...it's a trade off. Sometimes I feel bad that I can't do as much with my younger two as I did with my older two. Dad has stepped in a few times for field trips. But you could use personal time. If you've got a nice principal you might even be able to take unpaid time.

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Specializes in School health, pediatrics.

I am not able to do anything during school days UNLESS my district is off and my son's is not. However, I typically just enjoy my time alone, lol. The trade off is that I am home when he gets home, I can help with homework, eat dinner as a family, wake him up in the morning, etc on all school days.

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What I always say is that working as a school nurse is great because I have the exact same schedule as my kids. And the hard part is that I have the exact same schedule. I haven't been able to get into my kids' classrooms as much unless I use personal time. My supervisor is VERY family friendly and has no problem letting me take a couple hours to go to special events (school day concerts, bring your mom to school day). For a classroom party, it would be harder. but the summers off and all holidays and home by 4 more than make up for that (for me).

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

It's been my experience here and in talking to others, the campus admin is usually very cooperative if you want to participate in something involving your own kids.

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Specializes in Peds, School Nurse, clinical instructor.

We do have personal time however it is nearly impossible for me to get a sub. When my Son was at my school, it was easier.

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Specializes in as above.

some you will miss, some you wont.

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I wasn't able to work at the same school my kids were at when they were in elementary - I would just take the 1/2 day or full day personal time off to do the field trips, field day etc. When my kids were in middle and high school they were involved with cheer, drill and band - very lucky to have a nice principal that would allow me to leave campus for an hour to attend the pep rallies - I would work it out with our secretary and she would cover the clinic while I was gone.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Women's Health,School Nursing.

One of the main reasons I became a school nurse is because its the perfect 'mom career'. I do not work in the same district as my children (about to have my 4th, 2 of them are in school) but I am in the same county and only 20 min away--due to this we tend to have the same exact school schedule regarding holidays, snow days, late starts/early dismissals etc. This has been a life saver not having to scramble to find someone to watch my school aged kids when their school closes due to weather because 99.9% of the time my school has closed to. Now the down side is our lack of substitutes. Due to this and how invested I am in the kids that I care for in the elementary school I find it VERY hard to take personal and sick days (but thats me--I feel guilty) which has led to some 'disagreements' between my husband and me as to who has to stay home the next time one of our kids are sick.

It is so nice though knowing I get to walk out of my work place at 330 while a lot of my nursing friends are doing 12 hours shifts and not getting home until 8pm or even when I worked in the office setting I was not getting home until 6--I'd never be able to run my kids to all the sports/activities after school. Plus who can beat having a whole week off for christmas and never having to worry about if its your weekend to work?

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Yes, I miss a few things I'd like to attend for my kids during the school day but I never have to worry about working Christmas, Thanksgiving, or other important holidays so it's a total win to me!

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Specializes in School Nurse.

I started in Elementary school after my oldest was enrolled there and roughly moved up with him. Yeah, I didn't go on field trips, but a lot of parents don't. Since I pretty much work school hours, I didn't miss out on whatever extracurriculars the kids had. Now they're grown, but I stayed in high school.

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