Which nursing program with small kids?

[amb4]

Hi all, thanks for reading my question- I apologize in advance if I get a little wordy but I am all over the place here and could use some advice!

I have a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Dietetics that I received in 2006. Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to go to nursing school but never did for whatever reason. Now I am married with a 4 year old and 1 year old (with the hopes of having one more child in the next few years) and I can't seem to take my mind off of going to nursing school. I have strongly considered doing an accelerated BSN program, but have also looked into the two-year ADN programs at our local community college. The problem I am facing is the child-care situation. I am blessed in that I have always been able to stay home with my children so the thought of using outside child-care (and affording it) for 1-2 years for 2, possible 3 kids, makes the decision really difficult. Now here is the question (finally)- would it be worth my time and money to step first into a LPN program that I can do nights and weekends over a 24 month period, thus avoiding the childcare dilemma, and then gradually complete my RN and eventually BSN as time permits when my kids are in school? Or would it make sense just to wait until all my children are in school full-time and then do a one-year accelerated BSN program? Before I rack up thousands of dollars in loans for a RN or BSN program, it would also be nice to have the assurance that nursing is still for me which could be done by completing a LPN program for relatively cheap yet doing everything in these steps is going to take several more years than just completing a RN or BSN program. Any advice or personal experience you can relate??

Again, I apologize for rambling but it helps when I can lay all my thoughts out...Thanks!

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

I don't know what is going to be right for you, but I will tell you that nursing school is hard. I'm sure you've heard that before. Right now in my second semester of an ADN program, many of my friends and myself are experiencing family discord. The family suddenly doesn't have a person in the normal role of mom or wife, and the loss of that is causing problems. You'll fly through your first semester of fundamentals and think it was easy. The next semester you get into med surg, a specialty (ours is psychology nursing) and maybe pharmacology. The time you have for your family is extremely limited. Please do not think that these courses will be easy. The material might be easy but the shear amount of information covered in a short amount of time is what makes school hard.

Do you have the family support that you'll need. Will the husband be able to pick up more of the "mom" duties while working. Do you have family living close by that can help out by watching the kids when you have a test coming up? Do you have a support system?

If you are going to have to rely on paid help to watch the children and the budget can't handle it right now, then work for a year at a part time job. You could get your CNA certification and work as a CNA for a year to see what nursing is. It will give you first hand knowledge of what the nurses have to do and also allow you to help those nurses. Put your paychecks into a savings account to pull from if you do need outside help with the children.

Nursing school is hard, rewarding, amazing, heart-breaking, and will be the best and worst experience you ever have. Knowing when to start is up to you. What I write is just what I and others have gone through, and may not be your experience, but I hope my honesty has been helpful. Best of luck to you!

[amb4]

Thank you so much for your insight missmollie. The fortunate thing is that I do have a great support system with my husband and my parents who are also in town (they are retired, though, and I feel it would be a huge burden to them to watch our kids full-time. With that being said, they have told me they would help out). As far as my husband helping out with most of the "mom" duties during the evenings and weekends- I know that he would step it up but I don't think he truly understands how much he would have to take on, lol, and I know he would burn out very quick and become frustrated. Also, I do have my CNA license luckily but need to get that renewed/updated before I could work.

Thanks again- I know this is something I just need to decide for myself at this point because there is no easy path!