Would you rather?

The first option sounds great, to me. I don't know what your long term goals are, though.

Your second grader is your full time job. Don't stress yourself out, so you can enjoy raising the kidlet.

You will have plenty of time to advance your career. Have time with your child While they are young.

A slightly boring but enjoyable job with good hours is always better than a opportunity that makes you miserable and takes away all your time. (ICU could be great, but tends to be a hard adjustment)

I agree with the above posts.  Your child will only be a child once. It is a gift that you're able to offer stability, security, and your presence during these weird and uncertain times. Critical care units will still need nurses 5-10 years from now when your little doesn't need an active and physically present mama quite as much. 

Instead of looking at a career change, could you do something while home with your little to help you feel more fulfilled in your career? I.e. higher degree, specialty certification, self-driven learning about critical care nursing topics so that one day, when you make the jump, you are well prepared

If the first job is PRN can you keep it while trying out the ICU job? 
 

There have been times in my life where pays the bills and doesn’t stretch me professionally is what works best and times when I want more fulfillment from work. When my kids were babies I did that but having a per diem job that was easy to meet minimum requirements for allowed me to take a full time job there easily when I was ready for a change.

14 hours ago, beeker said:

Stay at an easy (but super boring) job with great hours thats PRN

or

Go for a critical care position that will be super stressful and like being a new grad again, but be challenging and you will learn a lot. But its full time. 

 

I have a second grader at home, so PRN has been nice. But I have been feeling super unfulfilled at my job as of late and thinking of going back to school or looking elsewhere. But at the same time, I am not sure I can handle ICU and I am afraid I will fail. And afraid Ill regret leaving a job with cush hours. 

I don’t regret my critical care nursing background at all. I had a great team, learned a ton, and was able to learn multiple roles in the ER. It’s helped me so much with applying to other jobs. However, critical care nursing is stressful and a huge learning curve.  I think the turning point for me was when I had multiple stressors in my personal life and then the job became so stressful that I “brought work home” so to speak. After that, I decided I needed a nursing speciality change and jumped into the surgical nursing wagon. My advice? Critical care nursing will always be there but your little one won’t be that young forever. Enjoy the job flexibility and the stress free job so you can spend time with your family.

Thanks all. I've been really dissatisfied at my job, so I work less but I ahve been considering going back to school for Psych NP. This could be done part time. I feel like my brain misses learning but I am afraid critical care might be too intense.