What would you do? Too much on my plate.

[Anonymous]

My thoughts? We need social workers. Your kid needs to have his parent available to him, more.

Perhaps put more coursework on the back burner until your kid is enrolled in full-time K and an after school enrichment program.

[Anonymous]

I’m confused about your DH being laid off until January. Do you mean since January, 2024? Or do you mean until January, 2025. At any rate, can’t he do the childcare, pick ups, etc while he’s not working?

[Anonymous]

all this happened when your husband was laid off?

sorry its his family so why isn't he making meals for the freezer when he's not working; picking up the kid; etc.

will never understand how 2 parents are struggling when there is one kid

[Anonymous]

all this happened when your husband was laid off?

sorry its his family so why isn't he making meals for the freezer when he's not working; picking up the kid; etc.

will never understand how 2 parents are struggling when there is one kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused about your DH being laid off until January. Do you mean since January, 2024? Or do you mean until January, 2025. At any rate, can’t he do the childcare, pick ups, etc while he’s not working?

Sorry, he was laid off from about August 2023 - January 2024. He just started working again last month.

He has been working Monday - Friday, from about 4:30AM - 5 or 5:30PM. He was asked to work some saturdays too for overtime.

[Anonymous]

A few questions: why nursing? Do you think it would be fulfilling or just looking for a pay increase? If nursing won’t pay significantly more AND it’s not something you’re passionate about, I’d shift my focus to finding a new better-paying job in your current field or (possibly) revisiting school once your kid is in elementary and more independent. if you can do a 5 day a week work schedule with less hours per day, that would allow you time to workout and care for yourself. Your schedule is not at all sustainable, but I applaud your willingness to hustle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My thoughts? We need social workers. Your kid needs to have his parent available to him, more.

Perhaps put more coursework on the back burner until your kid is enrolled in full-time K and an after school enrichment program.

+1. You also seem uncertain about nursing so waiting a couple of years will mean you don't waste more money on coursework you won't use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A 70% may not be "failing" the course. It is often curved. Finish the course. Nothing else needs to be decided. Finish something you have started.

I don’t know how competitive it is to get into a nursing program.

Do you need good grades?

I would drop the class for now.

I am assuming this is community college. Are you young? Were you a teen mom?

If you don’t have a degree and not earning a high income, I would consider going into debt and going to school full time.

Quite competitive with a limited number of spots, a 2.0 GPA is the minimum, which means I would need to get at least 73-76% in my pre-requisites. I'm sitting at about a 3.3GPA, but not doing well in chemistry. I still have 3 more courses to go.

It's a community college course. I'm 34, I graduated with a bachelors in social work in 2014 but didn't take any math or science courses at all, it has never been my forte. I've been in my field for over a decade and earn ~110K as a supervisor. I had my son when I was 29.

Nursing is not a better paying job unless you become a nurse practitioner.

Do you have family close by? You need help to do this.

I have a friend who is doing her prerequisites for nursing but she is a SAHM. Even without a job, she is finding it difficult to study and do all her work while kids are out of the house as she can’t get anything done when kids are in the house. She has 2 kids, not just 1. Like you, she majored in a non science and very rusty. I think her husband takes the kids on weekends so she can study.

Can your husband give you at least one full day to sfudy?

[Anonymous]

Put your son in after care from 3pm to 6pm.

[Anonymous]

I would be tempted to drop the class for now and put school on hold for the rest of this year. Next year your son will be in K and you can get aftercare. See how it goes and if you are still interested, go back t school next spring. Your husband’s job should be more stable by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As much as we tell ourselves you can do anything you want, it’s simply not true. Children are limiting and small children are very limiting. That’s why we encourage youngsters to get their degree before getting pregnant even though it’s much better to have your children in your early 20s, because trying to raise children and be in school is extremely difficult without a lot of generational support or hired help.

I’m really sorry, OP, but you have to back off on your commitments for now. I work in IT and rarely work overtime and have been able to raise my only child successfully with a good work life balance.

Thank you. I have a degree in social work, but thought I would like to try something in the STEM or medical field.

I'm realizing now nursing is not realistic at this stage in my life. There's no way I would be able to manage the in-person labs for nursing or clinical placements.

I'd like to think about IT or cybersecurity though, I've done the math requirements at least. Not sure IT would be as demanding for in-person classes or practicum hours though.

You need to stop jumping from career idea to career idea. The time for that was before you had kids. Figure out how to use the degree you have in a way that supports what you and your family need.

[Anonymous]

Really only you can decide this.

Flip a coin. What do you hope it lands on while it's in the air?

[Anonymous]

Stop the nursing. You are a SW and that’s a great career. If you are making 110 WFH that’s great. Are you an LCSW? Focus on parenting and job. Eventually when your kid is older you can make a career shift into another part of SW and do patient care or something if that’s what you are missing.

[Anonymous]

Why are you trying to leave your current job/field? The schedule you’re proposing is insane. I work full time from home and my 4yo being home overlaps with my work hours by 30-45 minutes some days and that’s bad enough. Arrange for childcare during your work hours and stop trying to jump start a new career until you can stand to take a break on your current and/or parenting. Stop trying to do everything; try to do one thing at a time and do it well. (Although this is hard with little kids; big hugs.)

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should put your child in a daycare center vs preschool. The hours are longer. Or find a mother's helper for the hours you are working.

I wouldn't switch fields, it sounds like a lateral move pay wise for a lot of work. Maybe when your son is older, you can explore this but now does not seem to be the right time, unless you are looking for a way to make yourself stressed out as well as spend less time with your son.