Depending on the kind of duties you have, the place where you work and what type of crowd you handle at your clinic, the amount of pressure may vary a lot, but handling the duties of the job is not easy for any nurse in the world, especially when they also have a family to take care of.
As lives depend on you quite literally, it is not easy to shove off responsibilities and spend more time with your family, irrespective of how much you may actually want to do that. So, how should you handle your occupational and family responsibilities at the same time, without letting one overwhelm the other? This is a hard question to answer, but it’s possible still.
Don’t Let the Stress Follow You Back Home
This is one of the important bits that a lot of people in emergency service and care fail to employ with full effectiveness, although they cannot be blamed either. The nature of the jobs is such that police officers, ER doctors, first responders and ER nurses, in particular, are completely stressed out at the end of their shift. To come back home with a smiling face that doesn’t show any of what you are feeling inside can be extremely difficult and just impossible at times.
Thankfully, though, there are ways to cope with the stress and minimize its impact on your duties as a mom on most days. Go through the following techniques and you will find it easier to return home with a smile.
- After a bad day, hit the gym for 15 minutes before going back home
- Bring home treats and gifts for the children on a particularly bad day; it’s as much for them as they are for you
- Never go home immediately after a bad day, meet someone for a coffee or take a stroll
- Take a cold/hot shower either at the facility or immediately after getting home
- Meditation really does work; just 10-minutes of it before leaving the facility can really help
The general idea is that when the children see that you have come back, they should look at a mom who exudes happiness and positivity at seeing them.
When it comes to family time, quality is of more importance than quantity. Even if you can only spend two hours with the children before it’s bedtime, make sure those two hours are fun, enthusiastic and energetic. All of this is easier said than done, of course, and there will be days on which you won’t be able to be so perfect. That, however, doesn’t count, as long as you manage to get it right on most days.
Combine Your Career Aspirations with your Love for Kids
If career aspirations and love for the children seems like an oxymoron, then you have most likely not considered an online ADN to MSN FNP course yet.
The ADN to MSN FNP program on Carson-Newman can be completed in four years total, but more importantly, the accredited degree course is exclusively online, which means that you won’t have to spend all your spare time after work at the university. Instead, you can spend that time at home, close to your kids.
If the freedom, authority and higher pay that comes with becoming a family nurse practitioner is something that you want for your future, there is just no better way to get that done, while not ignoring your children in the process.
Once you have completed the ADN to MSN FNP program though, the new job role will allow you the freedom to spend more time with your family than before, as you will no longer be a general nurse, running around to follow every command of the head nurse and everyone else in the hospital above you in professional rank. The fact that you will be paid a lot more will also allow for some great vacations together with the whole family.
Work Out a Schedule and a Support System
A profession as busy as the nursing profession won’t let you be there for your kids all the time, irrespective of how much you may want to or need to. On the other hand, you can’t exactly leave your children unattended when they are still young. In order to counter this dilemma, hire help if you must, but ask for assistance from family and friends first.
Grandmas and grandads are often the best babysitters around, and your children will likely prefer them over babysitters. Don’t mind if you get the feeling that the grandparents are spoiling them a little because it’s part of the charm they offer here!
Although grandparents are supposed to be an essential part of the support system, they cannot be the only people. Work out a schedule with your colleagues, friends, husband and throw in a few paid helping hands in between to fill the gaps. Once you have the support system for both your kids and yourself set up, you will actually juggle the duties of being a mom and a busy nurse quite comfortably. Sacrifices will still need to be made, but they won’t need to be as many as before.
The demand for qualified nurses is so high in the country that it is highly unlikely you will ever have to look for a job too hard, even if you leave your current one. Admittedly, this is also part of the reason why nurses are so busy all the time, but it gives your career a kind of immunity.
Short of making a grave mistake in the actual job of being a nurse, rest assured that your career is well protected, especially when you have completed your graduation in nursing. All of this is relevant because this means that you can take breaks from work sometimes to prioritize your loved ones, without the fear of getting replaced anytime soon! Take a vacation out and give your kids enough mom time to make up for lost time, as best as you can.
Nickida
Nickida is a first-generation Trinidadian American wife and mother of four. She enjoys sharing recipes from her childhood growing up in Trinidad with her readers. Nickida has a son with Autism and shares posts around traveling with a child with special needs to help other families like her own. She loves television, movies and is a true 80's baby.
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