Becoming a teacher vs a nurse?

What country are you in?

@GMF US

So it would somewhat depend on what state you’re in but if you’re not in a state where public school teachers are unionized. Makes such a huge difference. Also look up teacher pay in your area for sure.

Well very different. You would live different lifestyles and make completely different incomes unless you get a masters or doctorate. You should go with your passion. There’s also an option to go into education as a nurse. I’m a nurse educator.

I’ve done both. I don’t recommend either.

My husband worked in hospital for years as a nurse and it was hard juggling family life and nurse life. He now works as a nurse at a high school and it’s great, he gets summers, holidays, school vacations off, etc and makes more than he made in the hospital. And once are kids are school age we won’t have to worry about childcare for summers or holidays/vacations so it’s great. So it really depends on your passion but think about nursing thoroughly bc a lot of those jobs do not have great family friendly hours.

@Kelsi I think that’s the direction I may take but it’s a big pay cut around here.

@Haley 💚 taking into account you only work 180 days it may not be a big of a pay cut. Also a lot of camps need nurses so you can always get a summer job too. My husband was also able to get his masters which have him a $10k immediately in the school system vs the hospital he wouldn’t have gotten anything.

@Katie Why 👀

@Kelsi I honestly wouldn’t mind the pay cut for the schedule. My kids are still in daycare but summers off would be nice

Both will always be in demand. As a nurse, you'll make more but also have more irregular hours. As a teacher, your schedule will match your kids' school schedule but you obviously won't make as much money. The education and testing to become a teacher is easier than getting through nursing school.

Teaching is sort of a fake family friendly profession though. Like yes we get summers off and your schedule may somewhat match your children’s, but that doesn’t prevent you from needing before or after care if your school schedule is different than your child’s school. And you can’t chaperone field trips or easily attend school events during the day at all. I think a lot of times people just focus on the summers off and don’t think about everything else. There are a lot of office/corporate jobs that would actually be more flexible in this regard. Unless you really, really want to become a teacher I wouldn’t do it. I make more money than most teachers which is why I keep doing it (I mean not literally the only reason but it helps make it sustainable as a mom).

Doctors make bank, save lives, little to no family life because they are exhausted. My poor nephew is 2 soon & both my brother & sil are a nurse/ admin for major hospitals. My nephew is in daycare 5 days a week, 10+ hours a day & sees my brother primarily because my sil works overnight... I'm a teacher, I get all school days off with my kids. I get paid for that. & bc I'm a teacher in the summer I still work & get those benefits where my kid can come to daycare for free bc I'm a teacher/ where I work has no issue with that until they are 13.

The pay isn't the best, but I'll take raising a family/ more time home than on the field exhausted & can barely see my kids.

@GMF 100%. There is no flexibility and while you only “work” 180ish days, most teachers I know work over the summer in their rooms or doing professional development And during the school year you have to work 9-10 hours a day. This was my experience as an elementary school teacher. Might be different with other levels but damn. I don’t know a single teacher that didn’t do work outside contract hours. It is not a family friendly job really

The thing about nursing that I love is that there’s so many possibilities. You can work 5 days a week, three 12s, four 10s, prn. You can have a job that allows you to be home 4 or more days a week or have one that doesn’t allow much flexibility at all. You can work in the hospital, a clinic, from home, school setting as a school nurse or educator, etc. There’s so many possibilities. I shifted from working in the hospital 3 days a week to being in education and working in an office setting. My hours are pretty flexible, I make more money and work less. I feel like teaching doesn’t give you as much flexibility. Also nursing is one of the hardest undergraduate degrees so if you aren’t passionate about it don’t waste your time. It’s too hard not to want it badly.