Medical school and residency has obviously thrown a kink into our family planning. Right now my husband is a first year student. We are not planning to try to get pregnant this year, but we are trying to develop a plan for when to start a family. We are taking out loans to pay for his med school (no military or anything). I currently work, but eventually want to be a stay-at-home mom. We don't really want to wait until we are out of debt--we would be in our 30s because we want to be young parents. Any advice on the best years to start a family while your spouse is in med school/residency? How do people even afford a family in med school?? Thanks!
children in med school
- Thread starter kitkat03
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I am a MS1 and have a 2 year old. My wife stays at home. We are planning to have #2 at the end of my second year and #3 in residency. Some of the MS1s have two children already and plan to have more while in school. Finaces are tight, but you make due. Feel free to PM if you have any questions. Where is your husband going to school? FA packages vary. Mine is not too great, tuition is too much, but we make due. Best wishes.
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This is a sort of unrelated question, but why do people feel they need to have more than 2 kids? I mean, it seems to be really common for doctor's families. I just think that with overpopulation we should be looking ahead a little. Or maybe adopt children if we have to have more than 2.
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I wouldn't say it's MORE common for doctor's to have larger families. I would actually speculate that farmers have more children. Child labor is cheap!!😛
But, this really IS unrelated to the OP question...and actually quite political...many varying opinions which could distract from the original intent of the post. I would suggest you post your "overpopulation" stance in the "everyone" or "lounge" forum. I'm sure your topic would stir up some interesting debate!😉
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haha might i direct your attention to about pages 3-5 of the "cashiers making $17.50 an hour" thread. it's flamed from all angles, with none spared.
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Thanks for the reference, goodmonkey. I totally agree with your posts on that thread.
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I didn't say it was more common, although it does seem to be more common than most of the people I grew up with. I merely brought it up because redrocky was talking about planned child #3. I didn't post in Everyone because I felt people would be more civilized in here (which they are so far).
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Actually there are studies that show that the more educated a person is, the LESS children they are having.
You might be seeing a trend in your neighborhood, but overall, I see more people having only 1 child or choosing to have none. Plus, again, there are studies that are pointing to those with the least education, having the most children.
Interesting question though!
Wifty
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I think it depends on the area of the country that you live in too. Where we live, the average family has children...and it is an area where there are many 'educated' people.
I consider myself to be educated. I have two bachelor's degrees, a post-bacc, a Master's degree in a science and have done post-grad work since finishing. My husband is an ID physician. We are having #4 any day now.
The way that this works though is that I have set aside my career. I think that one of the reasons that many people who have invested a lot in their education are choosing to have fewer children is that it often means sacrificing their careers.
I wouldn't say that we fit in the 'less-educated' category. The reason for the trend may just be that once someone has invested a lot of money and time in their education they may be unwiling/unable to put the career aside to have more children. I will be staying at home again when this little guy is born. The most I will do professionally is continue to take a class here or there until the child is in preschool. I'm fortunate that I'm in a position to be able to do this. If we weren't in the financial situation that we now are, we wouldn't have made the choice to have one more.
Is having one more child selfish....in the global sense, it probably was.
kris
I consider myself to be educated. I have two bachelor's degrees, a post-bacc, a Master's degree in a science and have done post-grad work since finishing. My husband is an ID physician. We are having #4 any day now.
The way that this works though is that I have set aside my career. I think that one of the reasons that many people who have invested a lot in their education are choosing to have fewer children is that it often means sacrificing their careers.
I wouldn't say that we fit in the 'less-educated' category. The reason for the trend may just be that once someone has invested a lot of money and time in their education they may be unwiling/unable to put the career aside to have more children. I will be staying at home again when this little guy is born. The most I will do professionally is continue to take a class here or there until the child is in preschool. I'm fortunate that I'm in a position to be able to do this. If we weren't in the financial situation that we now are, we wouldn't have made the choice to have one more.
Is having one more child selfish....in the global sense, it probably was.
kris
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I agree... having more than 2 children of your own is selfish. And I'm not just talking about globally... even locally it's selfish. (note: it's not always bad to be selfish... I'm selfish all the time... I don't always recycle and I don't donate to charities.). There are just so many children out there who need homes. If a person wants more than two kids I think they should adopt. Assuming they want to do the unselfish thing.
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You can definately have children in medical school. We had our first during the summer after my first year of medicalschool. My wife is a stay at home mom and we are living off of loans almost entirely.
We're planning for 2nd child during 4th year and 3rd,4th etc... during or after residency.
it is definately doable and is very much worth it. Don't put your whole life on hold for medical school. It is just school afterall.
feel free to ask any more questions if you want.
later
We're planning for 2nd child during 4th year and 3rd,4th etc... during or after residency.
it is definately doable and is very much worth it. Don't put your whole life on hold for medical school. It is just school afterall.
feel free to ask any more questions if you want.
later
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From my experience, most people who choose small families are not even considering their careers. I babysat for a stockbroker's wife who had five kids, no job, few friends, and did no charity, and still had various babysitters and nannies 100+ hours a week. My boyfriend's mom had five kids and continued to work. My mom had two and stayed home. (And SHE, by the way, is the best mom on the planet! But I'm biased, of course.)
We went on several family vacations a year and both my brother and I had trusts for college and personal use (I used mine to be a ski bum, he to do a peace corps type program in Asia), and my brother and I are best friends (despite oceans, literally, between us) and I am pretty sure those opportunities are why my parents wanted a smaller family.
Today, I think people choose small families for those reasons still, but most people my age I know planning small families are primarily doing it out of social responsibility.
I'm a court appointed special advocate, which means I volunteer very extensively with childen who are wards of the state, and I see all these sweet kids whose parents don't have the ability to take care of them properly, in fact sometimes they're horribly abused, so I personally would have a hard time bringing more than two natural children into the world when I know there are other kids already born who need love and safety and proper care so desperately, and I could give it to them.
But also, I certainly understand that urge to have as many of your very own sweet cuddly babies as you can, so I say if you have the financial and emotional resources for a big family, more power to ya.
😍
