Women and Optometry

[blueeyedOD]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey there,
Are there any female practicing ODs out there with young children? I'll be 30 when I finish OD school (I'm starting next fall), and my husband and I want to have kids not too long after that. How do you manage time between family and work? Did you take time off, or work part time, or what? Taking time off isn't too much of an option, because I'll have just finished school and actually want to practice optometry, and there are also those ever-present loans...
Thanks!

 

[alleigh79]

Wow I'd like to know this too. My only difference is I hope to start OD school when I'm 30 and I have 2 small children already! Advice would be great!

 

[rvan]

Hi,

I am a female OD practicing full time and have 3 children, 12, 4, and 3. It is possible to juggle career and home life, but you do have to make choices. My husband is a stay at home dad, and we make it work. Lots of our male counterparts think women are watering down the workforce with "part-timers". To be fair, that may be why some women considered optometry, but I think lots of women choose lots of different career fields hoping to work part time.

I would be glad to answer any questions you have about practice mode, and juggling work and family!

I enjoying being an OD and looking back, I don't think I would change my career if given the option.🙂

 

[alleigh79]

rvan - Did you have children while you were in OD school?

 

[rvan]

No, I have 2 small children and a stepchild who is 12. I was married a year after I graduated. I bought a practice 3 years after I graduated, then had children. I had a handful of classmates that did have children while in school though.

 

[eyekan]

I've known of female ODs that have private practices who have their children at the practice with them. In one of the practices, an employee who files insurance had a room that was also a nursery. It was her job to watch the child.

My wife and I plan on doing this when we have kids. Nothing like playing with your kid a few minutes between patients.

 

[broadway]

Hey there,
Are there any female practicing ODs out there with young children? I'll be 30 when I finish OD school (I'm starting next fall), and my husband and I want to have kids not too long after that. How do you manage time between family and work? Did you take time off, or work part time, or what? Taking time off isn't too much of an option, because I'll have just finished school and actually want to practice optometry, and there are also those ever-present loans...
Thanks!

I don't know any women that work fulltime that have children.

 

[rvan]

I can name three other women in my town alone, that work full time and have children...one dentist, one orthodontist and one primary care doc, and that's just among my friends.

 

[broadway]

I can name three other women in my town alone, that work full time and have children...one dentist, one orthodontist and one primary care doc, and that's just among my friends.

I'm talking about optometry.

 

[IcanSEEanOD]

.

 

[rvan]

I can name another female OD in the next town that works full time with children as well.

 

[alleigh79]

Yep - me too. I know a female OD that works full time and has children! Not so unheard of huh.....🙄

 

[broadway]

I know women that work, just not 5 days. It also depends on the kids age.

 

[cpw]

I know women that work, just not 5 days. It also depends on the kids age.

not always. My husband fully intends to be a stay at home dad. 😀 Somehow, though, he's in for a rude awakening. He thinks it's all going to be XBox and Tv.

 

[KHE]

not always. My husband fully intends to be a stay at home dad. 😀 Somehow, though, he's in for a rude awakening. He thinks it's all going to be XBox and Tv.

I stay home and take care of my son 2 days a week and I will say that once they get past the toddler stage, it pretty much IS all Xbox and TV. 👍

 

[Ben Chudner]

I stay home and take care of my son 2 days a week and I will say that once they get past the toddler stage, it pretty much IS all Xbox and TV. 👍

Wait until they he is old enough to play with you. My daughter loves the Wii, so when I stay at home with her, that's considered quality daughter/daddy time. Plus the Wii requires lot's of movement, so I consider that excercise. It kills 2 birds with 1 stone. 😀

 

[cpw]

I stay home and take care of my son 2 days a week and I will say that once they get past the toddler stage, it pretty much IS all Xbox and TV. 👍

I'm not going to let my husband read this