Help! Advice

Hi ladies my husband is a new trucker and I'm seriously considering joining him but we have 5 kids and one is 3 years old.

Grandma offered to move in and be with the kids to support the transition if I do go through with it.

Only reason we e considering this is 5 kids equals bigger expenses. We plan on paying our dues to the company for a year and possibly find something that brings us home every weekend.

Do any of you ladies have an arrangement like this or close to it? Or am I in over my head. Any advice welcome as I need to consider all sides. Thank you and greatly appreciated!

Geneva,

From a man's point of view who is 74 I would not be considering going OTR with 5 young ones at home. Grandma for a short time is OK but the are too many variables that can arise with that young of a family at home. I wouldn't want to burst your bubble but you or your husband need to be available for any instant "crisis" that could arise at any given time. Sorry but I've been there and done that and 1 parent needs to be home in my opinion.

At almost 72, a great grandma and still driving, I am going to be blunt!

You are looking at this strictly because of the income you could bring in and not how this will affect your 5 children, especially the 3 yr old.

How long has your husband been on the road? If it's recent, he cannot tell you how easy or how hard driving is going to be because he has no real experience. If he's been out there longer than a year, then he's looking at it strictly as an income maker and not how hard it will be on you (physically and mentally) or your kids.

As for your mother or his, you didn't say who it was, they haven't thought this through either. There's a lot to raising five children and having it be full-time for the next year will be tough on them too. Don't know if you are going to be paying her or she's doing it out of the goodness of her heart or just paying the expenses of your kids, but it can and has caused friction in families we have seen on here.

I do understand having five kids is expensive. Surely there is something that you can do at a local job and the grandparent watch the kids while you are at work that will help your family finances. Those kids need to have Mom at home for the time being. Yes this is a good paying job, but it is more involved than people realize. You will have situations at home that will take your attention off the road and that is an accident waiting to happen.

As for team companies out there, but getting you home every week, I'm not aware of any. Team driving companies run their teams differently than solo companies.

I hope you think this through. If you come up with more specific questions, go ahead and ask them.

Laura