A Crazy idea...I Need Honest Opinions.

My husband is a truck driver (owner/operator). I go on a few trips with him each year for his sake, it's really not much fun for me. We have a 3 1/2 year old and while being away from her Dadddy isn't ideal, we both agree a truck is no place for a child. The most we've made her endure was 36 hours between Springfield MO and Memphis or Lerado (seperate trips). Look at it this way. As a truck driver you go to the worst parts of town, sleep in truck stops that are also in rough, crime-ridden areas and rest areas that have their own share of crime and high risk of abduction. I just spent a week on hubby's 18-wheeler and observed drug deals and prostitution (lot lizards) in plain sight. Not to mention eating healthy is really hard in a truck, believe me we try. You can only eat so much Subway. And as ladies you'll constantly be searching for a clean restroom.

I'm not opposed to you becoming a truck driver, just don't subject your young daughter to life on the truck

I don't think it's a crazy idea at all.

The only problem you may run into is liablity issues, a Company may not want the liablity regarding your daughter, in the event of a accident.

You may do better with being contracted out and working as a "sub-contractor", however I believe you would have to have your own truck. Same goes with insurance covering your daughter.

Sorry I know that's not much help but just wanted to give you some things to look into.

Suzi,
My husband has drove truck some. It's a decent living, but like anything else, there are good things and bad things about the profession. Go hang out at a truck stop lounge or restaurant and talk to the truckers and get some advise, too. I'm not sure how many companies would allow you to take your daughter with you?

Aside from that issue, I have a few other concerns...
First, if your daughter is going to be homeschooled by your (on the road) and your Mom (at home) and ride with you a week or 2 a month, when is she ever going to learn to interact with kids her own age?

Second, unless she is a bookworm, she may not enjoy going on long trips seatbelted in the passenger seat for 11 hrs a day. Granted, you'll stop for breaks to get fuel or eats or use the bathroom, but that is a long time for a child to be sitting. She will most likely become obese from the lack of activity. I do think you could be creative and find things she could do such as reading or crafts or crochet or something while she's sitting.

Third, do you want to be a trucker? Are you good at staying awake while you drive. Do you like being around others or wouldn't mind the isolation of being in a truck.
Do you have any experience driving big rigs or would you have to go to one of those driving schools and be committed to the company that put you thru school for your first 2 years? After that you'd have better options. You are right, in general, you'll only be home a day or so a week. Unless you look really hard and probably take a pay cut and just do route work where you are driving a delivery truck and go to work every morning and come home every evening. I don't know if you live in a big city or small town, but if you live in a big city, I'm sure you can some kind of regular job where you can be around your daughter and Mom.

Fourth, Is your mom willing to take care of your daughter AND homeschool her? I would guess there is a big difference in sending her to regular school and taking the responsibility of her education on your own shoulders?

Sounds like you've been doing day care for a while. Have you increased your rates at all? Are you registered or certified? Maybe you could look into doing the necessary things to become registered or certified and then you would have more leverage to increase rates or change how you get compensated?

How do you feel about everything? Are you wanting that drastic of a change? Or is it more a need for more income in today's cost of living? Haven't read the other posts yet, but hope they are helping you.

J.

My husband was an over the road truck driver for four years and my dad did it off and on all of my years growing up. I LOVE the road and my girls and I went with him as much as we could. It's an easy way to travel with kids. We would go on vacation this way,renting a car when we were empty, that way we didn't have to pay for the fuel for a long vacation trip. Here would be some of the downs I can see. Although my girls loved going with Dad at first, they tired of it as they got older. I would have gone with him every week in the summer but they didn't want to. Also, if you drive for a big company they usually do not allow passengers. Insurance companies usually put limits on stuff like that. My husband owned his own truck and drove for my dad's small company. He was only gone about 3 days a week, going from Missouri to Colorado and back, and made a good living this way but if he was gone for weeks at a time I KNOW the girls would have tired of it a lot faster so if you could find a small company with shorter loads it may work for you. Another thing to consider though as that sometimes it is harder to get on with small companies without 2-3 years experience. You often have to go thru a training course with a large company to get insured, do your time there, then in a couple of years may be able to get on with a smaller company. Just some things to consider. I hope you can be happy with what you decide. I will tell you this, if it wasn't for my husbands health, he would have stayed with it and when our girls were grown you can bet I would be on the road with him all the time. I LOVED it.