anyone work overnights?

I was offered an overnight position. I have 3 young kids that I can not afford to put in daycare so I can't take a day job. I would be $150 in the hole every week if I did that. Doesn't make much sense. But I can't see working a night job either, how would I sleep during the day with 3 little kids?
Have anyone here worked a night job and how did it affect you/your family?

I worked graveyard shift for 5 1/2 years. I was Computer operator for a defense company. Some people really like it. I had a heck of a time with it because I was always flipping my schedule around for my days off. For example I would work all night friday night and get home saturday and stay up all day to try to be apart of the day life until I went back to work monday night at 11:30 pm. I would get a little grouchy. Sometimes I couldn't sleep during the day and I would get very little sleep before work. It takes a toll on your body if you don't get your sleep. One thing that is important is to black out your bedroom windows so no light comes in during the day when you are sleeping.

I didn't have kids so I can't give you any feed back on that.

I'm sorry I am being vague but I don't want to give you negative feed back because it may work for you. There are people who really do well on graveyard shift and love it. I hated it.

I worked nights on Fridays and Saturdays for several years. That way my husband could watch the kids while I slept.
I loved the independence of that shift. It was very hard to sleep during the days and I missed out on my kids games for a couple of years.
I also made as much money working two nights a week as I would have made working the day shift, Monday to Friday.
IMO, from my experience, you will not be able to watch the kids during the day and get some sleep. It is not safe for the kids or healthy for you.

I used to work 8 hour nights where I started at 11:30pm and finished at 7:45am. And then I worked 12 hour nights where I started at 7:30pm and finished at 8:00am.

Out of the two shifts, I preferred the 8 hour nights.

I got home and had breakfast, then went to bed around 10am and slept until 4:30pm. I got up and had dinner and watched tv and got ready and went to work.

When I worked 12 hour nights, I went to bed as soon as I got home which was around 8:30am. Then I woke up around 4pm, and made dinner, packed up some food and then got ready and went to work. In the winter I went to work when it was dark and came home in the dark. In the summer I went to work when it was light and came home when it was light, but I had no out door time to enjoy any of it.

I don't have any kids though, so I can't advise you on the kid factor.

I do have colleages that are single parents and work nights. One girl slept slept while they were in school. Other times she asked a relative to watch them for a few hours. She never got a full sleep during the day, but she would sleep on her break at work and that helped.

When my brother was married he and his wife worked opposite shifts for a while. He worked days and she worked nights. She looked after the kids in the day, and when he got home he took over and she went to sleep for the evening. She got up around 10pm to have her dinner and then went to work.

I worked 12-hour shifts on nights for over two years. I can't help you with the question regarding your children, but I do know I got in two car accidents those two years coming home from the hospital, because I was so tired. I think I read somewhere that driving sleep deprived is just like driving drunk.

I enjoyed working nights, but with little ones at home you will not get the proper sleep you need. Those two years are almost a blank for me, because you sleep all day, work all night, and don't do much else in between. I had the additional problem of working only 2-3 nights a week, so the other nights I was trying to sleep regularly, or not sleep during the day so I could get my zzzz's at noc. My circadian rhythm was all messed up!

Short answer: not a good idea if you need to watch your children during the day. I hope you find something that works for you and your family.

Trying switch gears going from working nights to regular hours on days off is the worse part, it's hard on the body.
When I was younger and my son was in grade school I worked a mix of days and nights. One morning I came home, put my son on the bus and went to sleep. I woke up and it was ten til 4, he should have been home at three. I went into total panic mode, called the school, trying to find out where he was......
It was 10:20 in the morning, not 3:50pm in the afternoon, I had mixed up the big hand and the little hand on the clock. I woke up, looked at the clock wrong and was so punchy, I didn't realize it until the school secretary finally made me understand what time it was. I'm sure the school thought I was a wacko mom with a drinking problem. Of course most clocks are digital now, so that wouldn't be a problem for you.
It's not an easy shift to work, and sleep deprivation is a real problem.

I did now and again. I think the worst part about it was going to school three days a week and flip flopping shifts. I don't sleep during the day anyway, so night shift isn't for me. I went from Tuesday to Friday night without sleeping over the summer because I just plain can't sleep during the day! It was awful!

My mom on the other hand works night shift. Two nights a week for 12 hours (weekend package in nursing). She does just fine and sleeps while my little sister is at school. Although, it doens't sound like your children are old enough to go to school during the day.

i worked nights, seconds most of my life.
i cant stand going to work, first thing in the morning. Never could.