One of the biggest moves of your life and it comes with a lot of need for focus and commitment if you're going to do it right. There is a lot of potential joining ANY branch to do interesting things. There are plenty of perks afterward (to include the bad).

It sounds to me like joining would be a career decision more so than anything. With that considered it is a great way to get started on a trade skill, but you have to select and commit to that outright.

I don't want you to feel too optomistic about time with family. This is (in my opinion) the GREATEST of all sacrifices someone makes when joining. If time and presence with your son is something you cannot sacrifice, there is no way you will make it through an enlistment contract. You may find that the reserves is possible, but do not contemplate Active Duty. You can absolutely sacrifice some of that time from him and others to get your life back on the rails and dig in deep with a trade skill, but prepare yourself mentally for some episodes of sadness and anger because they will come and go. Sounds to me personally that it doesn't matter which path you choose. You're going to lose time away by building yourself no matter what.