For some of us, back to school time isn’t just for the kids.
We prepare by researching daycares, preschools, and after-school clubs that can accommodate our sporadic class schedules.
We buy their crayons and highlighters in the same Amazon order as our overpriced textbooks.
We take their first day of school pictures while looking over our campus map to find our new classrooms.
We pack their lunches while throwing a granola bar or two in our pockets (if we’re lucky).
We struggle to use our breast pumps in the car while finding a parking spot on campus, and rush from class to the lactation rooms and back (if we can find them).
We wish nap times were longer because it’s the only time we can study in peace.
We stay up late and wake up early, cramming for exams and typing papers.
We know that coffee is not a want, but a need.
We quietly laugh and struggle not to roll our eyers when our classmates complain about being tired from partying all night.
We loathe group projects even more than the average student, and try to find ways around them.
We pray for understanding professors, who will take into consideration that we have young children at home.
We hate that out-of-class assignments and extracurriculars are usually out of the question, even if they equate to extra-credit.
We apply for every scholarship that might be even slightly applicable to us, trying to make ends meet while we finish up our degrees.
We worry that our children see our faces from behind a textbook or laptop screen far too often, but we also know that seeing our hard work will encourage them to persevere themselves.
We struggle with the never-ending balancing act of family time versus study time.
We may also work full-time, part-time, or not at all, and all of us feel pushed to our limit.
We wonder if all of this is even worth it.
But we push through.
We know that we are capable, we are strong, we are resilient.
We can handle whatever comes our way, and we are teaching our children to do the same – because if we can do it, so can they.
We know that we are making a better life for ourselves and our families, and in the trenches of midterms and finals, we can remind ourselves that we are not in this alone.
On graduation day, when we look into the crowd and see the smiling faces of our children, we will know that every long night, every essay, every group project, all of it – was worth it.
Aww thanks for sharing! I had my some while in college and he was 3 when I graduated with my BA. Next month I start grad school and even though my big kids are almost 15 and my baby is 9, I still worry how I will juggle it all. But as you said, we are doing our best to make a better life for our families! And teaching our children the value of education!!
And you KNOW that where ever you go what ever you do … no matter how real the struggle is… you are loved every second of every day by a mom who could not be prouder.