Life as a Student (and Mother)

Being a college student is hard, that is easy for most to admit. Gone are the days when your parents packed your lunch, helped you with your homework, drove you to school, and glued all those millions of pieces together so you could finish that diorama for science class... the night before it was due.

But what about all the students who are parents themselves?

Personally, the hardest part is the alarm. I set my clock so carefully, making sure to calculate and recalculate the time necessary to get everything done. And then? My child manages to wake me a full thirty minutes before the alarm goes off.

Then its the race around the house, the refusal to wear any shirt but the Favorite shirt, the negotiation of too hot/ too cold oatmeal for breakfast, how many raisins and another cup of milk, playing hide-and-go-seek for a pair of socks, for a pair of shoes.

Out the door, I am already exhausted. We must stop and say hello to the neighborhood dogs on the way to the car, then its time to buckle in, hand over the cup, pop in the cd, and hope to sneak a Pop-Tart or two on the drive to the daycare.

Then it's finally off to school for Mum. On the way, though, is the call from the center wondering if he's already had breakfast, the email reminder that there is a dentist's appointment in the near future, and the text from the husband wondering "How'd your morning go?"

Fighting traffic and pedestrians alike, trying to squeeze a family-sized car into an economy-sized space, and its off to class.

Which is interrupted, naturally, by the phone call from the center: You forgot to bring the diaper bag.

Looking down, you realize with horror that the bag you thought contained books, pencils, and notes contains coloring pages, crayons, and butt paste.

Welcome to the life of a student/mother - in training.