Making your child aware of what you are doing keeps you both on the same page, your schedules run more smoothly.
I'm blessed because I have a friend who lives close by, she's a full time housewife with her own little ones. One of her children is Terry's age, so I'm rarely short of someone to baby sit.

I'm guessing by now you've figured I'm a single mother. As a single mother, or even a mother with a partner, to make life less hectic plan out your days carefully. Mornings are always chaotic; making sure Terry is ready for school and feed. Trying to beat the morning traffic and catching the bus on time. Most mornings when I'm not at university I work part-time at my local Sainsbury. Terry always gets picked up with my friend's children and I pick him up from there after work or university. Most of my studying is done when he's asleep, but if you have kids you know children are unpredictable. Tuesday mornings I stay at the Library catching up on my assignments and revising. I communicate with my lectures a lot via email, as I can't always wait around after lectures to discuss my subjects with them (Thank God for the internet).

There will be days when you have no choose but to go into University, outside of Lecture hours. When Terry is on half term, I sometimes take him into university with me, so he sees where Mommy is most of the time. It helps him understand why I'm so busy. I actually think showing him my result motivates him to do better at school too.

It's not always so straight forward, but you have to remind yourself how much time and money you've invested and why you are studying in the first place. Maybe to get a promotion at work, get a better job or just to have a Bachelors degree under your belt. Whatever the reasons, keeping them in mind makes me work harder. A lecturer has also told me, that part-time students studying nights and studying parent's get up to 92% pass rates. My advice is that, if things get too hard, you can always take sometime out and start back exactly where you left off. If this is an option you are considering, discuss it with your lecturers first. There might be other options to make studying easier.

Just because we are studying, doesn't mean we can't enjoy University. Believe it or not I still try to make time to sit at the SU bar and have a drink or two with friends, it's a great form of relaxation and a way of exchanging opinions on lecturer, classes and teaching methods.


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