Keeping Up With the Course Load Without Neglecting Your Kids

By Ben, The CND Intern     

According to a 2014 study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 4.8 million college students were parents of dependent children in 2011, that’s about 26 percent of all college undergraduates.

The number of student parents has risen dramatically in the last 15 years

     Maybe it's just me, but it seems like by the time I get home from school, make dinner, do the least amount of chores that I can get away with, check the computer (because obviously I was paying attention all day and not looking at my personal Email or Facebook wink wink) the day is almost over. 

     Then I have 3 papers to do and my kid, that I haven't seen since I dropped him off for school wants attention....

It feels like I only have 2 options, bonding (hopefully relaxing) time with my kid or getting my work done. 

Again it might be just me, but I doubt it. Here are some answers I have found that help out...

1. Consider online classes
     These are not always an option, but when they are having the flexibility to do class at any time of the day is really handy for some parents.

2. Get someone else to do it! (child care, not your homework that's plagiarism) and make use of the time you have.

     Obviously, you're going to want to tailor this depending on your schedule. If the absolutely only time you can do homework is also the absolutely only time you can spend with your kids (and it's not that much time) you may want to re-consider the amount of obligations you have. 

If, however, there is a little more flexibility in your schedule, consider the following:

• Force yourself to be awake and doing school work while your kids are at school.
• Work on homework between classes while on campus (you may need to refrain from "hanging out" with the others students)
• Figure out how you can get homework done while your baby/toddler is napping/sleeping. 
• Ask friends/family/other parent classmates if they can regularly watch your kids for a few hours while while you catch up on schoolwork.   

3. Designate a quiet space for working. 

        This technique tends to work better when your kids are a little older and can understand the need for different areas in the house to be used for different things (cooking, sleeping, etc...) you may need to set strict rules and enforce them. You may also need to allow them to have more time with television and video games than you like, but this is a balance, you can't have everything all the time.