The College Experience of a Mother of Two

Endless papers, exams, lectures, and studying. Does this sound like your average college student’s life? You might be saying to yourself “it sure does sound like my life as a student”. I would have to say I agree with you, it’s your average college student’s life. But now let me tell you about my life and experiences as a college student. No doubt my life consists of everything I mentioned above. But now I would like you to add two kids with special needs into the basic norms of a college student's average responsibilities. No doubt everyone has their own challenges in life, but my college experience is a chosen experience that I decided to take on.

But what could that possibly mean? I didn’t make the decision to have children with special needs. Well, for me it simply means that I decided that it was more important to pursue a career that I’m passionate about than to settle with challenges that I have. Being a mother and wife in college is a very difficult task. You are constantly multitasking your time, energy, and money to be able to keep afloat. Mommy guilt is a real thing, as a mother, you want your children to feel that they have your attention all the time (or at least partly). You also want to feel like you can handle anything that comes your way. But it is a struggle that many moms in college feel. So why should a parent go back to school anyway? Why add more stress to your life than needed? Some would even say being a mother is a full-time job anyway.

Well, I would say that to those who are feeling torn and unsure if they should go back to school, or to complete school, to consider what your education can mean to your family, and most importantly, to you. So often, mothers sacrifice so much for our families and little for ourselves. I say as moms in college we should continue and fight hard to make our place at our university. Don’t settle for what others believe our role as a mother or father should be. Support one another with our emotional and educational resources. It's important and vital that we see ourselves not just by race and culture but also by our circumstances so we can show other mothers and fathers that if we can do it, so can they.