The role of a full-time parent packs in a huge lot of responsibilities, workloads and expectations. You do everything to get your kids settled in their lives through baby-steps, care for their health, growth and upbringing. Your life literally revolves around your kids’ schedules and requirements. You take pride in all you can do for your kids and your family every single day.
But, is that all you want to be in your life? Do you aspire to do more and be more? Do you aspire to learn more? Are you a full-time parent wishing to know how you could earn a degree without completely disrupting your and your family’s lives?
You’re at the right place and at the right time. Check out the below tips from people who have been in your shoes and achieved success in their pursuits to be more than just a parent to their kids.
- Study online: Give yourself the flexibility of online courses and make the transition of stepping back into student life as easy as possible. Aided by modern technology, earning your degree from the comforts of your own home has never been easier.
- Select the right course: Be very clear about your aspirations and the probable impact of this course in your career. Trust me, you don’t want to spend countless hours doing something that you were never passionate about at the first place.
- Plan for financial aids: Research options for scholarships, grants and aids before you sign up. You need to have a fall-back kitty ready for your study resources, tuition fees, childcare, emergency medical situations etc.
- Create a frame of support network: Before you complete the course admission procedure, build a support frame. Reach out to parents or neighbours or arrange for childcare providers to establish a safe and reliable system for your kids’ care.
- Create informed boundaries: Get your close ones on board with your plans for studies. Learn to say No to a few things at times, so that you can maintain your priorities without guilt or stress. Be it about dedicated study time or a quiet space without distractions – stick to your set boundaries.
- Manage time with perspective: Take help of technology and plan your time proactively. Use digital calendars, smart apps etc. to stay on track with your assignments and parental duties to stay organized. Maintaining an itemized to-do list will help your focus a lot more on things that actually matters.
- Get creative with schedules: Find extra study time when the kids are busy in some activity, at school or taking a nap. Convince your partner for rotating shifts of supervising the kids on alternate nights. For the less demanding parts of a course, you can multi-task. Revise flash cards while on a commute, watch explanatory videos on lunch-break, read your coursework aloud to kids while you put them to sleep.
- Set realistic goals: Don’t let the assignments accumulate. Make smaller achievable goals for better progress without the stress of a looming deadline on top of everything else. Set up a peer-to-peer study group/schedule for extra motivation. And don’t forget to reward yourself with each goal completion!
- Respect your limitations: You are already great at being a super human at this stage. But always keep in mind not to push your limits too far. Pace up or slow down your studies as best as you can for your mental and physical well-being.
- Take care of yourself: Amidst all these activities, do not skip the much needed downtime. Preserve your focus and be fully present in the moment, be it for studies or your family, or even just for yourself.
- Involve your family, especially the kids: Do not forget to include them in this new exciting journey of yours. Show them how important it is to try and balance life for a better future. Teach them to never give up on a dream.
You know, it is going to be difficult. But it will also be worth all that time and the hard work. Feel free to check out all these practical online education courses offered by Learning Cloud and find the perfect stepping stone for your dreams.
