The College Experience of a Mother of Two
by Kathy Suarez | Thursday, Feb 03, 2022
Endless papers, exams, lectures, and studying. Does this sound like your average college听student鈥檚 life? You might be saying to yourself 鈥渋t sure does sound like my life as a student鈥. I听would have to say I agree with you, it鈥檚 your average college student鈥檚 life. But now let me tell听you about my life and experiences as a college student. No doubt my life consists of everything I听mentioned above. But now I would like you to add two kids with special needs into the basic听norms of a college student's average responsibilities. No doubt everyone has their own听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鈥檛 make the decision to have children with special听needs. Well, for me it simply means that I decided that it was more important to pursue a career听that I鈥檓 passionate about than to settle with challenges that I have. Being a mother and wife in听college is a very difficult task. You are constantly multitasking your time, energy, and money to听be able to keep afloat. Mommy guilt is a real thing, as a mother, you want your children to feel听that they have your attention all the time (or at least partly). You also want to feel like you can听handle anything that comes your way. But it is a struggle that many moms in college feel. So听why should a parent go back to school anyway? Why add more stress to your life than needed?听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鈥檛 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.


