Parenting and academics create whole new ball game

By Meghan Ledden

We all know school is stressful. Get your homework finished, find a parking space, be on time, take the tests; those are just some of the daily stresses each student goes through. I thought that’s what college was all about until I had my daughter. Now it’s a whole new ballgame.

I’m still learning the ropes here at MWSU, as this is my first semester here. It almost seems like a different world since the last time I started college. Before all I did was roll out of my loft, pull a brush through my hair, brush my teeth and grab a coffee and zombie walk to class. I am now awoken at 8 a.m. every morning, whether I like it or not, to fix myself and Ayden breakfast, get a quick shower in, get dressed and then get Ayden dressed. Then hustle to the baby sitter and get to class by (on most days) 10 a.m.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg it seems. With Ayden, checking my e-mail has always been…a challenge, to say the least. She sees a button…it’s got to be pushed. Guess what? The same holds true for writing any other document. Come to think of it, any time the laptop is even sitting open. If I have a book open she always wants to read it and if it’s sitting on my lap, she’ll sit on the book if I don’t read it to her. She has the “If I ain’t reading ain’t nobody reading!” mentality and she’s a toddler. Fabulous, she’s already sassier than most adults. I love when she helps but somehow I don’t know that she can help me with my paper, seeing as how she can’t read. Lucky for me, she’s asleep right now.

If you know me at all, which most of you probably don’t, but if you do, you know Ayden is the sweetest little girl around. She loves to play and she’s generally a happy kid but just in the last week has had a pretty stellar double ear infection. She never cries like that unless she’s sick and I knew something was wrong the minute she started in. I think they call those “maternal instincts.” On top of that, I have been battling bronchitis myself so it’s been a rough week, to say the very least.

I know I’m certainly not the only mom on campus. I can think of at least three off the top of my head right now. No shock there, people have kids and go back to school. That’s why we’re lucky MWSU is so considerate of non-traditional students to have, from what I hear, a pretty nice daycare facility on campus.

Something I would have utilized had not been so lazy over Christmas break and gotten around to making a couple calls. This isn’t my way of saying “feel sorry for me.” I’m simply telling you how it is for a single mom…did I mention that? Yeah, it’s just me. Luckily, I have an awesome family to help out.