By Rebecca Kellogg
There is an unsung minority among us. They lead a double life. I number myself among them.
I am a student mommy.
My husband is our son?s primary care giver. He alternates between sessions of peek-a-boo and fast, furious sessions at the computer, pounding out his master?s thesis.
He is a devoted stay-at-home daddy, for now, and our son is flourishing under his attention. There are few constraints that pull my husband away from home. Only a few times a week do I need to haul my son with me about BYU.
For those of you who have not yet entered the blessed realm of parenthood, let me give you a glimpse of what it?s like.
To succeed as a student/parent on campus, some ingenuity is required. You will need to balance your schedule with your spouse so that one of you is always with the child. Modern technology is on your side: you can use a baby monitor to listen to a class session while you pace the hall with a whiny child. You should always keep quiet toys handy to stave off disruptive outbursts during study sessions. By the way, ?My baby ate my homework? is not an acceptable excuse, though it happens.
Trudging campus with a stroller will bring out interesting quirks in people you encounter. Any mother around will make free with advice and opinions, and older men will make ridiculous faces at the baby, totally blowing any semblance of dignity but adopting a nice grandfatherly pose. People passing out fliers for dances and the like will ignore you, or else they will say, ?I guess YOU won?t be interested in THIS!? which is okay, because life with a child means you need to be home by 8 to put him to bed. Even if you get a sitter, 11 p.m. for parents is the equivalent of, say, 3 a.m. for singles; mornings come early with the 5 or 6 a.m. feeding.
Lest you think parenting is no fun and games, however, let me tell you about some definite payoffs that make all the minor sacrifices worthwhile.
There?s a certain amount of prestige that comes with being a parent. In the eyes of your child, you know everything and can do anything. Watching a baby kick up walls of water in the bathtub is fun, and helping a little one learn how to do things is an incredibly rewarding experience.
A college degree is a symbol of mental strength or at least endurance; anyone who gets through college must have picked up a few organizational skills to survive the never-ending deluge of classes and assignments.
I have come to the conclusion that parenting is no lesser a feat, equally rewarding and equally demanding.