Single Mom's that are students?

It's been 20 years, but I was once right where you are. The only difference is that I only had one son when I was 19, a student and worked full time to support both of us.

My best friend was my mini crock pot. I would get up in the morning and throw some stuff in there and let it cook itself while I was at work all day. When my son and I got home, dinner was waiting.

I usually tried to just keep things tidy during the week (dishes, picking up toys, etc.) then on the weekend, I did the big stuff, dusting, vacuuming and laundry, etc.

Homework was after 9:00 when my son went to bed... I usually stayed up until about 1:00 and got up bright and early around 6:00 to start the day again. I couldn't hold down those hours these days, but lack of sleep is something young people are accustomed to. There usually wasn't a whole bunch of time for jjust being 19... but you know that.

The only real advice I can lend you is to take the time to play with your kids... make them your number one priority and everything else will fall exactly into place as it should be. The years go quickly... they'll be grown in a blink.

You have a hard job, but it gets easier the older the babies get. They will be able to help out with some of the chores down the road and eventually break your heart by moving out... like my baby did last week.

Good luck to you and your little family...

I am a 29 year old single mom of two children ages 1 1/2 and 3, straight A full time student, intern at the Public Defender's Office 30 hours a week, cook healthy home cooked meals, and have a non live in boyfriend. I'm not trying to be uppity or brag, I'm just saying that whatever you want to do in life is attainable. The thing that works best for me is that my college offers 10 week classes so I take 2 classes at a time. It's great because even though it is face paced, I'm not struggling with trying to keep up with 3-5 course worth of homework. I also put my kids to bed at 8pm every night (which was a slight struggle to finally accomplish) so that I can get everything done that I need to. I also leave bigger projects for the weekend, such as laundry, cleaning rooms, and baking. My typical day is wake up at 7am with the kids and feed them breakfast. We get dressed, brush our hair and teeth and are out the door about 8:15. I drop them off at daycare and am at work at about 9am. I work until 4 and then pick up the kids. The kids sit in their high chairs and booster seats while I cook dinner and they help when they can. We eat and then all take a shower together to save on time. There are some nights when I just need a shower to myself so I do that after they go to bed. After we all pick up the toys together we read a few books and I tuck them in to bed. When the kids are asleep I give myself about a half an hour to check facebook and basically lay around. Then I clean up dinner, work out at home for about 1/2 and start in on my homework. If my homework is caught up my boyfriend comes over for about an hour. I usually get to bed about 12am. I am a big dork and don't watch T.V. or movies. Every other Saturday I have a neighbor watch the kids and I get enough groceries for two weeks. The Saturdays in between I get the staple items with the kids. I keep a dry erase board on the refrigerator to write down what we run out of during the week. I also keep a calendar for homework assignments that are due. I am by no means perfect. There are some nights that I say forget the dishes and let them sit in the sink for a couple of nights. There has been more than a few times that I have left laundry pile up and we have spent mornings scrambling through five loads of clean laundry that I have left on the floor. I have found that once you get your house organized it is easier to keep it organized than to scramble through chaos. I also know I have to keep myself motivated, the busier I am the better I feel. I hope this is helpful and I hope you keep your head above water. I know it is hard sometimes, but believe me things will get better.