Trying to finish coursework while the kids are home sick. Send coffee. And wine. ☕🍷

[BertaSimpson]

Just a little vent session for my fellow parent-students out there. You feel me?

It's finals week. I have a 2,500-word coursework paper due on Friday for my psychology module. I had a plan. I was going to write 500 words a night after the kids went to bed. Perfectly paced. Adulting done right.

Then my youngest woke up at 3 AM with a fever of 102. Then my oldest "felt sick" too (miraculously felt better when I mentioned no screen time, hmm). So now I have two kids home from school. The house looks like a tornado hit a LEGO factory. The dog is stressed. My partner is at work. And I'm trying to write about "The Efficacy of CBT in Treating Adolescent Anxiety" while simultaneously making toast, wiping noses, and mediating a dispute over who gets the blue spoon.

Every time I sit down to write a paragraph, a tiny human needs something. "Mommy, I'm thirsty." "Mommy, the show stopped." "Mommy, I threw up." (Spoiler: they didn't). My brain is absolute scrambled eggs. I read a sentence I wrote this morning: "The therapeutic alliance is crucial for, um, can I have a snack?"

I'm not giving up. I refuse to fail. But man, the guilt is real. Guilt that I'm not giving 100% to my kids because I'm stressed about my paper. Guilt that I'm not giving 100% to my paper because my kids need me. It's a lose-lose.

Any other parent-students have tips for surviving coursework during a sick-kid crisis? I'm currently considering writing at 2 AM when everyone is asleep. Is that sustainable? Probably not. But here we are.

 

[PatriciaW]

Guilt is the parent-student's constant companion. You're not alone in that. But here's something I learned: your kids don't need perfect attention. They need you present. If that means writing while they watch one more episode, that's okay. If that means pausing to mediate spoon disputes, that's okay.