4 Tips for Moms Pursuing a Healthcare Degree

Whether you’re working part-time as a nurse so you’re home with the kids most of the time, or as a full-time healthcare worker trying to juggle earning a degree to increase your pay without sacrificing too much of your limited time with children, here are four tips for mom students pursuing a healthcare MBA.

Plan Your Childcare before You Sign Up for Classes

Plan your childcare arrangements before you sign up for classes. Can you take the classes in an hour at work over your lunch break or the end of your shift while the daycare center is still open? Can your spouse rearrange their work schedule to watch the children while you’re taking classes online? Would you be able to rearrange child visitation with an ex so you can attend classes while he gets extra time with the children or sees them two or three nights a week instead of Saturday? Can you let the children watch a movie while you’re taking classes? Are there courses available online after your children’s bedtime?

Move Your Education Online

If you earn an online healthcare MBA from George Washington University, you can choose classes that are available during the day or evening to fit your schedule. And you don’t have to factor travel time into your schedule because it is online. You’ll be able to review material online and repeat last night’s lesson if you were too tired to remember it. In short, online courses take less time out of your already busy schedule and allow you to review material with others online when you need it, not when the professor is available.

Learn to Say No

Dennis Prager calls it vitamin N, saying children today suffer a deficit of the word “no”. It feels like everyone else needs to read the book “Boundaries” by Dr. Henry Cloud. In reality, boundaries and limits are typically healthy, and we need to get back to setting a few, whether at home with our children, friends, or co-workers.

You aren’t bad for saying no, though the moral busybodies will certainly try to guilt trip you into doing what they want and the kids may throw a tantrum.

Remember This Isn’t Forever

Some people talk about work-life balance as if it were a perfect balance one maintains at all times. In reality, this is not the case. Sometimes, the kids are dominant, sometimes work is dominant, and sometimes you sacrifice me-time and have less time with the children so that you can finish your education. The issue is balancing everything in the long run, not that you’ve had an hour for yourself and two hours of quality bonding time after an eight-hour shift every single day. Dedicate some time to your priorities, saying no and not now to the others, so that you can afford to give them more time and attention later.

Managing your studies and your parental duties might seem like a challenge, but it’s definitely feasible if you are thoroughly prepared and your family is behind you as well.