Mom Skills

Multi-tasking – You are able to manage multiple projects at one time. Taken too far, this can work against you. In the right measure, this skill is perfectly suited for a returning college student.

Perspective – Each test or assignment is not life or death. You have lived enough of life to know that you can overcome the defeat of a 67% on a chemistry test. College allows you to actually learn. You don’t have to know everything before you get there. I learned this from my own daughter. She was mad that she couldn’t read on the first day of kindergarten!

Preparation and Improvision- Moms prepare for the best but plan for the worst. What can go wrong will go wrong – despite your best of intentions. Any mom that has taken toddlers on a family vacation can attest to this. You make the best of a situation in less than desirable circumstances. It is the ability to continue on in an oral report when while visual aides crash down around you. You always have an extra pencil in your backpack. You always have a plan B.

Mediating – You know the world is not black and white. Many time the answers in life falls somewhere along the gray spectrum. This gives you the opportunity to look at a problem from different perspectives. You know there may be more than one “right” answer or that there may be more than one way to get to the correct answer.

Communicator- You have the ability to take in a lot of information and draw your own conclusion. Any mom who has had to question a teenager arriving home at 1:30am has this skill. It allows you to detect how credible a source may be, makes you a better listener, and helps you get your message across.

Team Builder – You can get people to work together for the greater good. Whether it is a volunteer group or your own family, you can get things done through teamwork! There are times that you will have to work as a group to complete a school project or even to study. Working with all types and ages of students will greatly help you achieve your own educational goals. As a bonus, you will find that mentoring a fellow student can be very rewarding in its own right.

Efficiency – Procrastination isn’t usually in your vocabulary. You do not put off things until tomorrow. (And even if you do, don’t worry about it until tomorrow!) You can sequentially think through a process and get the most out of it. Think of the last time you ran errands. You did them is some sort of order to get the most done in the shortest period of time. This will help you study more efficiently, break assignments down into smaller chunks, and turn your assignments in on time.

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."

-Erma Bombeck