When you become a parent you experience a rebirth of sorts, you’ve gone from being the person you’ve been your whole life – a daughter, a son, a professional, a sibling, a spouse – to being someone’s parent first and foremost. It’s a seismic shift and it can be easy to lose yourself, your personal identity in the landslide.
Maintaining your own personal interests and identity once you become a parent is of paramount importance. It helps keep you sane and mentally stimulated and a great way to keep learning is through self study – it’s flexible and perfect for new parents at home with brand new tiny humans at home.
Not only is self study through online short courses a convenient way for parents to study but it’s absolutely perfectly suited to new parents! Here are three reasons why new parents and online self-guided study are the perfect match.
Have Something That Makes You Feel Grown Up
It may seem counterintuitive that becoming a parent (an undoubtedly grown up thing to do) might make you feel like a child yourself but it can be easy to lose yourself in your kids life and lose touch with the things that made you you before you were someone’s parent. You can lose yourself, lose your identity in your children. It’s incredibly common and although it can seem lonely, if you’re looking for some reassurance you can check out Me After You, an amazing podcast from Laura Byrne and the team at MamaMia which aims to help new parents struggling with the question: who am I now that I am somebody’s mother?
So, now we’ve established that you need something to help you feel like your old self again, let’s talk about how that relates to self study. Self study, which you can read more about in this article from Upskilled, is the process of independent learning which online short courses promote doing your own research and learning at your own pace. This is perfect for new parents who are looking to keep their minds stimulated and do something that reminds them of their personal interests before they had kids.
Parents Are Perfect For Self Study
As the previously mentioned article from Upskilled states, the most important skills you can have to make self study work for you is the ability to solve problems, juggle multiple tasks, manage time and work through your priorities. Sound familiar? The skills you need to master self study are already the skills that parents are using 24/7. Plus the ability to study on your own schedule is perfect for those who has a little dictator – we mean baby! – at home who refuses to stick to any sort of schedule! With online courses you can study while your little one sleeps or only log into your online courses on days when your kids are in daycare.
You’re Somebody’s Teacher Now
As anyone who has ever spent any extended period of time with a preschooler will tell you, kids have a lot of questions. ”Where does the sun go at night? When did time start? What’s a yesterday? When will it be yesterday? If a hedgehog hugged another hedgehog would their spikes stab each other or not?” There’s no end to the curiosity of children and, as the grown up in their lives they’ll look to you to explain the answers.
Your kids are constantly learning and you should be too. The world is constantly changing and there are always ways to improve upon your pre-existing skill set or to learn something new entirely. Not only can online courses be incredibly personally fulfilling but, it helps to inspire your kids whilst modeling good personal values. Think about how much easier it will be to convince your kids that their homework is important when they’ve grown up seeing you devote yourself to your personal education!
If you’re looking for a way to keep learning now that you’re a parent then self study is likely the best option for you because you can learn about the things you love in your own way and in a way that doesn’t distract from the love you feel for your tiny human!
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