Distance education can be a challenge to the most dedicated student but to one that holds down a job and has young children as well, it can be a most daunting task. I find myself in this category of student but I have found different ways to cope with some of the difficulties.

My wife works as a registered nurse and I often find myself watching our children. At five and three years of age, their attention spans are anything but long, so attempting to study while the three of us are at home together becomes an exercise in futility, as the two of them unceasingly vie for my attention. Enter Bubba Baloo’s (http://www.pgmoneysaver.bc.ca/bubbas/).

Bubba Baloo’s is a kid-oriented business in Prince George, where I live, that is filled with indoor climbing equipment and games. It costs me about $10 to get the two kids in (no charge for adults) and we can stay as long as we like. There is a security system wherein we all get wrist bracelets and no children are allowed to leave without the adult whose electronic bracelet matches their own. So once we’re checked inside, the kids can go off to play on their own and I can concentrate on other things until its time to leave. My wife put me on to this place (I’m sitting at a table in it right now) last year and it is an invaluable tool for me in regards to my studies.

Any reasonably large centre will likely have one or more similar businesses. Over the Christmas holidays my family and I were in Vancouver and we went to a place called Crash Crawly’s (http://www.crash-crawlys.com/) in Burnaby. The kids had a blast and it was a welcome respite for my wife and I. It has all of the features that Bubba Baloo’s contains, plus an indoor train, cars that the kids can drive, and craft activities. We’ve frequented like playgrounds in Edmonton and Calgary as well. I found Crash Crawly’s by searching the Internet (http://www.google.com) with the phrase “indoor playground (city)”.

I am fortunate enough to be able to afford this form of child-safe distraction as well as being blessed with the ability to block out white-noise in order to concentrate on studies (these places are very loud, being filled with children yelling and shrieking with glee). Undoubtedly, many students with young children might find the costs prohibitive or the distractions too intense for this method to be of use. But for those others, it could be one weapon in your arsenal against scholastic procrastination.