Internet Goes Wild for Professor Who Teaches While Holding a Single Mom’s Baby
Schools such as Harvard and Princeton may top those prestigious “top colleges in America” lists. But do they have professors who will hold a baby for a student whose child care fell through?
That’s what Joel Bunkowske, an instructor at DeVry University’s Nashville, Tennessee, campus, did on Monday when Amanda Osbon’s babysitter was unavailable.
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Osbon, a single mom who is studying criminal justice and taking Bunkowske’s class, had to bring her nearly two-year-old son with her. But Bunkowske didn’t give the mom a hard time about the situation, even when the little boy, named Xzavier, got antsy and wanted to be held by the professor.
“My class is from 6–9 p.m. Our break is at 7:30. My son sat down very quietly from 6–7:30. He will be 2 in November, for a young toddler to do this, is amazing,” Osbon told TakePart in an email. “After the break, he wanted to get off the chair and I told him to sit down. My professor said to me that if he wanted to walk around the classroom that it is completely okay because for a toddler to sit there for 3 hours would be impossible.”
Osbon told WKRN that Bunkowske “was amazing, patient, and kind” as he picked up the child and continued to teach the class. “Most of us in the class are parents, so everyone was very understanding that he was there,” Osbon told the station.
WKRN’s story has been shared more than 2,400 times on Facebook and liked more than 10,000 times. Many other single moms are sharing similar experiences on social media.
“This is how I attended my grad classes with my new baby after her father abandoned us just before she was born,” wrote a Facebook user named Anne Russell. “After I earned my MS and PhD and became a professor myself, I always allowed students to bring their children to class if they had no access to child care, and I often lectured holding a student’s baby and I gave assignments to their older children to do in class, to keep them busy. It worked out just fine. I was determined that no parent would miss out on an education because of having children.”
Osbon’s situation is relatable: One-third of employed parents have experienced some form of child care breakdown within the past three months, according to a 2014 report from the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies. The cost of full-time care for an infant can range from more than $15,000 a year in states such as New York and Massachusetts to less than $6,000 in Tennessee, where Osbon lives, wrote the report’s authors.
Child care is so expensive that, according to the report, the tab for two children is greater than the cost of a home mortgage in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The child care fee for two kids in a center is higher than the annual cost of renting in every state.
A 2014 report from Pew found that because of soaring costs, more moms are putting the kibosh on their career and staying home with their kids. Unless they have a high-paying job with a salary that significantly exceeds child care costs, working stops making financial sense.
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The incentive might not be there for parents to head back to school because, depending on a school’s tuition, child care costs might exceed the cost of a class too. Students at DeVry, which is a private, for-profit education institution, have racked up some of the highest student-loan debt—$30,092 per student on average—of any school in the nation. A recent grad would need to be able to find affordable, reliable child care so he or she would be able to get a job and pay off that debt.
Osbon believes that one solution to the child care problem would be for schools to have on-site day care for parents. “Most day cares aren’t open past 5 or so. A lot of schools have classes late at night,” she wrote to TakePart. “I believe this would allow more parents to become students because it would be one less stressor for parents.”
Obson told WKRN that she was embarrassed about her lack of child care until the professor told the class that everyone has challenges. Bunkowske’s reaction is also earning kudos from plenty of parents across the nation who aren’t single parents.
“There are SO MANY times (in my very short stint so far) as a parent that I have thought about my situation and wondered what the heck a single parent would do. Seriously, if you are a single parent, I salute you!” Sarah Bloom, a journalist at NBC 12 in Richmond, Virginia, wrote on her Facebook page. “And in this case, I salute this teacher for having this reaction. Babies can be distracting, but how beautiful to demonstrate to this class that a family—and this mother’s education—matter too.”
Osbon told TakePart that she is surprised by how much support and encouragement she is getting from people who don’t know her. “It’s awesome. I know I am not the only single parent, I know I’m not the only person who has ever had child care issues, and I know this isn’t the first time a teacher has held a child in class,” she wrote. “But people are praising my professor in ways that he deserves. He is an amazing man.”
Related stories on TakePart:
• You Won't Believe How Much It Costs to Raise a Kid in America
• Attention, Future Dads: These 10 Companies Give Paid Paternity Leave
• Breast-Feeding Women Descend on Walmart After Store Shames Nursing Mom
Original article from TakePart
