ACQ Vol 10 No 2 2008

Work– l i f e balance : preserv i ng your soul

S tudents W rite … Juggling family, study and life! Jessie Smith

Reflecting back on my student days…

Fast forward to 2008, one year after completing my degree I decided to further my study and become a teacher. I called two weeks before commencing the course and enrolled to complete my Graduate Diploma of Education. The positives of the course were the career advancement; flexible teaching hours, etc., but of course, positives always entail negatives.

Vegemite fingerprints decorate the sliding glass door and the sideboard is beginning to resemble a haunted house. In this come all the joys of juggling two small children and studying full-time. The demands of family life and work are always a difficult one but with compromise it can be done. Just ask our family! In between my second and third year of studying Bachelor of Health Science (Speech Pathology) at Charles Sturt University our family became three. Balancing a small baby and university was challenging, yet fun. We managed to incorporate study, work and child- rearing as well as having a social life. I think that compromises and imagination play huge parts … reading speech pathology text books is always much more stimulating then Hairy Maclary! Three months after I completed my degree, we had our second son. This became more of a challenge and my husband and I decided that I would be a stay-at-home mum for a little while. I give credit to those who can dedicate themselves their lives solely to the little people around them – this to me is a far harder job then balancing work and family life. When my son was 3 months old, I began working in a counselling role. My speech pathology skills were invaluable as I used my communication skills in diverse ways. On-site childcare centres work wonders! Six months after completing my degree I begun working privately in three local private and public schools. It was amazing to finally use my speech pathology degree in a traditional way. My working two days a week was fantastic for our family. I had two jobs: two days a week as a profes­ sional, contributing in the community, and the other, by far, the most important job I have, looking after our beautiful sons.

The main one was that the course is full time, 9–4 every day. However, our philosophy this year is to consider the long- term gains for our family. The boys go to my wonderful personal nanny (aka my mother-in-law) and have adapted really well. It is me of course who misses them the most. Being a busy parent is challenging, with highs and lows. The biggest difficulty for our family to spend quality time, rather then simply “time” together. Yes, the house isn’t as spotless as it was; yes, the clothes go un-ironed but the boys are hilarious, outgoing and wonderful people, and this indicates to me that we’re managing work and home life perfectly … well almost! Jessie Smith Ex speech pathology student Charles Sturt University email: damienandjess@optusnet.com.au

Would you like to contact more than 4,200 speech pathologists? Advertising in ACQ and Speak Out is a great way to spread your message to speech pathologists in Australia and overseas. We have different size advertising space available. If you book in every issue for the whole year you’ll receive a 10% discount. See www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au for further information about advertising

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ACQ uiring knowledge in speech , language and hearing , Volume 10, Number 2 2008