{"id":10835,"date":"2024-01-17T14:09:41","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/?p=10835"},"modified":"2024-01-17T14:09:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:09:43","slug":"phd-as-a-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/phd-as-a-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD as a mother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a mother currently pursuing my doctorate, I often encounter the belief that higher education is not the ideal time for parenthood. In this post, I want to share my personal experience, offering a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, I began my doctorate with a two-and-a-half-month-old baby. When I received the acceptance email from Oxford, I was thrilled \u2013 a dream come true. However, this raised a question: could I pursue this dream while pregnant? I believed in balancing motherhood and academic aspirations, and my advisor’s encouragement reinforced this belief. We, as a family, moved from Israel to England, adjusting to this new chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It hasn\u2019t been easy. Physically, post-pregnancy recovery and sleepless nights were tough. Emotionally, I constantly struggle with guilt over balancing academic and maternal responsibilities. If I focus on my daughter, I worry about neglecting my research; if I concentrate on my studies, I feel like a bad mother. The logistics of managing a household, especially when being the primary caregiver, added another layer of complexity. Motherhood often feels isolating, as not everyone around me can relate to my situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, doctoral studies offered unexpected advantages. The flexibility allows me to align my work with my daughter’s schedule, often during nights or weekends. This means I can compensate for lost time without impacting others, unlike in a regular job. Interestingly, this flexibility leads to more time spent with my daughter than if I had a typical job. Moreover, the challenges of motherhood put academic obstacles into perspective. The best part of my day is always the hug from my daughter after a day of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I keep moving forward with my PhD, here are some key tips that have helped me so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Flexible Scheduling: Organize daily tasks, including household chores, within specific hours to enhance efficiency.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Creating a Supportive Environment: Having a support system, be it your partner or friends, is crucial. Address practical issues early on, like daycare and babysitters, and don\u2019t be shy to ask for help.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Aligning Expectations with Your Supervisor: Communicate your limitations early to avoid misunderstandings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Practice Compassion: Acknowledge that you can’t do everything and be kind to yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In the race of life, there never seems to be a “right” time for children. Whether it’s career progression or personal aspirations, the timing is always challenging. However, if you feel ready, that is the right time for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a mother currently pursuing my doctorate, I often encounter the belief that higher education is not the ideal time for parenthood. In this post, I want to share my personal experience, offering a different perspective. A year ago, I began my doctorate with a two-and-a-half-month-old baby. When I received the acceptance email from Oxford, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[750],"class_list":["post-10835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hints-and-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":750,"user_id":110,"is_guest":0,"slug":"yael","display_name":"Yael Ziv","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3c9bc72679de72f6dcf8e4c545102ef6e0cf449a772414f2a7958c9c1971b740?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10836,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10835\/revisions\/10836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10835"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blopig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}