We’re glad to share our Beginning Well series for families and academic rhythms. There’s so much good thinking and encouragement in all of these pieces, relevant in and out of changing times. In addition to these pieces, let me flag Heather Walker Peterson’s “Where’s my Guru for Full-Time Working Mothers?” if you’re a person trying to work and manage school at home. But mostly, let’s remember that we’re not in this alone — God is with us.
by Bronwyn Lea
"...when I was asked, "Do you have any advice to give young, married grad students?" I flinched a little. Those five years of early marriage in grad school were intense, and it is hard to distill the things I learned which were true of sharing-grad-school as opposed to the steep-learning-curve-called-marriage — because we did them simultaneously. However, if you'll forgive me smooshing things together, here are some of the things I'd want to whisper to those champion supporters (aka spouses) of grad students..."
Letter to a New Graduate Student’s Family, Part 1
"Congratulations! Your loved one is not the only one starting a new journey. You have also started grad school, and you are now working on your own program of study. You have now begun your ‘PhT': your Pushed him/her Through.” Chandra Crane writes this three-part series to the family members of new graduate students.
Questioning God About Childcare
by Heather Walker Peterson
"I felt I was crossing a line from acceptably-invested mom into career woman with children as peripheral....I was struggling to choose an arrangement I wasn’t seeing modeled in my community." Heather Walker Peterson tells of the response she hears from God after she asked him about childcare.
Taking your Baby with You: An Interview with Katharine Hayhoe
by Marcia Bosscher and Katharine Hayhoe
"The most important thing I would say is that there's no right choice. The right choice is whatever's right for you. For me, being a mother is incredibly important, but being a scientist, especially studying an issue like climate change that affects us all over the world, that's really important to me, too." Katherine Hayhoe shares her personal experiences of bringing a child along to conferences.
by Elizabeth Corey
Elizabeth Corey’s First Things article shows a deep understanding of the situation faced by many women who struggle with desires for both fulfilling careers and fulfilling family life. Preview her insight here.
by Jennifer Woodruff Tait
“It is peaceful. I am grateful. I am lost. My children are not with me. Those words echoed into the depths of my own soul....Such things ought not to be so. The life of the mind and the life of the flesh — the books and the babies — ought not to be posed as opposites. How are they to be reconciled?”
