I really appreciated this article by David M. Perry about his experiences being a working dad in the academy. I had four kids during graduate school, and two of them have special needs I write about our experience with them on my other blog. I have always been grateful to be able to work in places where I felt like my position as a father was not just tolerated but appreciated.
In fact, I remember there was a time when I was at Stanford and feeling particularly overwhelmed. I spoke with one of my advisors and he told me: “Look. You are a husband and a father and nothing that you do will ever be as important as that. So you will never be the guy who does everything. It’s just not going to happen. You need to pick one thing and do it better than anybody else and you will always be fine.”
I’m sure that not everyone has had the good fortune of working for and with people like that, but it’s nice to know that there are people out there who value family and are willing to help their students and colleagues to find the proper balance.