An Interview with ... Samantha Simmonds
At the WorkLife Central Accelerator Day, newsreader Samantha Simmonds shared her perspectives on juggling parenthood with a busy career. Below, we capture the essence of her talk, as she shares her views on the ups and downs of being a working parent.
Q. What does ‘having it all’ mean to you?
A. I have a very clear memory about talking with school friends about the concept of having it all. At 17 I wanted a successful rewarding career, and I wanted children, and who was going to stand in my way! ‘Having it all’ means different things to all of us but I guess we associate it with happiness and success. It is an exciting and empowering message yet the misinterpretations of it can be damaging and disempowering for women and for men.
Q. And what’s your perspective now, as a working parent?
A. As far as I am concerned, the concept of having it all isn’t actually working - instead of giving us tremendous amounts of freedom and opportunity, the idea of having it all has morphed into having far too much on our plate. So we are stressed out, burned out, and running out of time for our loved ones - every single day chasing an impossible goal.
Going back to work after 6 months maternity leave was physically and mentally exhausting. I still had a baby that was up most nights and my shifts were all over the place – early mornings, late nights and weekends.
Aside from the logistics challenges of finding childcare to work around my shifts, the most difficult aspect was losing control over my son - not knowing what he was not doing drove me mad and I felt I missed out. It wasn’t the guilt that I found hard but the lack of control.
Q. Tell us about your most stressful moment as a working parent
A. Once I was just about to go on air, when I had a call from school to say that ‘no one has come to pick up your daughter’. I couldn’t get hold of our nanny, started panicking that something terrible had happened, and of course I couldn’t focus on reading the news, and thought I was going to have to back out of reading the news at the last minute. Then the split second before I was due on air, my nanny answered her phone – and everything was fine. I was very overwhelmed with stress.
Q. How do you view the challenge of balancing career & family?
A. I think the reality for many of us is it is like a seesaw with good phases and bad. Learning how to manage the transition between the two might result in a smoother, saner path in the long run. Thankfully, big businesses are catching on to the idea that real equality means valuing family as much as work. But you could argue that the best route is to stop pitching work and family against each other, and find a way to incorporate the two into our lives in a sustainable way.
Q. What challenges do you think face the next generation?
A. Women at a very young age are being sold a bill of goods that what they do defines them; and doing everything they possibly can while sacrificing their peace of mind and overall wellbeing will create success in their lives. Is this really the message we want to send young women?
Q. And finally, what message would you give to other professionals balancing demanding careers and family life?
A. To stop believing there is a utopian universe just beyond our reach, if only we could work that little bit harder or spend that bit longer with our children or go on just one more mini break! It just doesn’t exist and it never will. You can ‘have it all’, but you may have it at different times and at different levels. Above all, what it looks like for you needs to be your personal interpretation, and not the unrealistic, unachievable and fantastical image portrayed by so many media outlets. It’s not giving up or giving in, its accepting life for what it is.
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More information about Samantha’s work including her blog and upcoming speaking events can be found on her website
Originally Released On 10 November 2016