Monday, August 4, 2008
Plans for Travel - Personal and Professional
I have not figured this out yet. ASHE conference is coming up - I did not attend last year due to my pregnancy. This year, I can't see myself going with my daughter (4.5 months now). I have seen some of my colleagues attending professional meetings with their partners and small children. My partner does not have enough vacation days after we plan for visiting our family in three different coutries. Simply, not enough! I also want to continue breastfeeding - the only option I have is to bring my daughter with me and to attend professional meetings. In November (ASHE 2008), I can't see myself doing so. Maybe in spring 2009 when my daughter begins to eat solids and complete weaning, then I may attend. How bad it can be not attending the professional meetings for a year or so...
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5 comments:
This is my second year not attending for the same reason. And I'll be missing 09-10 too with another one on the way. My philosophy is that if I'm publishing I can forego conferences for a few years while I have small children and no one to care for them/am breastfeeding.
Thank you, Athena for sharing your thoughts on this. I agree with you - focusing on publishing makes sense. We can always go back to those "annual" events!
Deciding whether or not to go to conferences is a decision that I am concerned about as well. I missed 2 major conferences in the Spring because my daughter was born right in the middle of the conferences. Now, I face the same issues with breastfeeding. One the one hand, I feel like Athena -- I could just miss the conferences as long as I continue to publish. One the other hand, I worry that I need to network and “be seen” by my colleagues; I need to continue to make connections for tenure and promotion. My current thinking is that I will either bring my daughter along and try to line up friends and sitters or I will try to go for a day or two and pump.
If you do feel that it is important to go, is there someone other than your spouse that you could take with you (other family member) to babysit while you are at the conference?
I have taken my spouse before to conferences, but also considered taking my mom once when he was not going to be able to go (I ended up having other committments at that time, so couldn't go anyways).
When I did go to a conference with my spouse and son, I went back to the hotel room to nurse at lunch time and I pumped once in the morning and once in the afternoon on breaks between sessions.
P.S. - thanks to you ladies for linking to my blog!
Another option is to create a network of parents who will be attending the conference and who would be willing to take turns babysitting. I have seen this work with a few grad students. And, I would be happy to be one of those colleagues.
phdinparenting, I love your blog!
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