Office for Promotion of Equality and DiversityWaseda University

Series: Tackling Work-Life Balance (27)

The days which led me to enjoy both childcare and work

Yuko Fukuyama
Associate Professor
School of International Liberal Studies
Waseda University

Note: The following is an English translation of the following article, originally written in Japanese, here.

As if to corroborate the words of a fellow professor that the brain fogs for three years after the birth of a child, the lack of enough sleep that is unavoidable during infancy and the child’s growing day by day that requires constant brain updates for parents to handle it were consuming both I and my partner’s energy. (My partner is also a university faculty member, and the burden of childcare and housework is equally shared and mutually substituted between us.)

Nonetheless, once the turbulent infancy period is over and my child reached the age of three, the support from university, the system of social welfare such as daycare centers, and the remote work system that was advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic had allowed me to roll through both childcare and work somewhat smoothly, without feeling as challenged as the word “tackling” in the title of this series of articles suggests.

Holiday lunch with colleagues Prof. Emily Ohman and Prof. Polina Dessiatnitchenko with our children

Looking back over the past four years, in the Italian history seminar class I taught from April 2019, just after returning from maternity leave, there happened to be a student who was about to start a company selling baby food, and thanks to the opportunity to test this student’s products (a very Waseda-like example of community support), I was able to make it through the baby food phase. During the period that my child started walking and I had to constantly be watching, and “the terrible twos” period arrived, my husband, who works at another university, obtained a research leave for half a year from September 2019 to reduce my burden. In addition to this, I was able to make use of the university’s system which allows professors with children under the age of one to have their class load reduced by one class, so we were able to get through the period when disposable time is scarce.

Especially in the past few years, the number of colleagues raising children has increased, and it has become a daily pleasure for us to visit each other’s offices and talk about trivial matters whenever we come to work. While rejoicing over each other’s children’s growth, worrying about their physical condition, and dealing with the occasional sleep deprivation caused by children, we also talk about applying for research grants and managing classes. Thanks to this environment of many fellow faculty members who are both devoted to their teaching and research while also raising children, I was able to bounce back after childbirth. However, as my colleague told me, there is a period when neither of the parents could think with clarity. But the hope that I would eventually get my brain working again within a few years was a major factor in my mental stability.

My child playing with cattails growing on Toyama hill. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the empty college campus was a great place to play

The most difficult days so far have been, after all, the six months from April 2020, when all classes were changed to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I worked long hours every day, so I don’t remember much. The reason I managed to get through this period was because of the nursery’s understanding and acceptance of the difficulty of each parent teaching online classes with their 1-year-old child, despite the ward’s directive for parents to refrain from taking children to kindergarten when working from home. In addition to the generous childcare due to a smaller number of children than usual, the fact that my child, who was the youngest, was greatly loved by the teachers and other children at the nursery and seemed to enjoy his daily life, was one of the few things that soothed me during those tough days.

Playing with a colleague’s child on a bicycle in front of the Okuma Auditorium

I am certain that I will continue to struggle with the balance between work and life, such as the so-called “first-grade wall” and the nursing care I will face in the future, and I feel that my current life is only on thin ice, though supported by considerations at the university, various social systems, the health of the child and my family, and things by chance. Nevertheless, as a byproduct of raising my child, I have come to have the outlook that even if various difficulties arise in the future, I will be able to manage them, somehow, and I have become more conscious of cherishing each day due to the many uncertain factors in my life. I feel that this is the reason why I am able to enjoy my current life, including my research and teaching.

（by SANKAKU NEWS No.29）