I am not going to lie, when I wrote my initial blog post the main motivation was the fact the blog page is free on the website and I had some cute pictures of the baby, but as I was driving home from a late night meeting with Potboiler Theatre with Ciaran snoring by my side I had a thought...What if I used this blog to chart some of the ways I am making freelancing with Ciaran possible (note: it's all a massive fudge), and would it be possible to use it to develop the conversation on working while raising a family in the arts industry (a conversation I know has already been wonderfully started by the likes of PIPA,) .
Before I go further please can I say - I know that working in the arts with children is not a new phenomenon but I am at an age and life-stage where my social media feed is full of people attempting to work and raise families at the same time, so it feels current & relevant to me. It is also full people who have already navigated combining family and their work, and the more they can share the better. I also know that the arts isn't the only industry where childcare is an issue, however it is the industry I work in and know best so really the only one I feel able comment on. It is also an industry full of clever, creative problem solvers, an industry where pay can be low and hours awkward so childcare options are prohibitive, and an industry full of companies willing to consider ways to make flexible working possible.
So, this blog will touch on the fantastic support I am receiving from the people I currently work with, it will touch on the massive games of parenting tag I play with John meaning that Ciaran sometimes gets passed from car to car in settings as glamorous as a Sainsbury's car park, it will touch on the fabulous work that companies such as Bea & Co. are doing to facilitate ad hoc childcare, it will touch on why I take my laptop to soft play centres, and, I hope, it will be a platform for other people to share stories and experiences. If you have thoughts/experiences you would like to share (and the time to write them down), I would love to hear from you, or if you have already written some thoughts please flag them up to me, I would much prefer to read them than another article on why my baby isn't sleeping! And we will see where all our collective fudging gets us, after all 'It takes a village'....
