PhDs and parenting

What is it like to do a PhD while starting your family? How can you get practical and emotional support while writing your thesis or launching your academic career when you have small children?
Recent OU PhD graduates Dr Emilie Giles and Dr Jade Levell talk about having and raising their children during their doctorates and beyond, the trials and tribulations, how they made it work and how the ‘perfect’ thesis is a done thesis.
Further reading
Theses
Giles, Emilie (2021). E-textiles for Self-Expression: Participatory Making with Blind and Visually Impaired People. PhD thesis The Open University http://oro.open.ac.uk/77859/
Levell, Jade (2020). The Road Home: Masculinity, Vulnerability, And Violence : A Narrative Study Using Music Elicitation With Men Who Had Childhood Experience Of Domestic Violence/Abuse And On-Road/Gang-Involvement. PhD thesis The Open University http://oro.open.ac.uk/70991/
Support groups and resources
Brearley, J. (2021) Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth About the Motherhood Penalty and How to Fix It, Simon and Schuster.
Evans, E. and Grant, C. (eds) (2008) Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life, Rutgers University Press. Facebook group Mama, PhD https://www.facebook.com/groups/26883644770
Mother Pukka - For people who happen to be parents https://www.motherpukka.co.uk/
Doctoral Mom Life https://www.facebook.com/Doctoral-Mom-Life-1448686481853569/