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When Lisa and I got engaged and started to planning to make a family,
we made a commitment to each other that we would equally share
the caring of the child.
Well when we were pregnant with our first child, Lisa and I spent a lot of time
planning how we were going to manage financially,
while also fulfilling our desire to share the caring of the child.
I had just started as an accountant in a firm
and Lisa was working at the university.
When Anna was born,
Lisa was on maternity leave from the university
and I negotiated with my firm to work three days a week.
The plan was that once Lisa’s maternity leave was up,
I would continue three days a week
and Lisa would go back to work two days a week.
At first we were meeting our needs with a combination of our salaries,
Centrelink benefits and the baby bonus.
However, after a while we found ourselves getting into more and more debt,
So we had to ask friends and family for help.
So, we had to make a tough decision.
And we decided that I would go back to work full-time.
We tried to find child care so that Lisa could continue working,
but weren't able to find anything that we could afford,
so Lisa couldn't go back to work.
It wasn’t ideal, or what we had in mind for our future,
but given our financial situation it was our only choice.
Although my workplace has flexible work arrangements,
there was just too much pressure on junior accountants
to work long hours.
And there was this an unsaid rule
that if you take up flexible work arrangements,
than you’re just not interested in getting ahead.
I feel really disappointed
that I haven’t been able to spend the time with Anna as I had planned.
If I could change anything in my life it would be to spend more time with Anna
and for Lisa to be able to go back to work.