It takes a lot to highlight the guilt you feel between the pull of work and kids on Twitter, and to share some of the raw emotions as well as the personal stories that come with missing key events and spending time away.
But Labor MP Sally Sitou did just that this morning, sharing on Twitter about the “teary call” she received from her six year old son this morning, who misses his mother while she is away in Canberra for this week’s first sitting week of the year.
She also used the series of tweets to highlight the importance of the work and the opportunity to create a better country — while highlighting how political life, like many careers, means spending a lot of time away from your family.
“We do these jobs because we want to help our community. And I love it, it’s the privilege of my life to get to represent my electorate,” she wrote.
“But I do spend a lot of time away from my family.
Sitou said this is an issue that impacts so many Australians — and then put out the call to other parents to share how they make it work.
“These are the difficult choices so many parents have to make. Those who do shift work, have fly in fly out jobs, have to travel frequently or who have to work long hours. How are you making it work?”
She received a number replies to that tweet, with people noting how they could relate, thanking her for the vulnerability and sharing some of their various strategies: tapping into “the village”, working reduced hours, remembering it’s only for a period of time, and sharing the load — where possible. “A shout out to all the parents doing unappreciated work at home,” one response said
For Sitou, she shared her own strategy of how she will be able to “make it up to him” in time: with extra enthusiasm when playing games and going on bike rides.
“In time, I hope he’ll know why I’m spending this time away from him. It’s because I want to create a better country for him, his generation & the people of Reid. When I get home, I’ll make sure I play beyblades with extra enthusiasm, build crazy marble runs & go for bike rides.”
Sitou’s public vulnerability on this issue is not the first time a politician has expressed how difficult they find the pull, but to be so open and honest this early into her career may reflect just how much parliament is changing in Australia, and over the past year — including with more women from many different backgrounds and often with young children.
Sitou entered parliament last year as the Labor MP for Reid. In her opening speech, she described the moment as “surreal in the best way possible… that one could dare to dream this big.”
She described herself as “the daughter of migrants, a proud Chinese-Lao Australian” who “grew up in Cabramatta in south-west Sydney,” and “the product of good public education”.