Meet the Sharpes: Mom has Baby #3, #4, and #5 while working on PhD

In the midst of her doctoral program, when Heather Sharpe and her husband Jason decided to add a child to their family of four (two children plus themselves), some friends and family thought they were a little crazy.

No doubt their eyes are rolling back in their heads now as Sharpe didn’t stop at just one: she has had three children in the five years since she started her PhD in the Faculty of Nursing, the most recent born the night after she submitted final revisions for her dissertation!

Sharpe makes it sound like it was no big deal to juggle a large family and a graduate degree.

“My student schedule was amenable to it,” she says now, but also gives full credit to her husband and “excellent child care” made possible by the financial support she received from the Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist program. The transdisciplinary training program provides support for highly qualified child health clinician candidates to develop knowledge and skills for careers in child health research.

“I started my PhD program after carefully considering what I wanted to do and what I needed in a PhD program. My single biggest factor was choosing a program where I knew I would be supported and encouraged and that a family would not be seen as a detriment.”

Sharpe calls Karen Benzies, a professor in the Faculty of Nursing and her supervisor, “supportive and encouraging. It helped to know she had been there before me. Having mentors and leaders that have paved the way is so valuable,” she says.

“Heather has an uncanny ability to remain calm and productive while managing graduate work, five young children and a husband who travels,” Benzies says. “As a parenting researcher, I was curious about how Heather and Jason would interact with their children. Very quickly it became clear that they are a cohesive team intent on supporting each of their children to grow and learn in the best ways possible. When Heather’s work-life balance enables her to focus more fully on her research that aims to improve outcomes for children with asthma and their families, it will be hard to imagine the scope of her potential productivity.”

Now that she is graduating, Sharpe will take a little time off to enjoy Josie, 9, Callum, 7, Sophie, 2, Lachlan, 1, and Piper, who is almost three months old — but she will be back to juggling family and work again soon. “It is hard work, and there are times you have to make difficult choices, but it is totally achievable,” she says.

“I think it is important to show our children that it is possible to have both a work and home life, and that we are making valuable contributions beyond the very important role of being parents. I want my children to see that our family works hard and plays hard, and that there are endless possibilities for them. I also want them to remember that parenting is a shared function, and that Jason and I work hard together to be good parents, good at our jobs, and good to each other.”