Challenge
Juggling school or work with home life “I had to juggle secondary school with home life. I had a few breakdowns, especially during exams. I did most of my work during the night, only a few hours, 3-4 hours sleep a night...� Rachel
Being a carer often means that the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night is for someone else. All but one of the carers we spoke to live with the person they are caring for. They also are the main carer. Often, this responsibility translates in a long list of tasks, including preparing meals, helping the person wash themselves, cleaning the house, doing the shopping, looking after medication, accompanying the person to appointments, taking care of younger siblings. This means that juggling school and personal life with home life was often difficult.
Being a carer doesn’t stop when you leave the home. Rachel, who is currently at university, told us that she regularly checks in with her mum via text. If everything is OK at home, she tries to stay at university in the evening until it closes. Otherwise she struggles to separate her university work and her home life. This is the only way she could stay focused on her studies. This often means long days and little sleep, as she still has caring responsibilities when she gets home late in the evenings.
Sharon for example, told us that she used to miss school a lot. She said that if she could give her younger self advice, it would be to go to school more. 12