Children are the most precious thing in most people’s lives and our society puts great importance on both raising them as well as educating them.
The significance of schooling them, however, is not always reflected in a teacher’s earnings.
Matthew and Krystal Dionysiou, a married couple of teachers, have discovered firsthand the difficulties associated with raising a young family on their salaries.
Matthew (34) has been teaching full time for ten years as a Secondary English and Drama teacher while Krystal (32) has been working as a primary school teacher since 2016.
The Melburnian couple have two daughters, Eliana (4) and Alexia (2), with Krystal switching to part-time (three days a week) ever since having them.
Krystal stressed that teaching is an extremely rewarding profession, both in terms of helping students develop and in working with supportive colleagues, but it is also incredibly difficult.
“Teaching does not start at 8.30am and finish at 3.30pm. It is a 50 plus hour working week,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“Teaching is demanding, there is a lot of admin, adjustments made for students with varied learning abilities and disabilities, implementing different ways to improve learning outcomes and motivating and engaging students. We wear various hats, from teacher, to doctor, to mediator, to counsellor.”
The primary school teacher explained that there is great satisfaction in working extra hours for the benefit of the next generation, though people in their profession can and often do experience socioeconomic challenges.
In fact, Matthew and Krystal began an online store called Dex & Lani Kids and Living in their spare time, selling items like homewares, décor, kid’s toys, baby hampers, personalised drinkware and accessories, to aid their financial situation.
“Cost of living is increasing, but teacher wages are not,” Krystal said.
“We have a mortgage, HECS debt and many expenses, like others, so we feel it is our role as parents and Greek Australians, like our grandparents did for their kids, to create opportunities for ourselves, enjoy our family and support our children for their future.”
The pair decided that a business was the best step forward to improve their situation and help improve their financial situation as well as act as an outlet for their own creativity.
Krystal stated that they created the design for their website all on their own, not being able to afford to pay a web designer, using the Easter School holidays to set it up.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to work all day and well into the night to have it ready, knowing the demands our day jobs have on us once the new school term comes around,” she said.
“Of course, the mum-guilt kicked in, knowing I put business over outings out with my kids, but I kept having to remind myself that what Matthew and I were doing was for our girls.”
The couple have organised their duties since launching their store in April to ensure they do not fall behind in any of their responsibilities.
Krystal highlighted the store is to help support their daughters and is why it is named after them.
“The brand name was inspired by our daughters, Eliana (Lani) and Alexia (Dex). Eliana’s nickname, Lani, originated from her early attempts at pronouncing her name, while her sister, Alexia, was lovingly dubbed Dex by her big sister, Eliana,” the teacher said.
Krystal added that she and her husband both look to their migrant grandparents and parents, his side from Cyprus and hers from Greece, for inspiration as they now raise their own family.
The teacher stressed that, despite the challenges they face, she and Matthew are proud to come from hard-working roots and hope those same values will transfer to their children.
“We want our girls to have the same mindset, to always strive to grow, work hard and be the best versions of themselves. We want them to know that they can achieve anything with the right values, morals, work ethic, always knowing that we will support them in every stage.”
