My lightbulb moment

Kate Garnish - 19 Nov 15

Hi, I’m Kate. I am 31 and I have a full-time job. I get to work from home, drink as much coffee and tea as I want and can take a long lunch every day. I got the job 20 months ago and it’s a job title I feel I’m only just feeling comfortable with now. My job? Full time mum.

It only became clear very recently that being a full-time mum IS indeed a full-time job. A job in which you don’t get paid, you work overtime on a daily basis and you are expected to cover all job roles (cleaner, cook, child’s entertainer and health and safety officer, among others).

I went on maternity leave with the idea that I would be back at work after 10 months off. WRONG – ­ that was no way near long enough. It took me ages to learn the ropes of being a first-time parent and I was not ready to go back to the office. Fast-forward 16 months and I was DYING to go back to work. I was pulling my hair out and going mad at home all day watching ‘CBeebies’, sick of cleaning up madam’s dinner that she had launched at the white walls in the kitchen, the constant teething and crying. I was becoming a total bitch to live with and needed a change.

That change came in the form of a new job -­ a job I applied for and didn’t think I’d get, but I did. ELATION, JOY, RAPTURE, I was free! Free to work full time as a normal working adult, contributing to society again! All I was contributing to at home was my ever-growing waistline from eating too much cake and Starbucks lattes. So we got my daughter a full-time place at her nursery, which she loves, and we were away! Happy mummy; happy baby.

I started the job like I would with any job, I was positive, full of energy and wanted to learn new skills, I even bought a new working-wardrobe. All was going well until about week three, when it got to 3pm on Thursday when I started to dream about what I’d be doing I were at home. Putting the baby down for a nap, catching up on tv shows I’d missed, going to the park or doing finger painting.

I’d be in meetings and all I’d be able to think about was Evie. I missed her, more than I thought I would. I’d be daydreaming so much that in a meeting someone asked me a question (I wasn’t listening) and I just had to nod and smile like I knew what they were talking about – cringe! How unprofessional!

I shrugged it off as a one off, and reminded myself that this was a job I wanted and deserved. But then the next day it happened again. WTF!?

It was that afternoon when it clicked. I got my lightbulb moment. I so wanted to be back to my old working self ‘pre-baby’ that I’d failed to realise that that didn’t exist anymore and that actually I had a pretty good full-time job already: being a mum. So that was it; I left. And it was the best decision ever.

I now love being at home with my daughter and I appreciate it so much more now. Sure I still get days where she drives me mad, so I’ve started a blog. Where I can vent my frustrations without having to leave the comfort of my sitting room. I would like to go back to work eventually but for now I’m content with where I’m at.

I may not get paid for my role as mummy but I get cuteness on tap in the form of my Evie and the cuddles and kisses she gives me every day.

Beat that, 9-5.

K x

Kate Garnish

Kate G, 34, Wife to Benn and mum to 5 year old Evie

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