I left my demanding corporate job to spend time with my kids, but soon realized being a stay-at-home mom wasn’t what I wants.
The thing no one tells you about being a stay-at-home mom is that to the outside world and society at large, it’s almost like you cease to exist at all. No one talks to you about your own interests anymore. All conversations start to revolve around your kids, and very few people ask you about YOU.
It’s a hard gig, with constant demands on your time, energy, and attention. It’s 24/7, and the cycle of things to do never seems to end make breakfast, feed kids, clean up the kitchen, make snacks, clean up the crumbs, make lunch, feed kids, clean up the kitchen, laundry, clean up toys, prep dinner, feed kids, bath and bedtime, clean up kitchen, collapse on couch, and repeat.
For a list-making, productivity junkie like me, it was a hard pace to adjust to. It was constant movement and activity, but very little accomplishment at the end of the day. I felt like I had expended all my energy but had very little to show for it.
Of course, I love my kids every parent does. (Side note I wish we as a society would stop telling parents to ‘enjoy every moment,’ because some moments are hard, and just because we’re not enjoying the tantrum doesn’t mean we don’t love our kids.)
Anyway, back to feeling completely drained and unproductive. It was a feeling I was not expecting, and one I really struggled with for years, and continue to struggle with. It has taken me time to realize and accept I have ideas and thoughts swirling in my brain, and when I don’t have a chance to work on my ideas and process my thoughts, I become frustrated and resentful.
It also took me time to find a release for that creative energy. For some people, maybe it’s painting, drawing, writing, or baking. For me, I took all my ideas and lessons I was learning and started creating a gratitude and growth mindset journal for kids.
My beautiful journey with gratitude and f=growth inspired me to create tools that helps kids stay positive, resilient, and confident from a young age.
childhood education, to design the activities, and we tested them with friends and family. I spent a lot of time on Google, learning about print production on the fly.
I remember we had our first meeting at a kid’s play cafe in Toronto, with two toddlers strapped into highchairs while we discussed ideas for taking these big concepts and making them fun for little ones.
Fast forward almost two years through a lot of iterations and self-doubt, and I was finally ready to hit send on an email confirming my first print order. It was February 2020, and it happened to be PA Day, and my older two kids were home from school.
I gave them a snack while I reviewed one last proof, took a deep breath, and hit send. I remember feeling a bit like I was going to throw up. I was so nervous; I had to immediately close my computer and walk away to take the kids to a friend’s house for a playdate.
This turned out to be the last normal playdate we would have with our group of friends for a while. By March, the coronavirus pandemic would lead to schools being closed for the rest of the school year. My first print run of journals would arrive, and all my plans of how a product should be launched were thrown out the window, now that I was homeschooling two kids unexpectedly while taking care of a preschooler.
I created Spark journals to help kids stay positive, express themselves, and make a difference, even during hard times like the pandemic.
