Stories from parenthood with Laura Milroy
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Getting to know Laura
Digital Content Strategist at Laura Milroy Media
FW: Give us a glimpse into your career and how it looked in the years leading up to the pandemic?
Laura: I fell into marketing after working in my dream career of TV & Film. My background had me amongst creatives & when I landed in my new role, I loved being the one who helped create an experience.
I started my business not because I was ready, but because I found my workplace inflexible to the demands of a mother of a young child. I used all my vacation time for my kiddo’s sick days, and it became unsustainable over time.
When I started freelancing, I fell in love with collaborating with small business owners while having a flexible schedule to be able to attend to the needs of my family.
FW: Can you summarize what your journey into parenthood looked like ?
Laura: My first daughter was a total shock. We were not thinking of becoming parents for a few more years & I was totally unprepared. I had never even babysat and knew NOTHING about keeping a human alive. The first couple of years were total chaos trying to balance work, life & parenting a “spritely” child.
When we started to think about adding to the family, we did not expect our path to a second child to be so challenging. Dealing with years of multiple losses and infertility was a grind that consumed our lives. It impacted every facet of our life and gave us a new perspective on family structures & support. We finally welcomed our second daughter after 4 years of trying and count ourselves very lucky for our beautiful family.
FW: What does your current work/life situation look like balancing parenthood and your career?
Laura: Right now, every day is a new adventure. Being a freelancer has allowed me to be much more flexible with my schedule to account for all the school closures & isolations. Thankfully, I work with some amazing clients who are also parents going through the same thing. Everyone has been so understanding when we have to move a meeting or get interrupted to get yet another snack.
I truly don’t know how our family would work without my schedule being flexible. A lot of the time that means working until midnight or getting up early to fit it all in. But I’m so privileged to do a job that I love with clients that inspire me and be available for my kiddos during a year to remember.
Parenting through the pandemic
FW: What does a typical day for you look like right now?
Laura: Get up early to workout and have some me time, it’s all I will get until the kids go to bed. Get the kiddos ready for school & daycare and rush them out the door 10 minutes late, as always. I work as much as possible until it’s time to pick up my eldest from school. Then, it’s a combination of finishing my work day, helping with homework and getting dinner ready. My husband cooks more than I do (thank goodness!) so he usually picks up the slack when he gets home and it allows me to get some additional work done before the kid’s bedtime. Then it’s a little me time before bed (usually scrolling through Tik Tok or leaving voice notes for my friends haha). Sleep. Wake up. Repeat.
FW: What are the best and worst pieces of advice you’ve gotten as a working parent?
Laura: Worst: “Everyone else seems to be able to do it. Just do what they do.”
Best “Maybe now is not the season to grow your business, just survive.”
FW: How have you managed balancing your workload in a time when childcare has been sometimes unavailable or sporadic?
Laura: Honestly, it’s all been such a blur, I hardly remember. Work late, work early, and limit my client load. Also, pivoting to scalable sources of income that is not “time for money” has helped me when my time is limited.
FW: What supports and/or resources have made it possible for you to take on both career and child-rearing responsibilities?
Laura: Honestly, my husband has been the biggest one. Having a patient partner, with a stable income, who does more than 50% of the household chores & takes a personal day off from work to hang with the kids when I have an important meeting has been the only way I have been able to stay in business during the pandemic.
FW: What have been some of the biggest challenges or changes to your work life since the start of the pandemic?
Laura: Feeling like I’m failing at everything. My 3 year old got a PhD in Paw Patrol while I tried to homeschool in between meetings. They did not get the attention they needed and yet my work also suffered. I have a creative job that needs me to be on my A game, and well… I wasn’t. Also, not having friends & family to commiserate with was awful. If ever we needed a margarita by the fire it was this year!
FW: Has the pandemic impacted how you parent your child/ren?
Laura: I am oddly more patient with them (although they may disagree). I realized that some stuff just isn’t worth fighting over and the time we spend going on walks outside are so much more valuable than I ever thought they would be.
FW: How have the demands of parenthood impacted your career?
Laura: I had to jump into owning my own business before I was ready because my former workplace wasn’t supportive of working mothers. This led me to undercharging & overworking because I wasn’t confident in my skills. I worked harder for every dollar I made than I ever did working for someone else & I had to sacrifice some dream projects because I didn’t have the capacity to take on more work to maintain my flexible schedule.
FW: Have you formed a personal motto or philosophy surrounding your recent experiences?
Laura: Survival first, everything else is gravy. Also, hot dogs are a complete source of protein.
FW: Has the pandemic positively impacted your career/life in any way?
Laura: I took some leaps of faith into new revenue streams that I have always wanted to pursue which have been incredibly fulfilling. It shifted my perspective so that I expect less of my kids on a day to day basis, which I’m sure has been nice for them. And as cheesy as it sounds, I think I cherish my time with the kids more because, when it comes down to it, in a lockdown, each other is all we have.
FW: If you had to pick, what would be the biggest thing parenting through the pandemic has changed your perspective on?
Laura: The pressure women put on themselves to be both Betty & Don Draper is unsustainable. We don’t need to work 60 hours a week while planning perfect Pinterest parties, keeping pristine households & having pot roasts on the table by 6pm sharp.
Your kids won’t remember all the gifts you bought them or the TV you let them watch, but they will remember the quality time in the backyard, family walks & chats in the dark at bedtime.
Being more thoughtful about what pressures we allow ourselves to be under instead of expecting perfection in all things is the only way to find peace & execute integrity.
