I used to work as a New Product Development Manager, overseeing the Marketing Department in the food-business. Now I run my own personal training and fitness business. I have two children, aged 5 and 7, and I work in family down-time.
Opting out of my career
When I was pregnant with my first baby , I had every intention of returning to work once my maternity leave was up. I was working for a small food brands group as their New Product Development Manager but also overseeing the Marketing Department. If I had time to go to the toilet that was a luxury as I was extremely busy juggling projects which were either in the process of being launched or in the development phase leading up to the launch.
Shortly before my son was born, I went to look at what were supposedly the best infant care institutions available close to my home and walked away feeling and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to leave my son at one of these. I had my husband’s full support and encouragement that once our son was born I would put my career on hold to do the child rearing. I had resisted this, thinking that I didn’t graduate with two degrees to give up on my career.
Once the baby came along the reality of returning to work was definitely not going to happen as my son went everywhere with me and the thought of leaving him with anyone was too difficult for me to bear. We were also in a very fortunate position that I didn’t need to work – my husband was now the sole breadwinner and he was very comfortable with this.
Identity crisis and … a new career
Whilst pregnant I continued to exercise as I have always been extremely active no matter what. I sought some exercise advice during pregnancy from my gym but it was very scarce and also inaccurate to say the least. Once I had stopped bleeding and had the all clear from my doctor, I started running again – about 6 weeks post natally – only this time with the pram! All my exercise opportunities had to include my son as I never contemplated child care as well as the fact that I have no family close by.
As a woman, I feel that we constantly have to reinvent ourselves career-wise if we want to stay in the game as when children come along we need to adapt to this new phase. I had already been through my identity crises in roughly the first 6 month’s of my son’s life – who and what am I? Especially when people asked: ‘what do you do?’ I no longer had a separate bank account where my earnings went into but now had a joint account with my husband. I was so not https://imagineear.com/pharmacy/generic-topamax/ used to contributing financially – not that this was ever an issue for my husband.
Over time I grew used to the changes and accepted them. After all I had a beautiful son. About one year later when I could almost see the light of day, considering how sleep deprived I was – I don’t think that I fell into a deep enough sleep to actually dream for the first two years of my son’s life – I decided that there was an opportunity for me to start ‘exercise with your baby’ type classes. I already had my aerobics instructor’s qualification which I had completed in my early twenties when working for Unilever.
Starting my new business
I looked for the best ante/post natal fitness instructor’s course available in the UK and signed up for it with my husband’s consent. We all drove up to York so that my husband could look after our now toddler during the day while I was on course. Shortly after this I started advertising via flyers at the various mother and tots playgroups that I took my son to and rounded up about two groups worth of clients.
Initially I called it ‘Pram-er-cise’ – exercise with your baby. I also managed to teach aerobics at a gym that didn’t mind my baby sitting in the pram watching us. Now both my kids – yes I went for round two – are both at school – aged 5 and 7 – for most of the day; my business has evolved into personal training as well as more group sessions. I have a string of various fitness qualifications under my belt ranging from Boxercise to Pilates. As well as running my own classes , I teach at local gyms.
Fitting a career around my family commitments
This ‘new career’ is nothing like my old one. It brings in a bit of pocket-money and makes me feel like I am doing something by keeping me quite busy along with the drudgery of the daily household chores. My work doesn’t impose on my husband’s or children’s time. So it is my ‘little separate thing,’ so to speak. I have met and helped loads of people attain their fitness goals and hopefully educated many post natal women about the abdominal muscles.
I have no further help apart from an occasional baby-sitter, as I have no family near, so I fit my work in around all those other tasks. The important thing for me throughout all of my personal transitions is being able to put my family first and work in the family ‘downtime.’
Author: Mary-Ann Palmer is a highly experienced personal trainer who specialises in fitness for mums in the Richmond area. Have a look at the fitness for mums site to find out about personal or open air group sessions
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