Hudson was not a fan of his bassinet, from day one. He would find a way to wiggle himself down to the bottom of the bassinet and scream as he frantically pushed his tiny feet off the bottom no matter how tightly we swaddled him. So when he was 6 weeks old, we decided to move him into the crib in his room to give him more space. I was a nervous wreck. Would I really hear him if he woke up? What if he somehow managed to roll over? What if he thought we’d abandoned him? This is precisely the type of anxiety that Sarah and her team at Nanit are working to solve.
Watch + Listen to the whole conversation:
Sarah built a career as a leader in ecommerce working for more than two decades for various companies. Yet, when Nanit approached Sarah, she jumped at the opportunity to switch careers to help parents use technology to ease their worries. With little kids at home, Sarah could connect and relate to parents who were looking for any tools and tricks to make parenting a little easier.
What do you love most about working at Nanit?
It’s amazing to have a career that’s attached to what I care about most, which is my family. I am in love with the idea of trying to continue to merge those things together. So Nanit is a pretty incredible opportunity for me.
How do you think your career has influenced your motherhood?
I really had to make a tough decision between staying home and continuing in my career. I think every mother has to weigh those decisions for themselves. And what I decided was that I would continue on in my career and I may not be there every moment for my children when they’re zero to five. But when they’re adults, and they’re making difficult choices and they’re navigating through their life, I am going to have incredible experiences and advice to share with them because I stayed with my career. My hope is that I’ll be able to add value to their life in all stages from the way they think about being on a team, the way they commit to their school and their studies, how they engage with others. I want to help them develop qualities that really will help them be happy and successful.
You have a lot going on between work and family. How do you juggle it all?
I’ve learned to make it work. I have also learned to be patient with myself. I reevaluate what’s important almost every week. I carve out time to make sure that I understand my commitments for the week for my family and my job. It’s really been an exercise in discipline.
Another strategy I use is to complete tasks right away. A lot of times there’s not enough room in my brain for me to remember to complete a task that I was asked to do last week, instead, I need to complete it immediately. Otherwise I get stressed out about the fact that there’s just too much for me to remember to do. And lastly, routines help everybody. They help me and they really help my kids.
Bridget Garsh
Co-founder & COO
Bridget is mom to two little boys, Hudson and Brooks, and a champion of working moms everywhere. NeighborSchools itself was borne out of Bridget’s challenge to find high-quality yet affordable child care, and the realization that so many parents struggle with these same issues every day.
Read more from Bridget, follow her on IG, and check out her new series, Work Like a Mother.
