Hiding in the bathroom, self-medicating with caffeine and trying to cope with extreme tiredness? We can ALL relate.
When mum Katie Kirby from Brighton found herself on her second maternity leave, she set up her blog Hurrah for Gin to depict what life as a frazzled mother-of-two really looks like.
And with her hilarious stick-figure drawings, she soon captured the hearts of parents everywhere, who could completely relate to Katie’s oh-so-accurate and clearly tounge-in-cheek illustrations. Showing the funny side of parenting was important to the creative mum.
“Parenting is hard, and sometimes you can either laugh or cry about it,” Katie, whose sons are aged two and five, told the Daily Mail this week.
“Parenting magazines depict a very specific reality and sometimes it just isn’t like that at all. Sometimes parenting is dragging your toddler kicking and screaming from the park or trying to stop them from having a tantrum in the supermarket.”
But instead of letting herself get stressed, Katie claims her blog is just a way is trying to see the funny and positive side of the harder bits of parenting.
“It’s about admitting yes, this is really hard but don’t worry because everything goes through it and I think that’s why people relate to what I do.”
And relate people clearly do, as Hurrah for Gin now racks up more than 100,000 visitors a month. The humorous blog is now her full-time job, and her funny post often go viral once shared on social media.
And although she admits to having heard from the odd critic who accuse her of moaning about having children that she herself chose to have, Katie says the majority of feed-back on her blog is overwhelmingly positive, from parents, grandparents and also single parents who all find themselves being able to relate to Katie’s hilarious drawings.
“I think most readers realise that of course I love my children completely, it’s just about laughing at the funny side of life with them.”
The mum-of-two was recently awarded for her efforts, winning best writer at the Mumsnet Blogging Awards before taking home Blog of the Year at the MAD Blog Awards.
(Feature image via: Alphasmooth.com)
