welcome to So Mini WaysYahoo Life parenthood series on the joys and challenges of raising children.
Every mother has a story. For some, it’s the challenge of getting pregnant in the first place. For others, it’s about standing up for themselves as a pregnant patient or dealing with the harsh realities of the postpartum period. It can be the thrill of seeing a child’s personality blossom, the bittersweet pain of seeing them leave the nest, or the daily parenting challenges in between.
Many of these mothers – who have names in bold – shared their own personal stories as part of Yahoo Life’s So Mini Ways series. In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re sharing some of the most powerful, relevant, and candid conversations we’ve had this year.
On discipline:
“[My parenting style is] strict but loving. I am not your friend. I am not your companion. I am your mother. I am here to establish the laws of our house. Listen to me, don’t just look at me. Understand what I’m trying to tell you.” – Sheryl Lee Ralph
“I think [she and husband Chris Pratt] take on different roles with each other, like the good cop/bad cop thing. We take it in turns, which I think is important because they don’t associate a parent with having to do everything in a disciplinary way. We definitely have very open and honest communication about what’s important to us, what our values are, how we want to raise our kids.” — Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt
On juggling work and parenthood:
“I’m really good at prioritizing and I’m very efficient. I’m not on Instagram for hours a day. Who has time to be on Instagram for hours a day? If I’m in traffic, I make all my calls in the car because when I get home I want to be with Santi. I don’t want to be on the phone. I don’t want to be on the computer. People are always amazed at how much I can do in a day. Time is my greatest wealth. Either I spend my time, or I waste my time, or I invest my time, so I try to invest my time. — Eva Longoria
“I would walk in with this little baby in my arms and put him in the crib, do my hair and do my makeup and read my script. … He turned out to be [network executives] were just taking a risk. But what they got was a person sitting in that chair on that show that America could really relate to, because they knew I was up in the middle of the night to breastfeed, change diapers and, you know, coming home and figuring out how to peel carrots while holding a baby. And I was doing everything they were doing — and it almost broke… the third wall.” — Joan Lund
On motherhood:
“I had always assumed that when I became a mother, I would become a different person, this new version of myself that would be better, more organized. I thought that I would grow up and become an improved version of myself. It’s humiliating, but the reality of the situation is, oh no you’re just yourself. And there’s no kind of sense or point in trying to optimize or improve or pretend to be an entirely new person once you’ve become a mother. … Your kids will see through this! — Greta Lee
“You have to rely on a lot of people to do the mothering. The term ‘it takes a village’ rings true, but we don’t live in villages anymore. You build your village with other ‘moms’… as children grow into teenagers, they need other safe adults to rely on. Phillips busy
When doing it solo:
“Ask for help [and] having great people in your corner who can give you a pat on the back as much as you need, because that’s the other thing you don’t have: no one sees you at home, the struggles, the balance it takes. Most of the time, you go to bed at night really wishing there was someone there to pat you on the back – and that’s hard. So have someone there, a girlfriend, a best friend, whoever, to give you that reminder once in a while. It’s really important. — Amanda Kloots
“[As a former single mom] I will say the hardest thing for me is co-parenting. I am not joking. I use “I” instead of “we” a lot in emails. I feel a little resentful when I have to ask someone else, because for 10 years, which is a long time, I made all the decisions for her. In a partnership, however, I cannot overlook Dulé. And so I have to remind myself that it’s not his fault that I was a single parent and that his opinion adds value to the lives of our children. Now I feel like I did a really good job with Kennedy – I think to myself, I did a great job…I’m Wonder Woman — and so my first instinct is to do that with Levi, roll forward, and do whatever worked with Kennedy. But it just doesn’t work that way, because we have a two-parent household now, you know?” — Jazmyn Simon
“I tell single moms all the time. I don’t care what kind of budget you have, you have to budget yourself. Find that time for yourself.” — page turner
On learning self-assessment:
“If I listen to my intuition, I will know how to best raise her and she will also teach me what she wants. I was on every site and every book and on social media to see how I am supposed to raising my child and what was best and what the signs were and how she was developing. And I finally got to that point where I kind of took a step back and said, you know what? I’m just going to listen to my child and I’m going to figure that out. And it is the heaviest weight that has been lifted from me; the pressure is released on me.” – Ashley Greene
“You become a bit like your own big sister in the process. I know better than anyone what I went through to bring this child into the world and the last thing I deserve is to blame myself for any decision I make. I pick up along the way.” — Elaine Welteroth
“Every time I speak negatively out loud about myself, my husband is there to say ‘you make life, it’s the miracle.’ And I’m like, ‘oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot.’ I’m really putting myself into perspective I have friends who are going through IVF and I can’t get pregnant and I’m like [to myself], ‘thank you, body.’ That’s what we say – “thank you my body for being able to do something so beautiful and make my dreams come true” – because not everyone can do it. So I’ll take all my scars and I’ll take all my insecurities. — Meghan Trainor
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