Parenthood is sweet morning snuggles and butterflies kisses. But it’s also never going to the bathroom by yourself, tantrums in Target and billions of questions (“Why do I have to eat that?”) That’s why Kristen Bell is so grateful to be raising daughters Lincoln, 4, and Delta, 2, with her husband Dax Shepard.
“We tag team. We switch kids all the time,” Bell told Us Weekly at the Alliance of Moms’ Raising Baby event on Saturday, November 18. “If I’m talking to the 2-and-a-half-year-old and I’m done, I’ll just be like, ‘We’ve got to switch. I don’t want to talk to this kid anymore.’ It’s not about perfection, but it is about being thoughtful and not reactive. So in order to not be reactive, we switch kids a lot.”
That unspoken understanding is key to Bell and Shepard’s successful nine-year relationship. “There’s no trick . . . other than having really good communication with your partner and being able to say, ‘I’m reaching capacity. So I need to go take a hike today,’ or ‘I need to have lunch with a girlfriend.”
One of the reasons Bell often feels frazzled: lack of sleep. “I think that fuels everything,” she revealed. “If I had a full night’s rest, I would be more patient.”
This isn’t the first time Bell has been refreshingly honest about motherhood. Earlier this month, the 37-year-old shared a photo of her living room that showed piles of toys strewn everywhere.
“It feels awful when your kids ruin your house. It feels really, really awful,” Bell told Us. But instead of getting angry, she has learned that it’s better to just take a deep breath. “In those moments I go, ‘Am I going to like myself more after calming cleaning this up and making them help me? Or am I going to like myself more after I blow at them because they dumped — or accidentally dumped — a big bucket of beads? Which outcome am I going to be happier with?’”
The Alliance of Moms (AOM) seeks to support young parents and their children, while helping to end the intergenerational effects of foster care.
