Motherhood is the most amazing, tiring, testing, humbling and love-filled endeavour you will ever embark upon.
Much has been said about “expecting the unexpected” when it comes to life with children, we can’t help but feel like a little bit of good advice won’t go amiss either. Especially if you are just setting out on your parenting journey.
We all love picking all our mum friends brains over do’s and do not’s when it comes to parenting, but have you ever wondered what advice your favourite celebrity mums have to dish out about their most challenging role yet?
Here are some of our favourite picks:
1. Sarah Jessica Parker
– on getting hands on with parenting.
“We don’t have any live-in help. We’re pretty hands-on parents,” Parker told Vogue. “That’s something that’s important to both of us, and we don’t shirk it, because what’s the point in having a family if you’re not going to really participate in it, you know?”
2. Victoria Beckham
– on teaching her children about humility.
“Being in a position where they live such a privileged life, it is important that our children understand humility, that they appreciate how their parents have worked very hard to create this life for the family, and that they, too, have a responsibility to work hard, be respectful, and never, ever take anything for granted,” Beckham told Time.
3. Reese Witherspoon
– on doing your best.
“No one feels 100 percent confident as a parent. We are all just trying our best,” Witherspoon told Cricket’s Circle. “As long as you are always trying to be better at it—reading parenting blogs in the bath, swapping stories with other moms during a yoga class, Googling how to talk about puberty with your preteen—you are doing a good job.”
4. Katie Holmes
– on letting Suri figuring things out for herself.
Recently, Suri and I were taking a walk and a fight got started because it was cold outside and she didn’t want to wear her coat,” Katie told Celebrity Baby Scoop. “My philosophy is, well, fine, because after a block of walking you’re going to ask me for your coat. So the pictures of her [without a coat in cold weather] are sort of embarrassing.”
5. Jennifer Garner
– on mothers supporting and respecting each other.
“I will tell you what I can’t abide – and I think the Internet has really created a space for it – women criticizing other women and mothers criticizing other mothers,” Jen told Celebrity Baby Scoop. “It just makes me crazy, whether it’s between staying at home, going to work, how long you breast-feed, if you use formula. I feel like we should just assume everyone is doing the best they can. Women should take care of each other, not tear each other down. I would just like to see a mother who really believes that she has done it all so right, you know what I mean?”
6. Angelina Jolie
– on raising global children.
“With my family, I’m trying to raise them to have respect for all people and make friends around the world and feel at home with the world and really live a truly global [life], because I think it’s what forms them and it’s really important to me,” Jolie told Starpulse.com.
7. Rebecca Romijn
– on keeping sane when you have twins.
“…Do I have advice yet? I don’t know, I feel like I’m so in the trenches that it’s hard to dole out advice yet,” Rebecca told Celebrity Baby Scoop. “I guess just to try and keep a sense of humour about everything. It’s really easy to get bogged down. You can’t even think straight half the time. I hope that once they start talking, that’s when I hope to cobwebs will start to clear from my head.”
8. Sarah Michelle Gellar
– on encouraging individuality.
“I’m a big believer that children should be able to express their individuality, and this is how they learn to do that—by dressing themselves, by picking things that they like—but at the same time, every parent has their rules of what’s appropriate,” Gellar told MyDomaine.
9. Gisele Bündchen
– on remembering to take care of yourself.
“You know how they say on the plane you have to put your oxygen mask on first and then put it on your child? [When it comes to parenting,] I think it is the same, as a mum, to take care of myself [first],” Bündchen told The Sunday Times. “You can feel a bit guilty, but if I put my oxygen mask on first, if I’m feeling fulfilled and present and good about myself, then I’m going to be a much more patient, loving, understanding mother and wife. You have to fill your glass so that everyone can drink from it. That’s how I feel.”
10. Heidi Klum
– on embracing the chaos.
“To kind of roll with the flow,” Klum told Parenting.com. “Our house is full of life, laughter, and mayhem. Every dinnertime something spills. Or they are wearing uniforms for school, and when we have breakfast in the morning, food gets all over their hands. You can tell them a thousand times “Do not wipe it on your pants,” and sure enough they wipe it on their pants. But that’s when you roll with it. My house is not like a museum. You can see that children live there. It’s their house as much as mine. “
