Kristen Bellis opening up about her parenting experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive first look at Yahoo’s Reset Your Mindset: Pandemic Parentinglive-stream special,which will air on Friday at 2 p.m. ET, theVeronica Marsstar, 40, gets candid about the importance of leaning on others for support.
“Balancing work and parenting and online learning during the pandemic, and especially supportingmental health, it was really hard,” the mother of two says, adding that she and husbandDax Shepardhave found therapy particularly useful.
“Therapy’s been big for usduring the pandemic,” she shares. “We both rely on it, my husband and I, for personal growth and ultimately bring what we learn individually into the relationship.”
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Kristen Bell.Yahoo! Life
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard with their daughters.Kristen Bell/Instagram
Bell also wants to make sure mental health is a priority when it comes to their children, daughtersDelta, 6, andLincoln, who turns 8 this month.
“Kids and mental health is interesting,” she says, adding that she’s found it helpful to “sort of dissect what’s happening in their brain and let them know that’s all okay.”
“We’realways honest with our kids, and sometimes it’s been really hard,” adds Bell. “We explained what COVID was and why it exists and we told them everything really early on and we just reminded them that we’re luckier than most people and we have to do what we can to help others during this time.”
“We wanted to start giving away a year’s worth of diapers every week to help parents who need it. We did that before the pandemic and we just doubled it and I think that’s the responsible thing to do,” she says. “When you have a company, you need to be a for good company.”
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Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard.Kristen Bell/Instagram
As for what advice she has for other parents who “feel like they’re struggling,” Bell suggests not trying to do everything yourself.
“Lean on others,” she says. “It takes a village is a cliché for a reason. Being a parent is learning that sometimes you just got to throw away the rule book and you gotta be flexible.”
Another thing to keep in mind is that no matter how stressful everyday life can be during the pandemic, there are always “beautiful” moments to have with your family.
“If there’s one memory that fully encompasses my parenting during the pandemic, I think it was going to get our Christmas tree,” Bell says, recalling that it was a “beautiful December evening,” until an argument broke out in the parking lot.
“I ran back to the car, the kids were screaming in the back because they weren’t getting attention. Everyone’s mad. It was absolute mayhem,” she continues. “We barely got the Christmas tree up, but when we did, it was beautiful. I think that’s a pretty poetic metaphor for this time: you gotta search for the joy amidst the chaos.”
In honor of Women’s History Month, Friday’s RYM one hour live-stream event will feature a number of mental health experts and celebrity guests, includingTia Mowry-Hardrict,Drew Barrymore,Mayim Bialik,Soleil Moon Frye, andVanessa Williams. Yahoo launched theirRYM series last May, with two events addressing some of the challenges people around the world have been facing.Next month, Yahoo will be launching a mental health directory, which will allow users to book therapists onYahoo Life. They’re also partnering with TherapyDen, a platform that helps people find the right kind of support based on their individual needs and budget.
source: people.com
