Sarah Jessica Parker's advice for working moms shows she really gets it
Earlier this week, I had the fortune of going to a prescreening of Sarah Jessica Parker's new movie, I Don't Know How She Does It. Now, we all know Sarah Jessica as "The Actress." But what interested me the most during my time with the 45-year-old star was learning about Sarah Jessica as "The Working Mother." She may be a fabulous celebrity momma to James, 8, and twin daughters, Marion and Tabitha, 2, but Parker just wants the same thing that all ordinary, non-famous moms want: To be the very best mother she can to her kids through the good times and the challenging times, too.
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Check out what SJP had to say about raising her kids with husband Matthew Broderick, parenthood, and the rest of the juice from this week's prescreening after the jump:
Here's SJP sharing her worries about having kids:
"It's good to be scared. You should be! Love is scary and friendship is scary and children, even more so."
On raising her son:
"I remember lying in bed before my son was born and thinking, 'I'm gonna ruin him. The first thing that I say to him that's meaningful is going to scar him for life. I'm gonna be meaning to be helpful and it's going to destroy him and he's going to spend the rest of his life flat out on a couch in a psychoanalyst's office trying to undo the damage.' I think we all feel like that."
On wanting to be like her own mother:
"All I can remember is I wanna do everything just like her. All I do on a daily basis is try to mimic my mother. I feel in no position to give any motherhood advice. I call my mother about everything."
On how she handles the kids with Matthew:
"There are many months when I'm not working and many months when Matthew isn't working and it can't all be on one person. You pass the baton and then the guy sprints ahead and runs his ass off!"
On the cult that is parenthood:
"I find when I talk to the other mothers, when I talk to the other parents, I feel like there is an explicit understanding that we're all wanting great things for our children's lives. It can be small victories that no one has to see or recognize except for ourselves. Some of it is just knowing that your child found a teacher that he really loves. But there is this community that I think really exists in parenthood that is, I find, enormously comforting. You learn to wing it from other people."
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On stay-at-home moms:
"There's so much I get from them, there's so much I learn, they are such a source of comfort, they always have their ear to the ground, they always know what's going on, they're like a fairy godmother, and I hope what I provide for them is something equally important and different."
On relationships with your partner when the school year starts:
"It's something about the school year where you get into this thing, the focus is on just getting through the day and getting kids out the door on time. You know every school form filled out, and the special snack, and the lunch is packed, and all the clothes are worn -- he grew out of this and I gotta order online that -- all that stuff. You know, I find that throughout the school year, partnerships are weakened."
It's refreshing, isn't it? To think that Sarah Jessica has concerns about her family and her relationship just like the rest of us. Hearing her talk about wanting to be just like her mom and going to parent-teacher conferences with her son made me appreciate her as a person, instead of only worshipping her legacy as an actress.
Oh, and since I know you're wondering, yes: Her arms are more toned than I imagined and she's gorgeous in person!
What do you think of Sarah Jessica's thoughts on motherhood?
Image via Emily Abbate
Written by Emily Abbate on CafeMom's blog, The Stir
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