Lauren Conrad on the challenges of motherhood and her best advice
Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life's parenting series on the joys and challenges of child-rearing.
The Hills captured a 20-something Lauren Conrad at a crossroads in terms of her career and personal relationships. More than a decade later, the former MTV star has found her footing as a married mom of two, fashion designer, author and all-around lifestyle influencer. And while Conrad has left the drama of reality TV behind, there's no shortage of wild moments for the Laguna Beach vet, thanks to the sons she shares with husband William Tell.
"The biggest challenge of having two little boys is that things get wild in my house, which I'm learning to adjust to," Conrad, mom to Liam, 5, and Charlie, 2 1/2, tells Yahoo Life's So Mini Ways. "I already knew that I couldn't really own nice things, because everything gets destroyed in my home, but it's fine; I was, like, ready for that. But yeah, things are getting really wild. It's still fun and playful, but they're doing laps around my house, they're trying to ride bikes in there."
Watch the video above to hear more.
Video Transcript
LAUREN CONRAD: The biggest challenge of having two little boys is that things get wild in my house, which I'm learning to adjust to. They're doing laps around my house. They're like trying to ride bikes in there, and balls, and flying. I already knew that I couldn't really own nice things because everything gets destroyed in my home. But it's fine, I was like ready for that.
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I think motherhood made me a little more relaxed about things. I think I've learned to not go with the flow because I'm not that chill. But like I think just be a little more laid back and understand like you can't plan everything. I'm definitely more casual and I think practical in my choices. It's like a lot of jeans and tees. I want to make sure I'm comfortable.
When I first became a mom, I was dressing a new body so I had to figure that out. But I also think it's like those-- your kids become your life and that's my life. For me I like to share bits of my life. And I'm definitely protective over my kids and their privacy. I think when it comes to social media everybody has their own approach. I feel like social media can be a little hard on kids.
I'm hoping I don't have to deal with that for a minute because I keep encouraging them to do things that don't require a phone. I feel like moms are really hard on themselves. I mean, just the fact that you're wearing shows that you care. I feel lucky because I actually have a really supportive group of friends who are like, are always like, telling the other one what good parents they are and it's so helpful to hear that.
The best advice I've ever got was probably just as long as you can get like one really solid healthy meal into them during the day, like you don't have to stress about the other meals. So from a young age we would do like a breakfast with a lot of vegetables in it and we do oat milk in that because we're dairy free. And so the Planet Oat me to come celebrate with them beginning of summer. They partnered with them to come up with recipes for a bunch of little treats and then a little [INAUDIBLE].
I'm lucky because my kids aren't too picky. I think also including kids in the process is really helpful. I found that my son was so much more likely to eat a meal if he helped make it. Even if like he's like "helping make it." Like sitting on the counter handing me stuff. Then he was more excited to try something new or I'd like, let him pick something from a cookbook. I'll be like what do you want to try? Like you can pick anything.
I think one of the really exciting things about motherhood is you get to often see things through a child's eyes. Like things that you take for granted or like don't really think about. You need to watch your kids experience things for the first time and they're so excited. Like I was trying to describe a slip and slide to my kid the other day and he was like I don't understand. And I'm like, oh my God, that's right. You've never been on a slip and slide. I love that. I also love that my children are an excuse for me to be a kid. So like, you know, going to Disneyland and like doing these things that like you can do as an adult but it's just not as much fun. I think kids bring a little bit of magic to your life in that way, which has been fun.
