There’s no doubt about it: Being a working mom is tough. After Sisanie revealed on-air to Ryan Seacrest that she feels like she’s drowning balancing being a first-time mom to 8-month-old twins and working a full-time job, Ryan recommended she get in touch with Live With Kelly and Ryan cohost Kelly Ripa, who managed to raise three kids while working a bevy of different jobs, including starring on a soap opera.
“Honestly, there is not a day that went by, particularly, when my kids were [young], where I did not feel exactly the way you feel,” Kelly Ripa told Sisanie on-air on Friday, January 11. “I felt like I was drowning; I felt like I was overwhelmed; I felt like I was doing a terrible job at my job because I was thinking about my kids and I was doing a terrible job at my kids because I was thinking about my job and that is something working moms have to struggle with and … we’re gonna have to come up with a new way to treat each other and treat ourselves because it’s something that working dads don’t go through.”
Kelly, who is married to Mark Consuelos, explained that she thinks historically woman have been brought up to understand that dads go to work and moms stay home with the kids.
“That was like the 1950s typical family,” she continued. “But now families come in all forms … so its time we start redefining what it means to be a parent in modern day society … and maybe then and only then will we, the moms, free ourselves from this prison that we’ve put ourselves in that we have to be so good at everything.”
The TV host reminded Sisanie that her kids are young enough to not remember her going to work and that she shouldn’t let preconceived hangups define who she is as a working woman.
“You are an incredible woman and you’re doing two kids at the same time,” Kelly pointed out, reminding Sis twins are even harder. “That adds a whole other wrinkle … the only thing I can tell you is pace yourself on the guilt because it’s a whole long life … they know that they’re loved and they’re going to say we had parents that were able to work and show us how to be working parents and they will learn it’s all about making your best effort.”
Preach! Listen back to Kelly’s insightful chat with Sisanie and Ryan for more in the audio above and sound off on social @OnAirWithRyan.