Sara McGinnis
posted in CelebritiesClaire Danes has managed to find a way to describe a part of parenting I've struggled mightily with. The actress, who welcomed son Cyrus in December 2012, recently got candid while speaking about motherhood with Harper's Bazaar UK.
"Being a mum is incredibly challenging, but we still feel a pressure to talk about it in very romantic terms. And it's not just that," the 36-year-old pictured here getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame shared.
"We all have that resentment at times and anxiety about being trapped by the role, that responsibility. And then chemically it can run riot...And there's no 'off' button. [For me] that was the hardest adjustment. You always feel beholden to somebody...And for so long they're like koala bears, you just feel a physical responsibility to be there for them to cling to. It's pretty primal."
As for how little Cyrus is doing these days, Claire Danes shared, "He’s kind of revealing himself to be a bit of a ham, which shouldn’t really be a surprise. A babysitter gave him a kiss goodbye and now he does 'Mwah, mwah' to everybody. Or he says 'Ciao.' It’s ridiculous. I did not teach him that. He sings 'Ee-eye ee-eye oh' to himself all the time. And he’s a toddler, so he says 'No' and 'More' a lot and he’s just started to have temper tantrums. It’s scary."
As someone who has had her fair share of struggles with motherhood I find it immensely refreshing to read this famous mom's words. "Trapped by the role" is exactly how I've felt at times, and reading others go on and on about how great being a parent is only made me feel worse.
Sometimes I wish I were the kind of person who not only could talk about parenthood with a romantic glow, but that I truly felt that way. I've never been a gushy, flowery person though, so I suppose it's rather silly to expect I'd feel otherwise now.
I'm happy to report that as my children have grown and become more independent my feelings have mellowed out, so to anyone else out there who's feeling the same way I say know that there's hope. You won't ever not be a parent once you've had children, but what I couldn't see for a long time is the way things change over the years. The role and its intensity ebbs and flows.
The good news is I don't believe loving being a mom is a requirement of being a good one, and I suspect there are quite a few others out there who feel the same way. Here's hoping that by talking about our feelings frankly those who are struggling to understand why they don't feel head over heels about their new role can know that not only are they not alone, they're perfectly fine.
Do you love being a mom? Do you feel pressured to talk about parenthood in a romantic way? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!
Photos: PR Photos
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