Jessica Alba is opening up about the struggles of parenting.
In an episode of the podcast Dear Media’s Raising Good Humans, the 40-year-old actress discussed the challenges of raising a teenager, a pre-teen, and a toddler all at the same time. For Alba, the hardest part about being a parent is allowing your children to make mistakes on their own.
“That is the hardest part about being a parent is allowing your kids to make a mistake and knowing when it is going to be too hard or too much,” she told podcast host Dr Aliza. “And then you’re like, I guess nothing’s too much.”
However, the lifestyle guru realised that these mistakes are necessary because they’re ultimately lessons for her children. “But I also like it,” she said. “They’re not mistakes, they’re lessons, and they’re meant to go through the challenges and it’s meant to bring them out the other side,” she said.
“So, yeah, that’s impossible,” she continued. “That’s one thing that I definitely struggle with.”
Alba also shared that letting go of control has lessened a significant amount of stress in her life, and it leaves more room for her to enjoy her time with her family. “How do I achieve more joy in everyday life?” Alba said, “And I think it’s letting go of control.”
“It’s not serving me and frankly it doesn’t bring me a ton of joy. It’s stressful and it puts me in a fight or flight survival mode,” she said. “When I can just be in the moment, it then leaves room for others to sort of figure out how to do stuff and you’re not having to always be the one.”
The Honest Company founder shares three children with her husband Cash Warren — daughters Honor, 13, and Haven 10 and son Hayes, 4.
In October 2021, Alba told People that she wishes to “destigmatise” mother-daughter therapy, after she turned to therapy because she was struggling with not treating her oldest daughter like a little kid. “There really isn’t one sort of recipe that works across the board,” she said. “I just wanted to be able to show up for her.”
