Mira Sorvino is teaching her children the importance of "having grit" amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 52-year-old actress says her four kids – Mattea, 15, Johnny, 14, Holden, 11, and Lucia, eight – are all feeling "disappointed and depressed" at having to continue their studies at home without being able to see their friends amid the ongoing health crisis.
And to help them through the difficult times, Mira – who has her kids with her husband Christopher Backus – is trying to stop "talking things away", and instead wants to "comfort" them in whatever way she can.
She explained: "Sometimes you just have to hear other people’s troubles, like their sadness about the schools not opening or their sadness about not being able to see their friends, and just meet them where they are and not try and talk it away.
"I think my tendency before was always to talk things away: ‘What if we did that?’ And I [would] try and come up with ways that it’s not so bad, and that’s really not what they want.
"They just need me to hear them and be there for them, then try and help if I can but also just to allow them to express themselves and not always think that you can do something or relating it back to yourself.
"And to comfort them, and just try and change their expectations for what is going to be normal this year … They were so disappointed and depressed that we were going back into more quarantining and distance learning."
Mira wants to remind her children that people have gone through similar situations "throughout history" as a way of encouraging them to keep pushing on.
She added: "And just trying to talk to them about having grit … because throughout history, people have gone through things like this – and harder things than this – and this is where our character is tested.
"These are not the best of times, so we have to show who we are even not in the best of times, and show each other that we love each other and that we’re there for each other and that together we can get through it."
But the ‘Stuber’ star is also battling sadness of her own, as she’s struggling to come to terms with the fact that her children are getting older.
Speaking to People magazine’s ‘Celeb Moms Get Real’ series, she said: "[My kids are] not always going to stay these adorable, tiny Muppets that are just so cute and funny every second.
"But it changes – parenting changes. It goes from being constant delight, laughing and exhaustion to starting to realise your kids have so much to give back to you, and you have to sort of meet them halfway and see them as these emerging individuals who are going to have this whole incredible life. And you have to change your way of being with them, but still give them enough authority and protection that they feel safe and confident."