Laura Prepon has learned to value "quality over quantity" when it comes to spending time with her family.
The ‘Orange is the New Black’ star has two-year-old daughter Ella and a son, who has born in late February, with her husband Ben Foster, and has said she’s received valuable parenting tips from some of her close celebrity friends.
Laura says ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’ star Amber Tamblyn taught her how to combat the common feeling of mum guilt, by reminding her that spending "quality" time with her children is more important than being at home all the time.
She said: "One of the things she specifically shared is quality over quantity. Yes, as a working mother, we have to leave and go two our jobs, but when we are with our family, it’s about quality."
And Laura’s ‘That 70s Show’ co-star Mila Kunis – who has Wyatt, five, and Dimitri, three, with her husband Ashton Kutcher – also shared important advice, as she told the 40-year-old actress to put a "positive" spin on the idea of leaving the house.
Laura recalled: "When I was really struggling with leaving my [daughter] to go back to work, one thing [Mila] shared with me that was so helpful was, ‘Whenever I’m going to work, I never turn to my kids and say, ‘Oh, this is a bummer. Mommy has to go to work.’ [Mila] was like, ‘I say it in a really positive way, where it’s like, ‘Mommy has to go to work.’
"It’s positive and upbeat so her children can equate being successful and having work with something positive."
Currently, Laura isn’t having to leave home to go to work as she is self-isolating amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But the time at home now means she has a new struggle, as she keeps fighting to protect her daughter Ella, who is "on a mission to hurt herself".
Speaking to Us Weekly magazine, she said: "Ella is just on a mission to do something to hurt herself. We’re goalies in front of the net, probably 100 times. It’s crazy."
Laura Prepon: It’s important to value quality over quantity when it comes to family time
