Mindy Kaling feels "lucky" to be an older mother because she can "fit" her daughter into her work.
The 39-year-old actress welcomed little Katherine – whose father she hasn’t disclosed – into the world last December and she’s thankful she’s in a position where she can request accommodations are made for her to have the tot on set with her.
She said: "I’m really lucky because I get to create my own job opportunities. Because I do that, I can fit my daughter into my job. It’s a luxury most American women don’t have.
"It’s one of the nice things of having had my baby a little bit later in my career. I can be like, ‘Hey, I want a little area that I can have my daughter play because I want to check up on her at work.’
"That is probably the biggest perk of my life: to involve my daughter so much in my career."
When she isn’t busy working, the ‘Ocean’s 8’ actress is having a great time teaching Katherine to swim.
She told People magazine: "I’m teaching her how to swim. It’s great when you teach a nine month old how to swim because the bar is really low, which is great because I’m not a really strong swimmer but it’s making me feel athletic.
"Every weekend now I try to swim with her, like 45 minutes in the pool. It’s one of the nice things living in Los Angeles. I can pretty much do that all year round and slowly teach her how to swim."
The proud parent is also delighted that Katherine has started to speak – though she admitted she’s reading more into the baby’s babbling than she probably should.
She said: "She started saying ‘Mama.’ Although she’s kind of just saying like, ‘Mama mama ma.’
"So I have decided to just take it personally and decide that she is saying ‘Mama’ to me. Although she says it to the lamp."
But Mindy isn’t so impressed by Katherine’s eating habits.
She laughed: "She is so messy. I’ve never taken her to anywhere fancy. Forget it, she’s not going to somewhere fancy until she’s 21."
Mindy Kaling in lucky position
