Having children is no child’s play – apart from worrying about their wellbeing and making sure they’re well-fed, have a roof over their precious heads and a good education – raising them to become responsible human beings is not a task to be taken for granted.
The Real talk show host and television personality, Tamera Mowry-Housley (40) recently told Essence Magazine she’s no longer having any more children, because “parenting is work,”.
In the interview with the monthly magazine for African-American women, Tamera shared how she taught her children a cleaning up song and how to clean up after themselves, so that she doesn’t have to repeatedly do duties for them that they can do for themselves.
“I taught them at the very young age the song clean up, clean up. I just got tired of cleaning up after them! After a while I was just like guys, ‘I’m your mom. I’m not your maid. You have to learn how to do this yourself.’”
And at her children’s ages, six-year-old Aden and three-year-old Aria, it’s safe to say she won’t have to worry about them not being able to clean up their spaces in their teen years.
Tamera wants her children taking care of themselves and their surroundings to become “habitual,” echoing her mother’s belief that “cleanliness is next to godliness,” especially as a Christian woman.
“You’re not just changing diapers and taking really cute pictures with your baby you know?” she explained. “I am trying to instil some really good characteristics and morals into my children’s lives.”
“Recently, The Real co-host aligned herself with two companies determined to allow others to savour the small moments with their loved ones. Ice cream company Blue Bunny hired Task Rabbit to take people’s chores off their hands so they can enjoy a few hours of family-friendly fun.”
Tamera also touched on a topic she’s been criticized for – race. When she married her husband, Adam Housley, she says she received a lot of flak for “thinking she’s white” and not being proud of her African side, since she’s biracial. She says she wants her children to grow up being proud of who they are and where they come from.
“When I married my husband, I didn’t see colour, I fell in love with him. And I pray my children have the same experience. I read on the cover of time magazine three years ago that a majority of people are going to look like my son and my daughter, because a lot of people are mixing now. Which I find very interesting about the racial tension that’s happening right now because statistically, one in every ten marriages right now is an interracial marriage. Which shows you that the millennials and generation x are moving forward, and the people who say those things are just ignorant – and I choose to fight back with love and to educate them.”
