Amy Oshier
Listen up working moms: Mandy Moore may be your soul sister. The singer-actress-mom we all loved in This is Us is juggling life as a mother of two children under the age of two!
Gus is a 23-month old toddler who was recently joined by bro Ozzie who was born three months ago. In addition she is a wife to hubby Taylor Goldsmith AND she is already back to work.
Moore opened up in a People magazine interview saying that momming two little ones is much more challenging than one. Especially when she’s nursing an infant and taking care of a sick toddler. It’s all part of mom-life.
But Mandy’s not alone in this. As of 2022 the average number American family had roughly two kids under the age of 18. (1.94 to be exact) It only gets dicier the closer they are in age, especially when the children are younger than school age.
It only gets dicier the closer they are in age, especially when the children are younger than school age. The Cleveland Clinic has tips for surviving what may be the most challenging stage: the terrible two’s. So Mandy might want to take notes.
First stop, this term actually extends from 18 months to about four years old. So two tots under two can be especially trying. Cleveland Clinic has this advice:
- Plan around nap time. If you think you get cranky when you don’t get enough sleep, tots are totes unhappy. So working around their schedule makes everyone more pleasant.
- Keep meals on track. We all get oriented to eat at specific times, so don’t rock the boat. Keep the little ones on their regular eating timeline. And always keep snacks (healthy ones or you might launch a whole other set of problems) on hand.
- Set boundaries. Sure it may be nearly impossible to reason with a toddler, but you can try to establish some rules. Say, promise them their treat if they behave while you’re running an errand. It’s a start.
- Keep them occupied. A busy child is less likely to throw a tantrum.
- Be consistent. This one takes time, but kids eventually realize you mean business and while they might act out, it should lessen once they understand it doesn’t get them anywhere.
- Redirect. Address any misbehaviors, then move on. It’s important to stop the bad behavior before redirecting.
As Mandy captioned in her recent Instagram birth announcement; writing their “hearts doubled in size” since becoming a ‘“family of four”
Finally, parents everywhere know, no matter how challenging it seems now, children grow up in the blink of an eye. Enjoy!
