Lauren Conrad has a new interview with People to promote her children’s clothing line with Kohl’s. She’s had a popular women’s clothing line there for years and is expanding it to kids. In comparison to how messy Lauren’s former costar, Kristin Cavallari is, Lauren keeps her personal life relatively quiet. She does show her kid’s faces on Instagram, but she shares just a few tidbits about her life. It sounds like she’s struggling in lockdown like a lot of other parents. Her children are very little, she has boys Charlie Wolf, who is seven months, and Liam James, who is two and a half. That’s already a ton of work but add in having to watch them 24/7 and take care of a house and it sounds like she’s burnt out. Lauren told People that she gets very little time to herself, but that her husband is supportive.
“We’re in survival mode…
“Our kids need a lot of attention. We’re living in a world of LEGOs and train sets! It’s been a real balancing act.”
As far as personal time during the lockdown, Conrad says it’s been a bit elusive. “Any time throughout the day that I would have taken for myself has been replaced with cooking and cleaning,” says The Little Market co-founder.
“The only time I have to myself is when the kids go down to sleep,” she tells PEOPLE. “Every night, I’ve been taking a bath with Little Market bath salts and having a glass of wine. It’s my favorite thing! When you have young children, you don’t get a lot of alone time.”
But Conrad gives plenty of credit to husband of five years Tell, 40, whom she calls “a great partner.” Says The Hills alum, “He’s good at doing what he needs to do, and really helping me out.”
In the end, “I am really trying to look at [the current situation] in a positive way, and remember that my kids are only going to be this small for so long. And I’m getting a chance to enjoy them in a way I maybe wouldn’t have before.”
I could definitely relate to the cooking and cleaning part. It feels like I’m cooking, cleaning and doing laundry constantly, and I only have a teenager with me. I’ve been so tired lately, but I have to keep it in perspective that at least I’m not responsible for taking care of kids too. The “survival mode” quote makes it sound rough. My heart goes out to those of you with children at home, I can’t imagine what that’s like in quarantine. It sounds like Lauren is coping okay and that she has help from her husband. Plus she has a ritual she does at night to calm down. Maybe I need a nightly ritual like that too.
“I wanna forgive you… and I wanna forget you…”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Lol, love it 😉
Why does she says hes helping me out? Is it her main job to care for the kids and the house? Oooh thank you man for helping me out! We still have a lot of work to do to get to equality. Hes not helping, he is doing his part of the work! Women should stop to think like this and moms need to change the different parenting of girls and boys because unfortunately its still Very imbalanced
I agree with this! Now, I don’t know their financial situation, but unless it made sense for her to put her work aside or part time so he could concentrate on his, then I side eye. Her work isn’t more or less important, and he should have a 50 share of cooking and cleaning and child care. All that said, it could be that his job requires more time/focus and they decided that her doing more of the homecare made sense for their lives. Which I hope is the case (my partner takes care of more things financially, so I put in more with cleaning and cooking, plus I usually enjoy doing it :))
Maybe part of it is not having the paid help you usually have.
My sister lives in a 4000 sq foot house, and wfh (lawyer). She hasn’t had her cleaning crew in since lockdown, and she’s exhausted just cleaning their house. And her husband and sons pitch in, but she really shoulders the burden. Partly that’s just her personality-she’s gonna maintain her house.
That photo of her husband and their sons is precious. The chalk rainbow one is too but made me laugh because clearly that is a chalk drawing done by an adult. I’d rather seen a childhood original!
If emotional labor was monetized, people wouldn’t be saying that being a mother and raising kids isn’t work. Being a mother is probably the hardest job there is.
Yes thank you! I am totally burned out by all of this having a special needs daughter and all my kids are under age 8. I already commented on the Kristin thread about school yesterday so I won’t go into that but the emotional labor is never taken into consideration. I saw a clip of Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix show and he talks about how when you are sleeping your wife is researching and essentially how the female mind is always on and for me I couldn’t relate more. Also maybe she means he works during the day but is helping out? My husband is working from home right now and the companies stay at home ordered have extended to September actually. He still has his same workload though but he helps out as much as possible during the day and I know it’s stressful for him trying to get his work done while the kids are constantly trying to get to him and also trying to help me out. God bless him. But yeah I don’t any any free time for myself and I still haven’t cracked open the book I bought in March.
Am I missing something? She’s at home with two young kids that she has to look after, and take care of the house? Isn’t that what most mums do, in lockdown or not? I’m in Australia, so our rules might be different to yours, but they’ve been very strict. I’m on sick leave so haven’t had to work during this crisis, but my teacher friends and colleagues are actually working Much longer hours and have heavier workloads than usual, preparing lessons, delivering live lessons daily, setting special work, emailing students and parents, coordinating programmes for their special-needs students, marking, chasing up booklets of work etc etc etc. Add to this, most of them have their own children at home, who are in different grades and go to different schools, who need to be supervised, fed, entertained, exercised, bathed, read to and bedded down etc. (if they’re small), and they also need to take care of the house, cook, do laundry, shopping etc etc etc. This LC woman needs to put on her big girl pants and just get on with it. Everyone is in the same boat.
Yes, I am a teacher and I am happy to be able to be home and here for my kids. With that being said teaching, teaching my kids at home and cleaning, cooking, and the emotional part of kids home virtual dance, etc. is really a lot of work. My students are also emotional and I try to help with that as well. I am however happy that I can be here to support them, but will be really glad to be able to go out again. Our nature center just opened where I am at yesterday. I have never seen my kids so happy to be walking on the trails!
I took this as not having any alone time right now. At least that’s what I was commenting in my first post. Do I have a lot of crap to do at home? Yes. Did I before the pandemic? Yes. But before this I at least could go to the grocery store and just walk around, target and just browse the isles, go out for a coffee with a friend for an hour. Just things here and there where I could get away and recharge and now that’s all gone.
I get it 100%. My husband goes for his jogs but I have to clean and cook when I have some time. And sadly, it the monster I’ve created.
“Help” is something extra. Taking care of your own children is part of being a parent.
Edit: This was supposed to be in response to Dali’s comment, sorry.
I guess I’m lucky. Mr. Jaded just does stuff without being asked. He vacuums, does the laundry, makes the bed every morning, cleans up after meals because I do the majority of the cooking (he can’t cook and when he does it’s for his consumption only, I can’t eat his slop!)
I know it’s tough for parents being “on” 24/7 but I would be so grateful to just hug someone right now. Those of us who live alone havent so much as shaken someones hand in the last 60+ days and that really starts to mess with your mental health. So while I know it’s hard on parents cherish those hugs from those kids, some of us would kill for it.
@lotus I’m really sorry to hear that. Those of use who have family at home forget that we are lucky sometimes. It doesn’t mean being a parent isn’t hard.
I’m not saying being a parent isnt hard, I’m saying that those hardships also include immense joy with lots of hugs and kisses and I would kill (figuratively) for a hug right now.
I’m so sorry to hear this, and it makes me so sad. I hope you get a nice big bear hug soon. I am definitely trying to keep this in mind when I get frustrated or touched out with my kids.
It is hard, I do feel like we are constantly cleaning, cooking, running/emptying the dishwasher, taking out the trash, and laundry. SO MUCH LAUNDRY (which I cant figure out. We’re not wearing more clothes.) But I’m saying “we” because my husband doesn’t help, he just….does it. he’s better at some things than others, but so am I, so it evens out.
But I am tired. it’s been 2 months of this and I’m tired.
I have two small kids at home too. Survival mode is accurate. Sure I normally take care of them at home pre lockdown but now there’s no parks, libraries, beaches, play dates, babysitters, literally anything to break up your day, your week.. I laughed when she said her alone time is cooking and cleaning because it is the exact same here. As soon as he gets home from work He goes behind the baby gate with the kids, I put on noise canceling headphones and zone out while cleaning, cooking then more cleaning. 😂 And it’s not that my husband “isn’t cooking” he’s looking after the kids so that I can cook! I don’t think many commenters upthread remember what it’s like to have tiny kids.
Totally. Like I said above my husband is trying to work from home and help me during the day but as soon as 5pm shuffles around he’s the main one taking care of the kids. Mine are all small so they are constantly on and have no outlet right now expect for our house and neighborhood when it’s nice enough for a walk but you can only walk around The block for so long and this Midwest spring has been terrible. I think people do forget what it’s like having little ones, they are constantly needing stimulation and asking questions and just wanting to show me EVERYTHING! My parents would tell me to just tell my two year old twins to stop doing something. Like they literally thought a two year old would just stop climbing on something if you told them to stop. They are not just short adults. I think when you’ve been out of that phase for years and years you block out what a constant it is.
I live alone and feel guilty if I just want to lounge on the couch after work. The chores are endless (I already worked from home so I’m not eating more or wearing more clothes, but I’m somehow doing more dishes and laundry) and for that reason alone I can’t figure out how anyone is bored during all of this. If I go more than a couple days without tidying up, vacuuming and doing laundry, my house is in shambles. Can’t imagine what it would be like to keep up with kids right now too!
I hate to say it, but I agree with LC. As a single working mom I’m definitely cooking or cleaning if I’m not working. And my kids are teens so they help but there’s just a lot more feeding and cleaning to do. And my kids stay up as late as I do since they don’t have school now, so my only time alone is in the morning while they sleep and I work, or if I get a chance to go for a run or walk. This is definitely super exhausting even though none of us are going anywhere. And I can work from home so I’m one if the lucky ones.
the amount of cooking and cleaning I’ve done since quarantine has increased so much. I used to cook once or twice a week, now it’s daily. My cleaning lady hasn’t come since quarantine.
I’m lucky to have grown up in a house where my dad doesn’t “help out” and just does shit. He’s the one who cooks, washes the dishes, goes to the grocery store, etc. If I ever get married, my husband better do his part, not just “help out”
I don’t think she meant that her husband helps while she does “everything”. I think she meant that he’s there too, doing what needs to be done. That said, if she does the cooking entirely, maybe it’s just because she likes to cook and also is the better cook. With most of my married and couple friends, the woman does the cooking, except for maybe two couples I know where the men are the better cooks. But maybe he cleans up–or he does bath time for the kids while she cooks and does dishes, we don’t know how they divide and conquer. That’s what my sis and her husband do. Some women prefer to be in charge of what goes where in their kitchens too. But I mean, it’s an interview about her kids clothing line–was she supposed to provide the readers with a minute-by-minute rehash of exactly what each one does from sunrise to sunset? I think she spoke the way most of us speak–in general terms, and it’s not meant to be taken so literally.
Aside from this, I have always liked her, and I don’t find her to be a hypocrite. She keeps her life private, and always has a good head on her shoulders. She doesn’t make statements out of her a$$ and isn’t thirsty. I remember people mocking her for her ambitions to go into the fashion business after the reality show was over. I thought the public reaction was a bit harsh, because at least she had a goal that wasn’t “find a famous guy and cling to him for relevance while staying in front of the cameras forever”. She had a plan, and I admire that she didn’t pay attention to the negativity and used her little window of opportunity to get into that business. And look at her now, she is doing very well. Sometimes being vanilla is okay (when compared to insufferable public personalities)!
I have a bit of a soft spot for Lauren. Last summer, after losing a LOT of weight, I was looking for a cute top. I saw one of hers & almost didn’t try it on-I mean, there’s no way any of HER clothes would fit me and also I’m
WAAAAY too old. Well, it did fit and still looks so cute 💕 It’s hubby’s favorite top on me 💕
That’s as cute as heck, really put a smile on my dial.
Why would she not have a live in housekeeper and cook? That way during covid they stay only there. I truly don’t understand why rich people deny themselves the things us normal women with kids would dream about???