Mayim Bialik, the beloved Jewish actress, neuroscientist and mother of two recently opened up to her fans about the difficulties of being a divorced mom.
Bialik has been co-parenting her two sons with her ex-husband, Michael Stone, for three years. She has faced many challenges during that time, but, until now, she has never spoken publicly about her divorce in order to protect her family’s privacy.
“I’d like to talk about it in a way that might help some of you who are going through something similar, or might educate people on what divorce can look like in some families,” Bialik said in a four minute video clip that she posted on her website, Grok Nation, and YouTube.
The actress, who is best known for her role as neurobiologist, Amy Fowler, in CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,”as well as her lead role as Blossom Russo in NBC’s television sitcom “Blossom,” shared her opinion on how to create the healthiest possible environment for children in the context of a divorce.
The first piece of advice that Bialik had was for divorced parents to do things together with their children. Bialik shares holiday meals with her children, and she makes sure that they all go to synagogue together for major holidays.
“Is it always perfect and exactly what I want? Of course not. Do my kids sometimes complain that they’d rather have Passover at their dad’s house instead of mine? Of course they do,” Bialik said. “But we all end up being together, and that’s literally what’s most important.”
In addition to divorced parents doing things together with their children, Bialik also advises divorced parents to continue being part of each other’s families. She still keeps in touch with her ex-husband’s family, and she makes it her business to send pictures of her children to them and to attend important family events because it strengthens kids’ lives when all of their loved ones are present.
“Divorce isn’t the end of a family,” Bialik said. “It’s the end of a nuclear family, it’s the end of a family living in one house, but we still have responsibilities to each other’s families and to our kids as a family.”
Finally, Bialik said that divorced parents should always model good behavior in front of their children. While it may seem tempting to trash talk an ex-spouse, Bialik advises against it, as mentioned in a kveller.com article about Bialik’s video.
“Life’s not a dress rehearsal,” Bialik said. “My kids get one chance to be kids, and this is their situation. I have to put them first.”
Watch the video in full here, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?=eW__B3YCp78
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