Crying is essential. Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe share the lesson they learned from their nanny, Rosie, who taught them the importance of embracing the good, bad, and ugly of child development.
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“I was pregnant with my second child when Sophie was just 10 months old. So the kids are only 19 months apart,” Nicole begins her story with PEOPLE. “We hired Rosie who was supposed to be a short-term nanny to help out with both babies. I was completely overwhelmed,” Nicole admits.
“One day both kids were in a state crying their eyes out. Rosie could see I was clueless about what to do and I started crying too. She just looked at me as she calmly picked up Nico in one arm and took the hand of Sophie with the other and said ‘Don’t worry Nikki, it’s no big deal. This is the time for crying.'” Those words have stayed with Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe ever since.
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“For some reason we got it,” Nicole says of the enlightenment that came to her after Rosie gave permission for tears. “They are babies,” the celebrity mom shares. “Babies cry.”
Now, more than a decade later, Sophie and Nicolas are in middle school and progressively learning how to do things on their own. “They’re in 7th and 8th grade now … and needless to say, they rarely cry anymore,” Nicole shares with PEOPLE. “As parents we kinda miss them needing us to wipe their faces and, well, Rosie is still an important part of all of our lives,” the star mom says of the nurturing dynamics at home.
Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe are the proud parents of two children. Stay tuned for more celebrity family news!
Photo: PEOPLE
