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(Video) Angela Basset Shares The Most Valuable Lesson She’s Learned As A Parent

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Host, Karen Hunter: What message do you have in ‘Otherhood’ for mothers who are out there raising children as you are, to not have this disconnect? Is there something you could do about it or is this just the rite of passage?

Angela Bassett: I think it’s a rite of passage and I think it behooves us to have a little awareness. I’ve heard it said that motherhood, or parenthood is that job, that if you do it right, you work yourself into unemployment. You don’t have to be there every day. They’re self-sufficient, they’re great citizens. They make great choices. They’re making good choices for their lives by a large, we all make mistakes, hello whatever, but that’s what you want for them. You don’t want them clinging on. I remember early on we had a nanny or whatever (baby nanny with twins), and she would just “bye bye kids” and they would cry when she left the house. And I said, them crying is what you need. What they need is for you to sneak out the back door and see you in the morning the next day. They don’t need to cry after you. That makes you feel wonderful. Your kids don’t have to call you to fill your need. Know that they’re going to grow up. They need to be free. They’re looking for autonomy and you just pray, pray for them. You call them up sometimes. It’ll be okay, but that’s what you did. You won’t be Sanford and Son , still livin’ in the house with your dad.

Transcript courtesy of SiriusXM‘s The Karen Hunter Show.

Zoie Konneker is a student of Media & Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Technique newspaper, an ambitious social justice activist.

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