Jodie Sweetin Talks About Elevating Teenage Daughters

One among my first TV obsessions was Full Home. I wished to reside in San Francisco and be a part of the Tanner household. I believed Uncle Jesse was the best and cherished how Danny Tanner had a dad joke and heartfelt recommendation for each state of affairs. And naturally, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle Tanner had been the sisters each woman wished by their facet.

So once I had the chance to speak with Stephanie Tanner herself—actress, activist, creator, podcaster, and mom—Jodie Sweetin, 42, it was definitely a full circle second for my interior ‘80s youngster.

“How impolite!” remains to be certainly one of my go-to comebacks and I’m nonetheless in awe of Stephanie’s killer dance strikes. (In case you missed it, Sweetin simply recreated her viral “Motownphilly” dance from season 5—33 years later!).

However what was actually particular, and even surreal, was the chance to speak with Sweetin—mother to mother. She’s elevating two teenage daughters (Zoie, 16, and Bea, 14) and attempting to outlive back-to-school craziness identical to the remainder of us. 

“It is the week of, ‘Mother, I would like 12 issues!’ ‘When?’ ‘Tomorrow?’ ‘Oh, cool!’” she laughed whereas we commiserated over the stress of college provide buying and the post-summer, shock to the system of getting our children again within the swing of issues.

Elevating Teenage Ladies

Fortunately, some back-to-school stress was alleviated for Sweetin as her youngest seamlessly transitioned to highschool.

“Bea truly was so excited for her first day—she wasn’t afraid, not nervous in any respect,” says Sweetin who has discovered it fulfilling to look at her daughters begin to discover themselves. “Zoie is extra of an athlete, a risk-taker, and on the market whereas Bea is extra of a performer.”

Sweetin’s daughters additionally attend totally different excessive colleges, which Sweetin believes retains her women’ relationship shut.

“They’ve their very own social lives and pursuits. They’ve discovered their very own groove and have their very own lives. I imply, it does make the mornings just a little bit extra hectic, however thank G-d for the college bus,” she says.

How Sweetin Finds Time For Self-Care 

In these hectic moments, Sweetin stays grounded with self-care, even teaming up with OLLY nutritional vitamins to carry extra consciousness across the significance of wellness routines. Sweetin begins her day with a minimum of a five-minute meditation.

“I discover it actually helps set me up. Simply 5 minutes earlier than doing the primary rounds of ‘Hey, are you alive? Get up!’ earlier than coming again for the inevitable second, third, and fourth spherical of getting youngsters away from bed,” Sweetin shares.

As soon as the children are at college, she will get in “me time” by sitting outdoors in her hammock for just a little sunshine and nature.

“I’ll be like, ‘Oh, take heed to that hen!’ It sounds so foolish, however we reside in such a busy world, consistently with screens and youngsters and schedules—if I can unplug only for a couple of minutes a day and be current, it is actually useful,” says Sweetin.

The Nice Display Time Debate

In actual fact, now that faculty is again in session, Sweetin desires her youngsters to be extra current and ease up on display time too.

“As quickly as my daughters stroll within the door, I say, ‘Okay, hand me the cellphone.’ Even simply take a half hour to decompress, get a snack, and mellow out for just a little bit earlier than beginning homework,” says Sweetin. “I discover that transition time actually useful. It is one much less argument whereas we’re attempting to complete chores, homework, dinner . . .when all the pieces’s finished, then we speak about after they can have their display time again.”

However Sweetin admits it’s simpler mentioned than finished to implement.

“It is so annoying. I hate it. As dad and mom, we hate it. No person desires to stay to those guidelines,” she says. 

The Guidelines of the Highway

Now, there’s one parenting ceremony of passage that Sweetin’s within the thick of, making her work tougher to maintain that zen going. She’s been instructing Zoie to drive!

“Each time we go to the drug retailer or the grocery retailer, it is, ‘Can I drive? Can I drive?’ OLLY’s Goodbye Stress has been nice as a result of they’re mellowing, however additionally they enable you to keep alert, which is essential when your 16-year-old is driving—you simply must not be crying!” Sweetin laughs.

It’s been combined feelings for Sweetin as actuality hits that she has a daughter sufficiently old to start out driving.

“There’s this bizarre factor that occurs if you’re abruptly sitting within the passenger seat. You are like, ‘They’re driving as a result of they’re that outdated’ and you then notice, ‘Oh my God, they’re that outdated? Which means I am that outdated!’ It occurs so shortly,” she says.

Grateful For Her Villiage

To get by way of the trials and tribulations of elevating youngsters, Sweetin is grateful for her assist system which incorporates lifelong girlfriends and her husband of two years, Mescal Wasilewski.

“He is my greatest pal and an enormous assist. He’s so calm and so affected person,” Sweetin says with an enormous smile. “He simply thinks we’re all out of our thoughts and it is nice. He retains us grounded—and cooks and does all of the grocery buying, which is large.”

Wasilewski additionally offers an outdoor perspective which is useful for shortly smoothing issues over when Sweetin and her women don’t see eye to eye.

“He has the flexibility to see everybody’s piece so it’s extremely useful. He’s probably the most affected person, calm, even-tempered particular person—which is nice with three girls operating round the home at numerous phases of hormones. It may be quite a bit,” she says of her husband.

The whole lot Involves a Full (Home) Circle

It’s surreal listening to Sweetin speak about elevating teenage daughters as a result of, for these of us who grew up watching Full Home, it’s inconceivable not to think about her as something however a younger Stephanie Tanner. So, I needed to know if her daughters had any clue that their mother was an icon.

“No, as a result of I am not an ‘icon’ at dwelling. I’m simply mother,” she laughs. “I’m yelling at them to get laundry finished.”

That’s to not say having her youngsters be a part of her on the set of the Full Home reboot, Fuller Home, wasn’t extremely particular and significant.

“It was enjoyable having my youngsters come again to the Full Home household with me,” shares Sweetin. “That was a extremely neat second. Once we ended the present [in 1995], I used to be 13 years outdated and I by no means anticipated that sometime my youngsters could be coming again to the set and I would have an image of the three of us sitting on the sofa.”

Whereas Full Home was full of tender parenting moments and classes, Sweetin hasn’t utilized any of them in her personal family.  However there is a good motive. She truly had not seen many episodes till 2023 when she began co-hosting a Full Home rewatch podcast referred to as How Impolite, Tanneritos! with Andrea Barber (aka Kimmie Gibbler).

“It’s so enjoyable to return and watch. It is like a bizarre 37-year-old time capsule. I’ve an enormous quantity of my life documented for the world to see—awkward tooth, unhealthy hair and all,” Sweetin shares.

As for her daughters following in mother’s footsteps? Whereas Bea loves performing and musical theater, Sweetin says there’s no rush.

“It takes a certain quantity of focus and skill and you need to quit ‘regular’ child stuff,” Sweetin explains. “I say, ‘Go take pleasure in childhood, take pleasure in being a child’ and the enterprise will at all times be there.”

Sweetin’s Parenting Recommendation

For now, Sweetin is concentrated on guiding her women by way of the college yr and parenting in a means that fits her and her women greatest. 

“My greatest recommendation is to not fear about maintaining with the opposite mothers.  Don’t fret if this mother packed a Pinterest lunch for his or her child with Dino-shaped peanut butter and jelly and strawberry blossoms. Simply present up in your youngsters, do your greatest and they will be okay,” she says.

When Sweetin’s youngsters had been little, she remembers evaluating herself to different mothers and being arduous on herself—till she had an epiphany.

“It’s not a contest and you need to consistently remind your self of that,” she says. “You are simply attempting to maintain your youngsters heading in a ahead course and never making an excessive amount of of a multitude of issues—that is parenting. So some days you are going to be like, ’I did such an ideal job’ and a few days you may suppose, ‘Nicely, that is in all probability the factor that’ll put them in remedy.’”

However Sweetin emphasizes that mothers must take it simple on themselves.  “Mother and father do plenty of emotional, unpaid labor, and this time of yr could be tremendous tense. So get your sleep, take your OLLY, and provides your self a break!”