Tiffani Thiessen is getting candid about the biggest parenting challenge she has been facing while raising her two kids.
“Middle school has been really hard, not my daughter specifically, but I remember middle school being super, super hard,” Thiessen, 50, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, May 9, while promoting her partnership with Welly, in which she joined forces with the brand to create the “Happy Campers” kit, a special collections of essentials to help kids thrive during sleepaway camp while giving parents peace of mind.
She continued, “I think it’s probably been, at least a chapter for the last couple years, the hardest because middle school is really just weird. It’s icky. It’s, like, lots of different emotions.”
Thiessen, who shares daughter Harper, 13, and son Holt, 8, with husband Brady Smith, went on to explain how Harper had to start a new school for junior high and make new friends – which was challenging.
“It wasn’t so much it was difficult for me, I think it was more difficult to see her kind of try to figure out all of that,” the Saved by the Bell alum explained, adding that she’s “very lucky” to have a daughter who is big on communication. “We have a very open relationship. And so I appreciate that and know that that was helpful for her too as much as it was for me.”
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While Thiessen hasn’t had too many parenting struggles, she did face some criticism from Harper after she watched Saved by the Bell for the first time.
“Harper at the beginning of the pandemic decided to go through and watch the entire Saved by the Bell series and everything and it was funny to walk in the room every now and then and see an episode,” she shared with Us. “Afterwards, I was like, ‘So, what did you think? And she goes, ‘Mom, TV was not as good as it is now.’”
Despite a few hiccups along the way, Thiessen has also had some major parenting wins lately.
“My daughter just left for sleep away [camp] at her school,” she shared. “Harper left and Holt was like, ‘No, no, one more hug,’ and just said, ‘Sissy I wish I could go with you.’ You know it’s stuff like that, those are the little wins that probably mean the most to me.”
Thiessen noted that despite their five-year age difference, seeing sentimental moments between her daughters make her feel like she and her husband are succeeding at parenting.
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“We’re doing something right like the fact that they truly do love each other so much,” she gushed. “That’s a win that I really appreciate.”
As Harper and Holt are both heading off to summer camp this year, Thiessen feels more prepared after partnering with Welly to create the “Happy Campers Kit.”
“This will actually be the first year that both of my kids are going to sleepaway camp. [My daughter] has actually [been] going to sleepaway camp for quite a few years. She’s very seasoned,” she explained to Us. “But my son is very different. He’s much more sensitive, [he] has a little anxiety. … So I think it was really cool that we kind of created this really cool ‘Happy Campers Kit’ to sort of help both sides.”
