Maria Shriver is the mother of four children, but she doesn’t want you to ask her for parenting advice. Rather, California’s First Lady says she is just as lost as the rest of us.
She may be part of the powerful Kennedy clan and married to actor turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Shriver maintains that has not helped her avoid daily challenges that come with raising four teenagers, and parenting her own ailing parents.
“I don’t have it all together … the road is bumpy, and I don’t have any shame in sharing that,” the 53-year-old mom recently told reporters. “I find that people are so grateful that you say, ‘Well, I’m having a very difficult time with my parents getting older.’ Or, ‘My parents are struggling and I’m struggling, too.’ ”
Shriver reveals that the last five years have been especially tough. The former TV journalist’s 87-year-old mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, has suffered several strokes, and her 93-year-old father, Sargent Shriver, has Alzheimer’s disease, and doesn’t even recognize his only daughter.
“I would say I’ve had a character transformation with both of my parents,” admits Shriver.
Still, the best-selling author says she keeps a stiff upper lip and takes one day at a time.
It appears as though another child with a famous politician as a parent is taking Shriver’s advice.
Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is back in the spotlight.
The mom to 5-month-old Tripp is making the rounds on TV news shows promoting sexual abstinence for her fellow teens.
It may seem like a hypocritical move, but the teen maintains that kids the world over can learn from her mistake of engaging in sexual intercourse at a young age.
Despite not practicing what she is currently preaching, Bristol insists that “abstinence is the only … 100 percent foolproof way to prevent pregnancy.”
In fairness to the soft-spoken teen, who cradled her infant son while speaking to Matt Lauer on the “Today” show, she did acknowledge that abstinence is “difficult.”
Apparently.