When Kelly Rowland learned that her youngest son, Noah, had eczema, as she did, she was faced with a new parenting challenge.
The former Destiny's Child member and solo artist was distressed to see her 5-year-old in so much discomfort.
"As soon as he walked outside, I watched his skin transform right before my eyes," Rowland told Business Insider.
The only thing that brought him comfort — scratching his skin — was making it worse. But how do you get a little boy to understand that?
Rowland, who partnered with Ebglyss, an injectable treatment for people 12 and older with moderate-to-severe eczema, was upfront with him. "I was like, 'I can't help you right now.'" she said. "'You have to help yourself in this moment: stop scratching.'"
While parenting comes with the unexpected, she said being direct and honest with her kids helps a lot. "I wish someone would've said, 'Let your yes be a yes and your no be a no,'" she said.
She's brief when correcting them
Rowland, who also has an 11-year-old son, Titan, said she aims to be direct and brief when setting boundaries with her kids.
"I'm like, 'I don't like the way you said that to me. I wouldn't say that to you like that, so don't say that to me like that,'" Rowland said. "I mean, it's over."
It's a parenting lesson she said she wishes she knew sooner. "I wish someone would've told me, 'Make it quick when you're correcting something, and move on,'" she said. "Immediately when something happens, nip it in the bud."
Lots of love, without the babying
Rowland's biggest piece of parenting advice is to "just talk to them like they're humans."
"I don't baby my boys," she said. At the same time: "I'm completely obsessed with them, so there's never a moment where they don't feel like I love them, even when there is some sort of challenge."
When it comes to traveling, she's transparent with her kids about why she's leaving. "If I'm going somewhere, it's because it really means a lot to me," she recently told Titan. "That makes him feel seen, feel heard, and lets him know that I have a life outside of here, too."
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Julia is a senior health reporter at Business Insider. Julia covers a wide range of topics, including the rise of colon cancer cases among young people, the unique challenges modern parents face, and the growing trend of Gen Zers abstaining from social media. She also writes about fitness, nutrition, longevity, and the routines of highly successful people for Business Insider’s Power Hours series. She’s published interviews with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Serena Williams, Esther Perel, Bill Nye, Naomi Watts, and James Van Der Beek.Julia's work has appeared on the BBC, CBS, Bloomberg Radio, Morning Brew, Fast Company, and the Daily Flash. She has also moderated panel discussions at Nasdaq and Duke University, and appeared on the podcasts Open to Debate, Airtalk, The Evan Bray Show, and The Last Show with David Cooper. Prior to this role, Julia was an education and personal development editor on the Business Insider Reviews team and a sex and relationships editor at Cosmopolitan and BuzzFeed, respectively.You can say hi to Julia at [email protected] and check out more of her work on her website.
