Q+A with Actress and Mom, Rebecca Gayheart Dane March 25 2016, 0 Comments
We caught up with actress and mother Rebecca Gayheart Dane to chat motherhood, finding inspiration, making silly breakfasts, and to hear what she hopes her two (impossibly-adorable) daughters will learn from her.
How does creativity play a part in your daily life?
We approach everything we do creatively, I’m fortunate that my daughters came out as creative little beings. There’s nothing we enjoy more than starting the day off using our food in a fun way by making faces out of fruit! Then we get creative picking out our outfits for school, we use items around the house to make use as our microphone in the morning and start our day! We really do try to approach our everyday routine with a little magic and creativity.
What do you do for inspiration? Or how do you overcome feeling uninspired?
I’m lucky that I have insanely talented, creative friends who live beautiful lifestyles so a lot of times just a simple lunch with the girls is all I need for inspiration. Other times its old magazines, but most of the time I get inspired by nature.
How are you teaching your kids about creativity and self-expression?
Because I have girls I think it's important they have a strong voice, so I've encouraged them since they were babies to express themselves. (Which is a good thing most of the time but sometimes it does backfire!) But seriously, I think self-expression starts for girls at a young age with their clothing. It's incredible how both Billie and Georgia would crawl over and put on a tutu before they were two. It may have been on their head and not their waist, but they still gravitated towards certain colors, fabrics, and that's just elaborated and grown into certain outfits for everyday life. I also use creativity as a problem-solving tool. I’m a big believer that there is a solution to every problem if you get creative enough. That has helped us immensely in conflict resolution.
What is your favorite thing to do when you're spending time with your kids?
Arts and craft projects, and I’m not just saying this, but we love Seedling so much in this house. We recently made our own soap, (with a lot of added glitter of course), and we’ve made quite the collection of mermaids. I guess that’s why I’m such a fan of Seedling because it’s everything I wanted to do when I was a kid and now I get to do it with my own children. Crafting and creating is definitely a pastime in this house, along with reading. But for a rainy day, I will say the only thing we need is an empty box along with their imagination and it occupies a lot of hours. From a cave, to a rocket ship, to a car, to a crib, to a castle, the possibilities are endless. Yay for boxes!
What has been one of your most memorable moments since becoming a mother?
Wow, this is an impossible question to answer! There’s so many memorable moments, almost every moment is. Most of them joyful, but some of them heartbreaking. I never knew that parenting was going to be such a mix of emotions. My children make my heart want to burst on a daily basis. I would have to say that both of their births would be most memorable. Although their first word/steps/giggle/swear word(!)/booty shake are all on the top of the list.
What do you hope your kids will learn from you?
I hope that they will learn to never give up, that girls can do anything that boys can do. (And most of the time, better). I hope they learn to be kind despite unfair situations, and I hope they learn that happiness is a choice.