Exclusive: Tia Mowry Says 'It's Not About Being the Perfect Parent' During Back-to-School Season
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Back-to-school season is here, and everyone is feeling the stress: parents, teachers, and kids alike. It’s a hectic time, with new schedules and supplies, and the challenge of making easy weeknight dinners that won’t burn you out at the end of a long day. But luckily, moms like Tia Mowry are trying to help fellow parents through all the craziness, one step at a time.
Mowry has collaborated with many initiatives over the years, with one goal in mind when selecting partnerships: to help parents feel like they’re not alone. Now, she’s partnering with General Mills, which she calls the “perfect fit” for her to team up with for the back-to-school season. She says, “I’m really excited to be partnering up with General Mills and Box Tops for education because they basically want to support families during the transition from summer to adjusting to this whole back-to-school routine.”
“I am a mom of two, and I totally understand the back-to-school routine,” Mowry tells SheKnows. “I understand how it can be overwhelming at times [with] getting the kids up early, making breakfast, making sure that the kids have brushed their teeth, they have on clean socks, underwear, making sure that their backpacks are packed, and then just getting the kids out of the house at a decent time. I understand how all of this is happening all at once.”
It’s definitely happening all at once, and no one knows that better than Mowry, who wants parents to remember something crucial: “It’s not about being the perfect parent. It’s about finding ways and strategies that can make this thing called parenthood easier and less stressful.”
But those aren’t the only words of wisdom we gleaned from this multitalented mama. Below, see what Mowry told SheKnows about back-to-school season, self-care, and what fans can expect from her for the rest of 2025.
On Back-to-School Season & Self-Care
So what is this program she’s so passionate about for the back-to-school season? It’s an initiative to help parents help their kids’ schools — and get something super-important to their kids in the process: free snacks!
“General Mills is actually giving away free snacks,” she reveals, saying all families have to do is just buy any General Mills products that also have Box Tops for Education on the product, and they can get a rebate (up to $12.99!).
She adds, “The best part about the program is they can download the Box Tops for Education app, and then that app will tally up points or cash to give back to local schools in the area, which is so amazing because it’s all about supporting community.”
(But, Mowry reminds us, you have to remember to scan the receipts in the app to make it happen!)
While she’s making the hectic season easier for others, Mowry is also finding ways to make it all easier on herself and her own children: Cree, 14, and Cairo, 7.
“One thing that I love doing is just putting some of our favorite General Mills snacks by the door as they head out to school. They can just grab whatever it is that they want, throw it in their backpack,” she says. For herself, easy weeknight dinners like one-pot turkey meatball and spaghetti are her busy day go-to. “I really cater to one-pot meals. So you’re just dumping everything in a pot and stirring and cooking everything in that one pot … or sheet pan dinners where everything is on the sheet pan. It’s all about practicality and trying to make things easier.”
Another trick she has for making this time easier is to “focus on yourself for a minute. Like, especially during back to school days or just back to school season, I always like to wake up earlier than the kids so that I get in a meditation, I get in some breath work, I get in some journaling, just so that I can center myself, and so that I’m not projecting anything onto my kids.”
She adds, “I always like to just kind of reset my nervous system for the day, set some intentions, and then when Mom is centered, then Mom can definitely be present as much as she can for her kids.” Spoken like a true self-care queen!
On Her Kids’ Self-Care
Her kids are just like her in so many ways, including when it comes to self-care. Whether you’re a new fan of Mowry’s or have loved her since the ’90s, you know one thing quickly: she is all about affirmations, and so are her kids.
“I’m just not a gatekeeper. If I can see that there is a benefit to positivity and just putting positive words in your psyche, I wanna do that for my kids as well. Right next to his bed, my son has a frame with affirmations and just goals for the year written out. So every day that he wakes up, he can look at it, and it’s, like, implanted in his psyche,” she smiles, also noting that she tries to encourage him while he’s at school too. “If I know that he has a test that he’s very nervous about, I’ll send him a text, and I’ll give him an affirmation that’s kid-friendly and funny at the same time.”
But Cree isn’t the only one who’s becoming a self-care master! Mowry revealed her “amazing” daughter, Cairo, already starts her day by meditating — and isn’t shy about setting boundaries. “She’s like, ‘Mom, I need some space’ in the morning, and then she’ll just do a little Zen kind of pose,” Mowry laughs. “So she’s already on it, like, she doesn’t even need my help to recenter herself at times. But at night, I will definitely give her affirmations to say. So she’ll say, ‘I am smart. I am beautiful. I am kind. I am compassionate.’ I am a huge believer, and I do see a shift when I apply that to my parenting.”
On Parenting & Her Career
Mowry has been on our screens, and in our hearts, for decades — starring in projects such as Sister, Sister, The Game, and A Very Merry Beauty Salon, to name a few. But as a mom of two, and a former child star, she has a new way to choose what’s right for her.
When asked about which projects she decides to take on, she says she’s “very intentional,” and it has to help her maintain her peace. “Where I am right now in my career, it has to feel good. It can’t necessarily take me away from my kids, I don’t like to change their dynamic up too much or their routine up too much. Then there has to be some sort of inspiration behind whatever the project is, because I feel like fame without purpose is very dangerous.”
“If it is allowing for inspiration, fun, joy, just alignment, then I’ll say yes to it. If it doesn’t, I’ll say no,” she continues. “As a child, I was so used to saying yes, I was definitely more of a people pleaser. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that it’s okay to say no, and saying no is basically self-love. It’s protecting your energy, protecting your aura, protecting your legacy.”
Among these intentional, carefully-selected projects is a new movie! “I have a Netflix movie coming out. It’s a Christmas movie, [and] I’m so excited,” Mowry reveals. “And what is interesting is usually I’m always playing the love interest, but this time around, I’m actually playing the nemesis, which is pretty cool! I don’t wanna give away too much, but let’s just say her heart becomes softened during the holiday season. She’s a single mom to a daughter, and I just thought that it was a great script.”
Plus, there’s her haircare line, 4u by Tia: “We are constantly evolving and growing, and I’m just having so much fun with that.”
She says that while she adores all the projects she’s been a part of in her life, motherhood is her “biggest and I feel like the best role that I will ever have till the day I die.”
“I just love being a mom, and it’s my biggest blessing. Actually, some of my friends this morning, they were saying, ‘Man, if I had a mom like you, you know?’ I really take that seriously,” the Twitches alum adds. “No matter how old they get, I will always be their mom. And how no matter how old they get, I will always be their mom. And anything that I could do to support them, that’s my goal.”
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