In an interview at the premiere of Pandas (via Parents), Kristen Bell revealed her latest parenting challenge: Delta, her 3-year-old daughter, would often refuse to go to sleep. “Every night, when we put her to bed, she turns the lights on, which annoys the 4-year-old,” said Bell. “She will move furniture, and she bangs on the door with different, hard toys.”
So what do you do when you’re an A-list celebrity — probably with early-morning call times — and your toddler is determined to keep you up at night? “We switched the doorknob,” admitted Bell. “We turned the lock on the outside.”
Surely, Bell knew what kind of reaction she would get from other parents, so she hit it head-on. “I’m sorry, I know that’s controversial, but we lock it when she gets in there, and we stand outside and say, ‘We love you, we will talk to you in the morning, but now, it’s time for sleep.’ And after about 10 minutes, she’ll wind herself down. And then, before we go to bed, obviously, we unlock it.”
While Bell and husband Dax Shepard are frequently criticized by detractors, this anecdote drew particular ire, as any online parenting debate tends to do. But we like what one commenter on Buzzfeed said: “Why are you inviting me to comment on someone else’s parenting? She doesn’t need our approval and she definitely doesn’t need our shaming.”
Written by: Nicki