Dylan Dreyer shared candid reflections on working motherhood and the guilt that often accompanies it.
The Today co-host revealed on her podcast The Parent Chat (June 11) that when her eldest son Calvin was just 4 or 5 months old, he preferred their nanny to her. "I loved my nanny. But I remember when Calvin was a baby, maybe like 4 or 5 months, and he would only want her," the 44-year-old said. "I was home a lot... but he preferred her."
Dreyer admitted she had been "so hesitant" to talk about having a nanny because she "felt guilty" needing help. The working mom—who shares Calvin, 9, Oliver, 6, and Rusty, 4, with ex Brian Fichera—returned to work three months after her oldest was born and built a network of helpers including her nanny, mom, and mother-in-law.
Celebrity nanny Connie Simpson, who cares for the children of Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Justin Timberlake, offered a different perspective. "Stop judging that. Be happy that that happens," Simpson told her. "It would be really devastating if it were the opposite, if every time you walked through that door, they just wanted to latch on to you."
Simpson emphasized that "a village is a beautiful thing" and that nobody can do this alone. "Don't judge yourself because your village is showing beauty somewhere else," she said.
Dreyer absorbed the message. "That [nanny] relationship is so important because it helps you build your village and gives you the time to give to yourself, too," she reflected. "I literally couldn't do it without my village."
The conversation moved Dreyer past her initial guilt about relying on others for childcare.
