How Child Acting Prepared Danica McKellar for Motherhood

Published: November 11, 2025

By Gavin Boyle

Danica McKellar shared that her secret to spending quality time with her son Draco, despite her extremely busy schedule, comes from a skill she learned as a child actress.

“I was a kid when I was learning how to multitask and compartmentalize,” McKellar told Parents. “I’d be doing a scene, and then I was back to the school room doing 20 minutes of a math test, and then I was going back to set for an emotional crying scene.”

These are skills the actress carries over into her role as a parent as she works to homeschool her son amidst the rest of her busy schedule.

“I don’t try to think about everything that I have to do all at once. I would probably freak out; I can’t hold it all in my head. I also believe it’s important to be really present wherever you are,” she explained.

To help other parents spend quality time with their kids, McKellar recently released a new kids book, I Love You 100. Perhaps surprising for some of her fans, it teaches children about numbers while also providing them with a heartwarming story to connect with.

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“I needed to find out how I was valuable outside of Winnie Cooper, and math was challenging and I did well at it,” she said when explaining why she got that degree. “And I love this feeling that my value, the important stuff, had nothing to do with how I looked or television.”

In recent years, McKellar has rooted herself in the Lord and now finds her value in Christ, helping her further find meaning outside of her acting career.

“I thought religion was this restrictive thing. It’s actually the most freeing thing in the world,” she explained after finding her faith in 2022. “It’s just been a beautiful, beautiful gift, and it feels so good, and I want everyone to have that feeling.”

“People have said, ‘Oh, you are so bold,’” McKellar added. “It doesn’t feel bold. It doesn’t feel like it requires courage or anything…When you experience something that is so beautiful and so wonderful and so life-changing, you want everyone to feel that.”

As McKellar continues to serve as a great model for those old and new in their faith, it is encouraging to see her talk about spending quality time with her son, while also enabling other parents to do the same. I Love You 100 is available now.

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