Actress Sarah Jessica Parker sat down to talk about the balancing act of motherhood with Bravo’s Andy Cohen at a panel discussion hosted by the Women of NBCU. Parker has become somewhat of a touchstone on the topic of work life balance since starring in I Don’t Know How She Does It, a movie about a finance executive trying to balance work and motherhood. The movie mirrors Parker’s own life in many ways. Parker has three children with actor Matthew Broderick, while presiding over a personal brand that includes movies, perfume and a production company.

Sarah Jessica Parker's Life and Career In Pictures

Parker shared, “I actually don’t think, with the exception of being in the public eye, that my life is any more unconventional than any other working mother.” She then recounted a story of being on the set of a movie when she found out her son, James Wilkie, had lice–requiring her to drop what she was doing (a similar scenario transpired in I Don't Know How She It).

Parker, who said she considers her mom to be her greatest inspiration, mused to the group, “We desire traditions so much because we are the beginning of a generation of women who inherited the women’s movement of our mothers. We were told, ‘You can have it all!’ And we went after it. Now we have our own children and we’ve idealized our own mothers as soft and warm and loving.”

Parenting is clearly on the actresses mind. She admitted to staying up at night with thoughts like, “What will I do today to screw this child up for life?” She recounted a fight between her and her two-year-old daughter Tabitha in the middle of the night that left her feeling more like a toddler herself, than the parent.

On how she raises her children in the midst of privilege she said, “We talk a lot about what it means to earn something.” She says that her son makes Christmas and birthday lists to reinforce the idea that he can’t have everything that he wants. 

Of course, Parker is hardly the average working mother. The actress began her career starring in the Broadway musical version of Annie when she was in her teens. Then came the 1980s TV classic Square Pegs and movies like Footloose and Girls Just Want To Have Fun. It was her star turn in the TV show Sex & the City as the ultimate New York City single girl, Carrie Bradshaw, that turned Parker into a pop culture icon. Forbes estimates that Parker raked in $30 million in 2010.

As for how this star mom does it all, Parker admits to having nannies, but has avoided live-in help in a quest for normalcy. “We have amazing babysitters that we are incredibly reliant upon and we are incredibly lucky to have. We like that they get to go home at night and this is what works for our family."