Candace Cameron Bure on why 'parenting never ends' in a pandemic

Television series star Candace Cameron Bure opens up about being a young mother, parenting young adults during the pandemic and how her marriage was tested and strengthened in the past year. With her 19-, 21- and 22-year-old moving back home in 2020, Bure realized that she had to continue to set an example for her children, despite their age. While we might assume Bure is a pro at living in a "full house," she says that even her family had some challenges to overcome together. However, she points out that some of the best experiences she's had with her family have been in quarantine, playing games and cooking together. “My kids actually like hanging out with me,” she says.

Video Transcript

CANDACE CAMERON BURE: It's really challenging as a parent of young adults to help them navigate their new life, because these are transitional years for them. Our daughter moved out and was living in her own apartment. But during the pandemic, she moved back home.

A parent is always their child's biggest example, but all the more in this pandemic, because we've all been together. And we haven't had those moments to take off for the weekend or go to the gym or-- I mean, whatever those little moments are throughout the day, we've all been together 24/7. It's been challenging. And I've just really learned all the more and reminded myself that my kids are always watching, and they see how I deal with the stress, how we handle difficult situations.

Fortunately for the Bure marriage, the pandemic has strengthened our relationship. All the things that we have avoided for years talking about, they all surfaced. And they were in our face, and it was unavoidable.

My children were the biggest influence in helping my husband and me work through it. And since then, the relationship has grown even closer and tighter. There's always hills and valleys, no matter what. But when you come out of the valley, it is like, [SINGS] hallelujah. You feel like you can accomplish anything. And that's what this pandemic felt like.

I've always been a woman with faith values and family values, as has my husband. And that's how we wanted to raise our kids. I don't know that that really would have changed if I had children later in my life. I feel like in my 20s, I was still a very selfish person, because I was still trying to figure out my own life and then parent these little people. And it's like, my brain hasn't quite matured yet.

I probably would have taken a back seat in my own life a little bit more than always trying to keep myself at the forefront. We were always parents first. We created the boundaries and the rules. Do the hard work first, because you should be a parent first and not a friend when they're young.

Now as young adults, we are reaping the rewards of that. My kids actually like hanging out with me, and they like hanging out with my husband, and they choose having dinner at home a lot of times over going out with their friends. We cooked almost every meal at home during the pandemic. We kind of went through the pages of a cookbook and cooked something new every day. And that was really fun, and fun to do together as a family. And then also playing board games and cards. They'll go down as some of the best and most fun memories with my family.

The parenting never ends, whether they're at home or they live on their own, whether they're married or not. I mean, just like my parents, I ask them for parenting advice all the time. Sometimes you just need to hear that old school advice or old-fashioned advice and just get back to the basics. It doesn't matter what decade you're in. It's just good parenting advice.