How does she do it?: Mayim Bialik

From Blossom, to her Ph.D. in neuroscience, to her current character on the hit series The Big Bang Theory and home-schooling her two kids, Bialik isn't exactly an underachiever. Now she has just released a book on attachment parenting called Beyond the Sling.

Name: Mayim Bialik
Age: 36
Kids: Miles, six, and Frederick, three
Marital status: Married for eight years to Michael Stone

What is your parenting philosophy?
We loosely fall under the umbrella of attachment parenting. We believe in breastfeeding, sleeping close to our children, keeping our babies close to our bodies and being with them as much as possible. We believe in gentle discipline and follow a natural parenting philosophy.

What’s the most unexpected thing you discovered after you became a 
parent?
I have a lot of issues I have to work on, that’s what I’ve discovered! I think the birth of a child is really the birth of a parent.

How do you put your kids to bed?
I was told, “You have to do the same thing every night,” but that never worked for us. We read before bed and sing a Jewish prayer. To be with them for the first five years while they fall asleep is a blessing.

What is nighttime like with your family?
Fred was breastfeeding approximately four times every night until he was three. He just stopped, but he still wakes up to be rocked back to sleep and to use the potty. Miles weaned when he was two, and now 
he sleeps like a log.

What’s the best parenting advice you ever got?
You don’t need a baby book — the baby is the book. All the information that I need is contained in my children and in me.

What do you do that makes your kids say, “You are so much fun!”
I’m the best Lego builder. I’m not so good at trains, I’m not so good at cars, but I kept all my Lego from when I was a kid and we have a big bucket.

What is your secret to a happy 
relationship?
Balancing our needs for alone time as well as time together has been very important. But for us, especially because we home-school and we don’t have child care, we also know that it’s important to do things for ourselves so our own battery is recharged.

What is your job status?
Besides a mom, which is my absolute identity, I’m an actor, but I’m also a neuroscientist and a writer. 
I just like to say general entertainer.

What do you do for child care?
You’re talking to it — it’s me and my husband.

What is your no-fail, go-to meal 
everyone in your family will eat?
Pita pizza. If we have some leftover pita, we throw some tomato sauce on and sprinkle some vegan cheese overtop.

What is your typical weekend breakfast?
Shabbat [the] is the only day I allow something fun or sweet in the morning, so bagels or leftover pound cake are treats.