Chelsea Clinton.Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images
Chelsea Clinton’s children may be too young to get the coronavirus vaccine, but they’re still doing their part to slow the spread of the virus.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the former first daughter, 41, opens up about her family’s experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic and how her three kids, sons Jasper, 2, and Aidan, 5, plus daughter Charlotte, 6½, are dealing with the turbulent time.
“Thankfully my kids understand they have to wear a mask to protect themselves and to protect others. They are very good about washing their hands. They’re very good about keeping their distance,” she says of her children, whom she shares with longtime husbandMarc Mezvinsky.
Clinton, who is the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation and serves on the board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, says her kids have “never asked to stop wearing masks” and “accept this is what it is until they’ve been vaccinated.”
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Chelsea Clinton.Owen Hoffmann/Patrick McMullan via Getty
“That’s always been the choice that we’ve made, even after my husband and I got vaccinated, even being outdoors at the farmer’s markets, we wear masks because we don’t want [our kids] to feel like, ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’ ‘” adds Clinton.
While Clinton says her older kids are “excited” to go back to school, they are aware the “school year will look more like last year than when we finally really move forward from COVID.”
TheShe Persisted in Sportsauthor also reveals that she initially hoped to enroll her two older children in one of the COVID-19 vaccine trials, until she discovered the location of the testing site.
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“The nearest trial site to New York City was about five and a half hours away,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh gosh, that’s not going to be a good experience for my kids.’ "
Last year, Clinton chatted with PEOPLE about her experience with"mom guilt,“especially during the COVID-19 health crisis.
“[There are times when] I’m on my Zoom and Aidan’s science class is crashing and then I’m off my Zoom rushing to fix the science class,” Clinton recalled. “And then I can’t stay with him to make sure he gets back on the science class. Then I’m running back into the next room to get back on my Zoom and then I feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not doing either thing very well at the moment, but hopefully doing each as best as I can.’ "
“There’s so many moments like that,” she continued, “every day for working parents, and so trying to just be honest about that — honest about the privilege for those of us who can work from home, honest about how much balance still has to happen, honest about how much will fall out of balance, at least some days … the dishes may not get done until right before dinner or maybe not even until after dinner for the whole day, and that’s okay.”
“Lots of guilt and navigationand just trying to do the best we can every day, and some days the best is going to be better than others,” added Chelsea.
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source: people.com
