Tia Mowry-Hardrict Explains (While Pumping on Set!) Why She Waited Until Her Mid-30s to Have Kids

Tia Mowry-Hardrict works hard to balance her work and family life.

While pumping breast milk behind-the-scenes of her new show Family Reunion, the star candidly opens up in a chat with NetflixFamily (shared exclusively with PEOPLE) about what it’s like to be a mother while on set.

“I don’t feel like men get asked that question about how do you balance life,” she says on Netflix Family’s Pump and Dump. “I feel like society just puts these standards on women that we have to do everything. We have to cook, we have to clean, we have to be a mom.”

As Mowry prepares to play Cocoa — a newly relocated, modern mother — on the Netflix Family show Family Reunion, the 40-year-old explained that in real life, her husband Cory Hardrict helps her out in caring for the kids.

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“He’s washing dishes. He’s giving my daughter and my children a bath and I’m also taking out the trash,” she says.

“When Cory watches my kids, I’m not like ‘He’s babysitting,” she adds, making air quotes. “He’s just taking care of his children, doing his job as a parent.”

The mother of 14-month-old Cairo Tiahna and 8-year-old Cree Taylor shares her parenting experiences openly on social media. In October, she shared an image of herself breastfeeding her daughter.

“This is Love,” she captioned the image.

In the video, the actress also dished about working on a television show that tackles issues surrounding race and identity in a family setting.

“Being a black woman and a black mom is teaching my children about their culture and about their history,” she explains. “Teaching them about racism because it is something that still exists and I think if I weren’t open and honest with them about those topics then I don’t think I’m being the best mom I could be.”

“Sometimes we don’t want to have these conversations because it makes people feel uncomfortable but that’s what I love about this character,” she adds. “She loves her children just how I love my children and she just wants them to be educated in the best way possible.”

For Mowry, becoming a mother in her mid-30s happened because now, women “have dreams, we have aspirations, we have goals.”

“When I was younger, I was focusing on my career with Sister, Sister, and I was in college and I was focused on that. Once I had all my ducks in a row — not in a complete line, at least the ducks were there — and then I was like, ‘Okay! I can do this,” she laughs.

“Of course, because I was older, my ankles swelled off, I couldn’t even fit my shoes anymore,” she adds. “I had to buy a whole new set of shoes. It was crazy.”

Mowry stars alongside Loretta Devine in the Netflix Family show Family Reunion, set to hit the streaming platform on July 10.

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