Erica Durance wants other moms to know that, just like them, she’s struggling to figure out how to be a good parent when there’s so much happening in the world. On January 20, 2026, the longtime Hallmark star, who also played Lois Lane for 10 seasons on “Smallville,” posted an honest and relatable video while dropping her kids off at school.
Fans, including many fellow parents, immediately flooded Durance’s post with gratitude for giving voice to what they’re feeling, too.
Erica Durance Says She Wants Other Struggling Parents to Feel Seen
Wearing her glasses and a pink fleece jacket covered in flowers “because it makes me happy,” Durance spoke directly to her followers while sitting in the driver’s seat of her car.
“It’s kid drop-off time, which usually means that I sit in the parking lot and watch my kids play until it’s almost time to go into school,” Durance, who lives in Canada, explained. “Because I’m a little bit overprotective, perhaps, but also I really just love to watch them get out and play and forget about all the stuff in the world that’s so intense, which sadly, at nine and almost 11 they’re exposed to.”
The “Color My World With Love” actress and her ex-husband, David Palffy, split in 2022 and finalized their divorce in 2024, according to TMZ. The former couple shares two sons, Lochlan and Liam.
Of her morning carpools to the boys’ school, she said, “We always have interesting times in the car where either the kids are fighting, we’re looking at nature, we’re listening to songs, or today we were talking about what it meant to have mental health issues. And pretty heavy topic.”
Hallmark“I’m an intense person anyway,” Durance continued, “and I like to dig in and have deep conversations. So I’m like, ‘Okay, well, this is the stage where I have those kind of conversations with my kids,’ and I’m a little bit terrified. Like, I love that they’re growing and they’re asking questions and we’re getting into a different type of relationship, but I kind of miss the ‘playing in the sand, throwing stuff around and giggling for no reason’ stage. Any other parents out there feel that way?”
Recalling her morning discussion with her boys, Durance sighed, “I don’t know. I just thought, ‘What am I doing? Am I good at this?’ I don’t know. But one thing I did say to them is that some of the things that happen in our world when it comes to mental health issues and sadness and depression and anxiety is because we feel alone with our pain.”
“And so here’s me saying, ‘Hey, I get it. I see you,” Durance told her fans. “And if you’re struggling like I am, sometimes wondering if you’re a good parent and a good person or what have you, and maybe over-analyzing things, I’m right there with you. I get it.”
Fans Thanked Erica Durance For Her Honesty
Noting that her post “wasn’t meant to be a downer,” Durance said she was doing what her sister calls “verbally journaling” and wanted to end on a high note, smiling, “I’m gonna send out a message that you got this, folks. We’re all in it together. We’re all essentially the same. We want to be seen and loved and valued and understood.”
“And shout out to people that aren’t parents as well,” Durance continued. “Like, we all sit back and reflect as to whether we’re doing anything good in the world and putting anything good out there. So, this is me trying to put something good out there. I get it, I hear you, I see you.”
Many fans praised Durance for acknowledging how hard it is to navigate the world amid so many hard headlines, including one who wrote, “Scary world we are raising our kids in. We’ve got this though!!! ❤️ it’s great to tackle these tough questions. It allows for a great future open dialogue with them, no matter the age.”
Another fan shared, Well, as someone with OCD, a disorder that many people understand wrong, I’m taking this opportunity to tell you that the later seasons of Smallville became a safe place in my recovery. So, thank you Erica, your great work as Lois helped somebody struggling a lot with mental health across the ocean in Spain😘”
Erica Durance Says She May Go Back to School to Become an Early Education Teacher
Durance, who last appeared on Hallmark in 2024’s “Private Princess Christmas” and “Happy Holidays From Cherry Lane,” as well as the 2025 Lifetime thriller “Girl Taken,” recently revealed she’s considering a career shift to work in education despite all the challenges.
On the January 6 episode of her “Smallville” co-star Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast, “Inside of You,” Durance said, “I think that I would like to work in early childhood education, so I may end up working in daycares at some point.”
Insisting she was “dead serious” about the possibility, she told Rosenbaum, “I love it. I’m thinking of going back to school so I can hang out with babies all day, play in the sand. I volunteer at my kids’ school a lot, and I do ‘fun lunch,’ which is basically the moms that pass out the lunches during the week. And I have to tell you, like, that’s a super highlight of my life.”
Your an awesome Mom. Made my day. I hear you too. We all wonder what we are leaving behind when we go to sleep forever. It’s our kids, how we have trained them up with good values. Hopefully we also help them financially.