“I always knew I was going to be a boy mom,” Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach told Danielle Turchiano. “I just knew it in my bones.” Many of her fans know quite a bit about the difficult situation she encountered when she had her son, Bennett, who was born with congenital heart defects that required three surgeries. The same week, she also found out that her beloved father was suffering from Pick’s disease, a form of dementia.
While she’s been very vocal about becoming empowered by learning to speak up for Bennett, she also advocates for her other son, Hudson. However, the mother and son discovered a show they could bond over: “Wednesday.” Like the characters in the show, the series has helped him see his differences as abilities rather than disabilities.
Nikki DeLoach Says ‘Wednesday’ Helped Her Son Celebrate His Differences
“We can only watch during the day,” the “Home Turf” star said on the “Made Possible By Pop Culture” podcast. “And my little one cannot watch it. So I would just say to parents, ‘I watch it with my 11, almost 12-year-old, and every child is different.’ My eight-year-old, it is absolutely too scary for him to be able to put his eyes on.”
“It reminds me of probably what mothers felt like watching ‘Awkward’ with their daughters,” she continued. “And for me, this is why: my 11-year-old has a very dark sense of humor.” She explained how, as a neurodivergent youth, “he has always felt different.” However, while they’ve wanted him to celebrate “the fact that he’s different,” those feelings didn’t click until they started watching “Wednesday.”
“In this world that they’re in, they have all of these superpowers and these abilities, and it is celebrated,” she explained. “And it’s like, the more abilities you have, the more different you are, the more you are celebrated.”
A bonus? Seeing Wednesday Addams not care whether she’s liked helped him “break this pattern of needing to be liked and pleasing others,” Nikki added.
The Parenting Win That Makes Nikki DeLoach Proud
Watching a horror series with their children may not be for everybody. However, the “Grand Ole Opry Christmas” star has found something that obviously works for her family. She described asking her son what it was he liked about a specific girl. After hearing his answer, she thought to herself, “I’m doing something right.”
“He goes, ‘Well, she is inclusive,” Nikki explained. “‘She’s kind to everyone. She’s really, really smart. She is helpful in terms of making sure that I don’t do anything that’s gonna get me in trouble.'”
“He said nothing about her looks, her hair, her eyes, her body, like, nothing. It was all character-based,” Nikki said proudly.
You are Definitely raising your Boys right. When a Boy tells his Mom that this Girl he likes is kind to everyone & not focusing on her looks. He’s a Champ. I hope Bennett is doing well. Happy Thanksgiving to You & your Family.