Jennifer Nettles: ‘I Don’t Think I’ve Established What It’s Like to Be a Working Mom’

Jennifer Nettles knows all about the struggle of being a working mom: She’s living it every day.

“It has been such a crazy shakeup of my life and identity,” says Nettles of having son Magnus Hamilton, 3 on Sunday.

“I still don’t think I’ve established … what it is to be a working mom. I just continue to juggle and do the best I can, and try to be the best mom I can. [I] love him, and show him what it is to have this life.”

Source: Jennifer Nettles/Instagram

Nettles, 41, recently wrapped filming on the Dolly Parton film Coat of Many Colors, in which she plays young Dolly’s mother, Avie Lee Parton. The working mom went straight into rehearsals for her Playing With Fire tour — all with little Magnus in tow.

“We cosleep,” says Nettles, who calls herself a “super-crunchy, granola, old-school mom.”

According to the country singer, the key to making it all work is to keep things consistent for Magnus, whether they’re at home or on her tour bus.

“I love the mornings, I love when he comes over and wants to snuggle before we get up,” she shares. “I love snuggling on the couch while I have my coffee … All those things can still happen on the bus.”

The actress, who is working on her second solo album and hopes to take on more acting gigs in the future, says it’s all been a learning process.

“I was never one of those girls that felt it was my dream to get married and have a family … That wasn’t me,” says Nettles. “I say it like this: Being a mother is my first priority, but it is not my first calling.”

She adds, “I had a purpose before that: to create art that connects. But at the same time, I am better for having become a mother.”

Coat of Many Colors airs Thursday, Dec. 10, at 9 p.m. on NBC.

For more from Jennifer Nettles, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

— Danielle Anderson

from Celebrity Babies and Kids - Moms & Babies - People.com
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