Kristen Bell Explains How She 'Lifted the Shame' Off Potty-Training Her 6-Year-Old Daughter Delta

Kristen Bell isn't going to stand for mom shaming.

"I'm different from the person sitting next to me, and our children have the same differences, right? I just don't buy into this idea that someone is allowed to shame you," the actress, who co-founded her baby products company Hello Bello with husband Dax Shepard two years ago, tells PEOPLE in its latest issue.

Last summer, the Good Place star, 40, shared her daughter Delta, 6, was "getting there" in the potty training process and urged other parents not to feel embarrassed if their children take more time learning how to use the toilet.

"The reality is I have two very different children. One got potty-trained really early," says Bell of her 7-year-old daughter Lincoln. "One got potty-trained much later. Both of them are going to, I assume, graduate high school and be able to function in the world and that will never be an issue."

Rather than spending their time worrying about the potty training process, Bell says she and Shepard, 46, instead want to focus on providing their kids a stable, happy environment.

"You've just got to nurture these little ones until they're out of the house. That's really the only piece of advice. Make sure they're alive until they're out of the house," jokes the star.

Bell says an eye-opening moment came when she and Shepard realized Delta simply has a "smaller bladder" than other children.

"She's tinier and she can't hold her pee throughout the entire night. Once we realized it wasn't necessarily something we were doing wrong and it was just the size of her body, it lifted all of the shame," says Bell. "I thought, 'Oh yeah, this is just how her body's going to grow.' And when she hits that milestone where she has a growth spurt, her bladder will be big enough and she will be fine. She's not going to be wearing diapers in high school!"

In the coming year, Bell and Shepard will be supporting other parents through Hello Bello, which will be choosing one family each week to gift a year's worth of diapers.

In addition, the chosen family can nominate a loved one to also receive the same package. (To nominate a family, visit giving.hellobello.com.)

"When we started Hello Bello, I was really clear with our partners that I don't need another job or another paycheck, and that's a very lucky reality to live in," says Bell. "I want something that's going to fill my soul. I want access to be able to give a lot of stuff away just as gifts, as a way of saying thank you for existing in this hard time called parenting."

In the last year, Bell says she and Shepard have similarly reminded their daughters to remain grateful.

"I was home one day with both the girls and they were fighting. I just said, 'We're sitting in a family triangle.' I wanted them to talk something out and maintain that there was a sense of humanity in the conversation and weren't just screaming at each other," she says. "When dad's here, we do a family square. [We] rewrite the script and say lines out loud. It's been working pretty well."

Shepard and Bell also create a "gratefulness list" with their girls, which the star says has helped keep them grounded.

"The reality is our life is probably easier than a lot of other people's right now," says Bell. "To not recognize that would be such a shame."

For more on how Kristen Bell is giving back and her life at home with Dax Shepard and their two daughters, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.


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