“If he’s crying or he’s frustrated or he is throwing a tantrum, I get down on his level so I’m not towering over him. And I just open my arms and I’m like, ‘Come here, let’s take a deep breath. Let’s talk about this,’” she told Us. “Taking deep breaths, I’ve been instilling in him since before he could talk. I’m like, ‘In through your nose and out through your mouth.’  We’ll do them together. And he’s actually started doing them himself, which makes me so happy because if we can come back to our breath and calm ourselves down, a lot of things open up for us.”

Nap time also usually brings a tantrum on and, for that, she explained that her go-to cure is cosleeping.

“The tantrums usually happen around nap time, ‘cause he just wants to keep playing. So, Dana or myself, we have to nap,” the Arizona native noted. “We say, ‘So you can be big and strong. So let’s lay down,’ and he’s he’ll actually think about it and go, ‘OK, Mommy.’ Other times, it’s not so easy. It just depends on the day.”

The Grammy nominee opened up to Us about how she has coped with her own mental health while being in quarantine with her husband and toddler.

“My mental health has definitely become a priority. It was the last couple of years, but last year really, really cemented it. It was a tough year for everybody,” Sparks told Us. “I really started thinking about myself, and ‘Why do I tick this way?’ and ‘Why do I feel like this?’ Being stuck at home, you start doing the same things and you kind of start to notice like, ‘Wait a minute, why do I do that?’”

To help with her mental health, Sparks partnered with Genomind’s Mental Health Map.

“It’s amazing because it basically gives you a peak under the hood at what makes you tick,” she said. “It’s been really cool because you learn through these seven core genetic capabilities, which are stress, memory, focus, eating behaviors, substance abuse, sleep patterns, all these different things.”

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Mandie DeCamp