May 11, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, popular social media influencer and Mother Tiffany Jenkins shares her secret to being a mom… (Hint: It’s not what you post on social media!)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we return to our American stories in our special
Mother's Day celebration. Tiffany Jenkins is a wife and a
mother of three. She's acquired a huge social media following
on her blog Juggling the Jenkins, where her videos received
millions of views. Tiffany wrote a highly successful memoir, High Achiever,
The shocking true story of one addicts double life. Here's
(00:34):
Tiffany Jenkins with the rest of her story and what
it means to be a good mom.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You know what I want to talk about today. I
want to talk about what it means to be a
good mom.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Okay, because listen, if you look on social media and YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Okay, let's take YouTube for example.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
They have tons of videos of families announcing pregnancies to
their loved ones, right, and it's always so and everybody's
so excited and screaming and yelling and they're like, oh
my God, finally, thank you, look at these little booties.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm gonna have a grandkid.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Okay, that was not how my pregnancy announcement went.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
At all.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I had been living in a halfway house for two
months and I started dating this guy and I got.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
An overnight pass. Okay, one weekend I got one overnight pass.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I'm not gonna go into detail about what happened on
the overnight pass, but let's just say that two weeks later,
my body started acting a little weird.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I didn't have a job or a car at the time.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So I scraped together some quarters and walked my butt
down to the dollar Tree and bought a pregnancy test.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And guess what, there was a baby at my belly.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I took a pregnancy test in the bathroom of the
halfway house I was living at with six other women,
and when the second line popped up, I collapsed on
the floor and lost my mind.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was not joyous. I was not excited. I was terrified. Duck.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I had just started gaining trust back with my family.
What was I going to tell them? How was I
going to tell the owner of the halfway house that
I abused the one overnight pass they finally gave me.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What was I going to do?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I couldn't even take care of myself. How was I
going to take care of a child? I was terrified.
I prayed out and I said listen, Technically, physically I
know why this happened, but like spiritually and mentally, I
don't know why this happened. Please help me. What am
I supposed to do? I can't have this baby.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And it was in that moment that I realized suddenly.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I wanted this baby more than I had ever wanted
anything in my entire life. I told my sister. She
was basically like, Okay, you're an idiot. I told the
owner of the halfway house and he could have kicked
me out, but he didn't. He let me live there
and pay rent until I could get out my feet.
(03:09):
So I married the man who got me pregnant five
months after we started dating, and I continued to live
in the halfway house up until near the end of
my pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
My recovery didn't stop just because I was pregnant. I
had to keep working on myself.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I got a job, busted my butt, got a car,
we got an apartment, and my son was born on
my birthday. It was the greatest gift that I've ever received.
When my son was six months old, I found out
I was pregnant with the Closter. She burst into the
world a cology fury of tears and chaos, and I
(03:45):
got postpartum depression two.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Weeks after she was born.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
My bonus daughter came to live with us full time,
and I was battling postpartum depression full on. I went
from being a single, sexy bachelorette living in a half way
house to a married mother of three in the span.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Of two years.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Okay, when it comes to motherhood, I have no clue
what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I don't. I don't.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
In the beginning, when I was suffering from postpartum depression,
I used to go to social media for support and
you know, to try to see what other people were
doing because I had no clue.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And I quickly realized that.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It seemed like everybody else had their life together while
mine was crumbling. Everybody's home looked beautiful, while mine looked
like a hurricane just ripped through the living room. All
the moms were posing with their babies, looking so perfect
and wonderful, while I wanted to leave mine in the
crib and run out the front door and never come back.
(04:52):
I can't explain what that did to me internally as
a person. It made me feel like a failure, made
me feel ashamed and embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It made me feel.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Like maybe I wasn't meant to be a mom. There
was one day, one day especially where I resented my
children just for existing. I didn't want to take care
of them anymore. I didn't want to be a mom anymore.
So I called my doctor crying and I said, is
(05:27):
it bad that I don't want the kids anymore? And
they said, come into the office right now, And they got
me in that day, and the doctor and I worked
on a recovery plane for me. Once I started to
feel better, I started to write, and I wrote for
numerous reasons. I wrote because it was really therapeutic for
me to tell my truth and to get it out
(05:48):
of my head and on the paper. And I chose
to share my writing because everywhere I looked, everything looked
so perfect. So I thought, maybe if there's just one
person out there who's feeling the same.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Way as me, they can read what I've written and
see that they're not alone.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
And that's where Juggling the Jenkins was born. A good
mom is not measured by her ability to keep a
clean home. Some people have more money than other people,
some people have more possessions than other people, but none
of that matters.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Life is going to go by like this.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It's going to be over before you know it, and
I promise you that it is not going to say
anywhere in your obituary her house was really clean.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
We got to stop stressing about the little stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
We got to stop wasting time beating ourselves up over
the little stuff and start spending more time creating memories
with our kids, taking the places, putting our phones down,
chilling with them, going outside when they come up to
you and they say, Mommy, will you play with me?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Instead of saying just a second.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Just get up and play with them, because I can
promise you that neither of you will ever regret that decision.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I have to remind myself of this daily.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I'm the queen of in just a minute, babe, I'm
the queen I do it all day long. So I
have to remind myself that that minute will never come.
And I know that and they know that. So it
is up to me to make the minutes count. Now,
what makes a good mom? I don't think there's one answer.
(07:33):
A good mom is somebody who doesn't spend hours obsessing
about how they aren't good enough.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
A good mom is somebody.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Who recognizes that they have a problem and does whatever
they can to fix it, whether it be addiction, alcoholism, anger, depression,
whatever it is, is recognizing that you have a problem,
realizing that nobody's gonna come save you, and doing whatever
you can to make sure that you are.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
The best possible mom for those kids.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Taking action makes a good mom.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
But it all boils down to love.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Being a shining example to the kids of what love
is about, showing them love and showing others love.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
As often as possible.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's that's what makes a good mom.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And that was Tiffany Jenkins you were listening to. And
what a voice and so straight, straight as an arrow.
And by the way, that line in the beginning, what
was I going to do? I can't take care of myself.
How am I going to take care of this child?
By the way, we're never ready to raise a kid.
I've had so many people say I'm not ready. Well,
(08:51):
you're never ready. And she jumped in and raised this child.
And what great advice. And mom's, good ones and good
fathers do this too, show them love and show others
love as often as possible. I have no idea what
I'm doing, she also said, And you know what, none
of us do Mother's Day stories. Tiffany Jenkins' story here
(09:15):
on our American stories.
And we return to our American stories in our special
Mother's Day celebration. Tiffany Jenkins is a wife and a
mother of three. She's acquired a huge social media following
on her blog Juggling the Jenkins, where her videos received
millions of views. Tiffany wrote a highly successful memoir, High Achiever,
The shocking true story of one addicts double life. Here's
(00:34):
Tiffany Jenkins with the rest of her story and what
it means to be a good mom.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You know what I want to talk about today. I
want to talk about what it means to be a
good mom.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Okay, because listen, if you look on social media and YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Okay, let's take YouTube for example.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
They have tons of videos of families announcing pregnancies to
their loved ones, right, and it's always so and everybody's
so excited and screaming and yelling and they're like, oh
my God, finally, thank you, look at these little booties.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm gonna have a grandkid.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Okay, that was not how my pregnancy announcement went.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
At all.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I had been living in a halfway house for two
months and I started dating this guy and I got.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
An overnight pass. Okay, one weekend I got one overnight pass.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I'm not gonna go into detail about what happened on
the overnight pass, but let's just say that two weeks later,
my body started acting a little weird.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I didn't have a job or a car at the time.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So I scraped together some quarters and walked my butt
down to the dollar Tree and bought a pregnancy test.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
And guess what, there was a baby at my belly.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I took a pregnancy test in the bathroom of the
halfway house I was living at with six other women,
and when the second line popped up, I collapsed on
the floor and lost my mind.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was not joyous. I was not excited. I was terrified. Duck.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I had just started gaining trust back with my family.
What was I going to tell them? How was I
going to tell the owner of the halfway house that
I abused the one overnight pass they finally gave me.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What was I going to do?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I couldn't even take care of myself. How was I
going to take care of a child? I was terrified.
I prayed out and I said listen, Technically, physically I
know why this happened, but like spiritually and mentally, I
don't know why this happened. Please help me. What am
I supposed to do? I can't have this baby.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And it was in that moment that I realized suddenly.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I wanted this baby more than I had ever wanted
anything in my entire life. I told my sister. She
was basically like, Okay, you're an idiot. I told the
owner of the halfway house and he could have kicked
me out, but he didn't. He let me live there
and pay rent until I could get out my feet.
(03:09):
So I married the man who got me pregnant five
months after we started dating, and I continued to live
in the halfway house up until near the end of
my pregnancy.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
My recovery didn't stop just because I was pregnant. I
had to keep working on myself.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I got a job, busted my butt, got a car,
we got an apartment, and my son was born on
my birthday. It was the greatest gift that I've ever received.
When my son was six months old, I found out
I was pregnant with the Closter. She burst into the
world a cology fury of tears and chaos, and I
(03:45):
got postpartum depression two.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Weeks after she was born.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
My bonus daughter came to live with us full time,
and I was battling postpartum depression full on. I went
from being a single, sexy bachelorette living in a half way
house to a married mother of three in the span.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Of two years.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Okay, when it comes to motherhood, I have no clue
what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I don't. I don't.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
In the beginning, when I was suffering from postpartum depression,
I used to go to social media for support and
you know, to try to see what other people were
doing because I had no clue.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And I quickly realized that.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It seemed like everybody else had their life together while
mine was crumbling. Everybody's home looked beautiful, while mine looked
like a hurricane just ripped through the living room. All
the moms were posing with their babies, looking so perfect
and wonderful, while I wanted to leave mine in the
crib and run out the front door and never come back.
(04:52):
I can't explain what that did to me internally as
a person. It made me feel like a failure, made
me feel ashamed and embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It made me feel.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Like maybe I wasn't meant to be a mom. There
was one day, one day especially where I resented my
children just for existing. I didn't want to take care
of them anymore. I didn't want to be a mom anymore.
So I called my doctor crying and I said, is
(05:27):
it bad that I don't want the kids anymore? And
they said, come into the office right now, And they got
me in that day, and the doctor and I worked
on a recovery plane for me. Once I started to
feel better, I started to write, and I wrote for
numerous reasons. I wrote because it was really therapeutic for
me to tell my truth and to get it out
(05:48):
of my head and on the paper. And I chose
to share my writing because everywhere I looked, everything looked
so perfect. So I thought, maybe if there's just one
person out there who's feeling the same.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Way as me, they can read what I've written and
see that they're not alone.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
And that's where Juggling the Jenkins was born. A good
mom is not measured by her ability to keep a
clean home. Some people have more money than other people,
some people have more possessions than other people, but none
of that matters.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Life is going to go by like this.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It's going to be over before you know it, and
I promise you that it is not going to say
anywhere in your obituary her house was really clean.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
We got to stop stressing about the little stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
We got to stop wasting time beating ourselves up over
the little stuff and start spending more time creating memories
with our kids, taking the places, putting our phones down,
chilling with them, going outside when they come up to
you and they say, Mommy, will you play with me?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Instead of saying just a second.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Just get up and play with them, because I can
promise you that neither of you will ever regret that decision.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I have to remind myself of this daily.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I'm the queen of in just a minute, babe, I'm
the queen I do it all day long. So I
have to remind myself that that minute will never come.
And I know that and they know that. So it
is up to me to make the minutes count. Now,
what makes a good mom? I don't think there's one answer.
(07:33):
A good mom is somebody who doesn't spend hours obsessing
about how they aren't good enough.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
A good mom is somebody.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Who recognizes that they have a problem and does whatever
they can to fix it, whether it be addiction, alcoholism, anger, depression,
whatever it is, is recognizing that you have a problem,
realizing that nobody's gonna come save you, and doing whatever
you can to make sure that you are.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
The best possible mom for those kids.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Taking action makes a good mom.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
But it all boils down to love.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Being a shining example to the kids of what love
is about, showing them love and showing others love.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
As often as possible.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
That's that's what makes a good mom.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And that was Tiffany Jenkins you were listening to. And
what a voice and so straight, straight as an arrow.
And by the way, that line in the beginning, what
was I going to do? I can't take care of myself.
How am I going to take care of this child?
By the way, we're never ready to raise a kid.
I've had so many people say I'm not ready. Well,
(08:51):
you're never ready. And she jumped in and raised this child.
And what great advice. And mom's, good ones and good
fathers do this too, show them love and show others
love as often as possible. I have no idea what
I'm doing, she also said, And you know what, none
of us do Mother's Day stories. Tiffany Jenkins' story here
(09:15):
on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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