Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt Offers Feel-Good Advice

Author, advocate and mother Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt has always believed in the quiet power of connection, especially the kind that comes from animals. Now, with her upcoming picture book, Kat and Brandy (out November 4), she shares a deeply personal story inspired by her own childhood experience with a rescue pony who helped her overcome fear and find courage.

Tenderly illustrated by Petra Brown, Kat and Brandy is a heartwarming tale about a young girl who learns to get back up when life—and fear—knocks her down. Through its pages, Schwarzenegger Pratt invites readers of all ages to rediscover the strength that comes from compassion, perseverance and second chances.

Ahead, we spoke with Schwarzenegger Pratt about the book, balance, family and, of course, beauty.

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The book is really beautiful. Where did the idea come from, and how long was this in your head before you got it from pen to paper?

“Honestly, I feel like it was in my head for a really long time—just having lived it and experienced it. It’s based on my real-life friendship with my pony growing up. I always knew that my connection with her and my experience with her were unique, and that I wanted to write about it in some capacity.

For me, having had three of my own children and really seeing all of the amazing books that I’ve been able to read—and then also just to be able to have experiences with them in the presence of animals—catapulted me into wanting to write a book that shines a light on the healing power of animals, because they’re so calming for children and for adults.

To see that as a mother—to watch the impact animals have on my kids, how they build confidence in themselves and in the presence of animals, and how they work through fears they’ve had—made me want to write a book that not only highlights the healing power of animals but also shines a light on kids’ ability to face their fears, overcome them and tap into their bravery and courage.

It really was based on just my own experience. Then I think putting pen to paper really came from being able to see it happen and unfold in real life again as a mom.”

The illustrations are also beautiful. How did you find the right person to bring all your thoughts to visual life?

“As a mom, I feel like I read so many different children’s books with my kids. We’re big story-time people, so we have a lot of books that we’ve been reading over the years. I came across Petra Brown’s illustrations in a book that my kids were given for one of their birthdays. I was reading it and saw how my kids were captivated by her beautiful artistic ability and how her illustrations have this ability to really take you to a simpler time when reading as a parent.

When I write children’s books, I really try to keep in mind what’s going to be entertaining and fun for the child, but also for the parent or caregiver reading the book to the child.

I also try to keep in mind the conversation starters that will come from reading a book like this. I had such great conversations about Petra Brown’s previous books that I reached out to her when I was doing this book, because I knew it would involve animals and people. She has such a beautiful way of illustrating that, and she does it in a way that really resonates with kids. I feel really lucky to have had her work on this book. For me to be able to work with her was such a joy.”

You have a baby at home. How do you balance everything—school, the kids, home, family—when you do have to do press like this to promote the book?

“Honestly, I will let you know when I figure that out! For me, what a book tour—and just gearing up for a book tour—looks like is very different now than it was before I had kids. I take it day by day and see what will work for my family…because for me, the most important thing in my life is my family, so I prioritize that.

I’m also really blessed to have a great support system with my husband, of course, but also my mom lives right down the street, my sister and my brothers and my dad. I have my family very close, so I can always count on them to help me when needed.

My kids are constantly asking: ‘When are we going to New York? Are we coming to New York? Can we come to New York? Can we come to all these places?’ I’m going to have to figure it out as we get closer. I think this idea that we, as parents or just people, have this ability to balance it all is just so not true.

People like to ask: ‘How do you balance it all?’ Well, I don’t! I don’t balance it at all. There are certain days or certain weeks or seasons in life where you spend much more time in one area of your life than the other, and everything is always tilting in opposite directions.

What’s helped me stop having this idea that I’m going to be able to balance all of the different things going on in life is the understanding that I will not be able to balance it all! There are going to be different seasons and moments in life when I’m going to spend more time with my family, more time with my friends, more time out in nature and more time working. Right now, this season for me is very focused on my family and work. I’m not doing much aside from that, and that’s okay.

I’m trying to give myself grace in taking in these seasons as they come and also being okay with sometimes just saying: ‘I am feeling frustrated that I’m not doing enough in this bucket or I’m not doing enough in that bucket, and how can I incorporate them little by little if it brings me joy.’ But I’m also understanding that this is a busy season for me; I’ll be able to catch my breath in a little bit and we’ll see what unfolds when we get there.”

I really like that. Since we are a beauty magazine, is there anything you like for yourself when it comes to self-care or taking a moment for yourself?

“Where do I begin? Right now, it pretty much comes down to how I start my day. I’m an early riser. I always have been, but definitely earlier since having kids. I try to wake up before my kids, which is between 4:45 and 5:00. I wake up and always ice my face. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up. I’m a big eye-patch user, so I love trying new eye patches. I keep my eye patches in the refrigerator, so they’re very cold when I put them on my face. I feel like that’s my first beauty step to really wake myself up.

Then I wash my face, apply the different serums, follow up with eye patches and finish with a very strong cup of coffee. I try to drink a ton of water. I know that sounds crazy, but I feel like my skin really does respond to being hydrated and also being dehydrated. I’m still breastfeeding, so that also has a really big impact on my skin and the amount of water that I’m putting in my body and also what’s being taken from my body. My youngest is 10 months old, so I’m still in the postpartum phase of having a baby. I’m really just trying to pay attention to what I’m putting in my body and also on my body because my baby’s so close to me still.

In the evening, I love to draw myself a bath. After bathing my three kids, I feel like, again, putting on a face mask and just sitting in bed before I fall asleep is probably the easiest and most convenient thing that I’ve been doing and been able to incorporate.

All of these things hit differently when you have little ones. I would say face masks and anything I can sleep in. These new masks that people are doing, which I feel like are constantly being advertised to me, are the ones you can sleep in and wake up in, and they’re clear. I try to do a lot of hydrating masks, especially when traveling, but I would say icing my face, using eye patches, wearing face masks, and drinking a ton of water are the most important things for me.

During postpartum, I really benefited from doing a lot of lymphatic massages to help heal and move fluid around. Your body is in a healing period and you have to be gentle and patient with it, but it’s also good to move fluid around and activate your lymphatic system. Those massages allowed me to recover in a totally different way this time around, compared to my two previous postpartums. It’s really exciting and also really fascinating how different the experience can be each time.

I think just being patient is key—watching your body change and heal and return to whatever version of a new normal looks like for you. For me, being pregnant and postpartum, I use the same amount of all-over body lotions, salves and oils to allow my body to stretch during pregnancy and then recover postpartum. That’s always, for some reason, very surprising to people that I still do all the body oils and lotions and things like that postpartum. That’s the phase that I’m in currently.”