Kristen Bell may play a so-called Bad Mom, but she is anything but.
The Bad Moms 2 star talked all things motherhood with ET's Leanne Aguilera at the NBC Upfronts in New York City on Monday.
"I do really like reevaluating how much we say to them, 'It's OK,' because it weirdly shuts down their ability to have emotions," Bell, 36, said, elaborating on the fact that she doesn't like to say those two little words to her daughters, 4-year-old Lincoln and 2-year-old Delta. "Because they think, 'It's OK. I shouldn't be embarrassed. I shouldn't be sad.' So now when they get sad or embarrassed, I say, 'That's a stinky feeling, huh? I've felt it, too.' I just let them experience it, and hopefully it'll make healthy adults."
The actress, who said she had a "lovely and lazy" Mother's Day with husband Dax Shepard, also bestowed a bit of wisdom on fellow moms of toddlers.
"The one finger rule was something I really enjoyed," she confessed. "They said, 'Let your toddler experience things.' Like, 'I wanna touch that vase!' Rather than always saying, 'No,' you say, 'Let's do it! Let's do one finger.' So, my toddlers go around and touch everything with one finger."
As for the sequel to the Bad Moms hit, Bell said she is having a blast filming with her original co-stars, Mila Kunis and Kathryn Hahn.
"We're shooting in Atlanta right now, and it's great, because we didn't want to just do the same movie again," she said of the second installment, titled Bad Mom's Christmas. "So rather than deal with the stresses of school, it deals with the stresses of the holidays, but our mothers come in town. So it's this added layer of, not only are we overworked moms, we're also bratty children at the same time."
Bell was ecstatic to learn that a familiar face would be playing her mother on the big screen -- actress and film director Cheryl Hines.
"I was thrilled," she said. "I have worked with Cheryl for 10 years. I was in a movie she directed, and I just adore her. It's a perfect fit, because we already sort of have a relationship."
The actress also spilled details about the second season of her NBC series, The Good Place, which also stars actor Ted Danson. Bell described her character, Eleanor, as going through a sort of "reset" after the stunning twist in the season one finale.
"I don't want to give too much away, but there's a lot of Ted's perspective, because now you know who Ted is," Bell dished. "In the first season, what was interesting is we could never linger on a shot of Ted when no one else was in the room, because you would see that he was -- spoiler alert -- a demon. Now we have full reign to show all of his colors and all of his fits. To see Ted Danson have a true fit, it's really entertaining."
The actress admitted that it was especially tough to keep those spoilers a secret from Shepard.
"When I was watching the first season with Dax, he said, 'You know, I love your show. My one problem is they kind of underutilized Ted a little bit. He's kind of one dimensional,'" Bell told ET. "Because you can't say, 'Well, he's this sort of hidden, mysterious figure.' But, there is a lot more Ted Danson in the second season, as there should be."
For more on the busy actress, watch the video below.
