Siri Daly Gets Candid About Her “Sleep Divorce” & Embracing Back-To-School Chaos

For Siri Daly, there's nothing like waking up before her kids and enjoying a hot cup of coffee all by her lonesome — made better by a good night's rest thanks to her "sleep divorce" from husband Carson Daly.

"There's a stigma about it, like, you must sleep next to your husband, but it's all about just getting sleep. Who cares? Wherever you can sleep, sleep," Daly, 41, tells Scary Mommy, admitting that her and Carson's arrangement was a joke at first but turned into something quite rejuvenating.

Siri was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Goldie, now 2, when they decided to sleep in separate bedrooms amid the pandemic. On The Today Show in June, Carson, a self-professed snorer, shared that they now have a "sleep separation" and pick and choose which nights they're apart.

"It's not a continuation," she reiterates to us. "We're not always doing that, but there will be nights when I'm like, 'Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna go sleep in the guest bedroom.' Because it's not personal."

Siri adds of Carson's Today shift, "We also have such different schedules because he has to wake up much earlier. So he is in bed early, and sometimes I just want to watch TV in a bed and binge something or read a book and I don't want to keep him awake. And sometimes it's more about self-care, self-preservation."

Self-care is so important, especially heading into a new school year. Siri and Carson share four children — Goldie, London, 8, Etta, 10, and Jackson, 13 — and try their best to attend to each one's age-specific needs. Siri, though, takes on the brunt of the family's morning routine as Carson is either on his morning show in New York until 10 a.m. or hosting The Voice across the country in Los Angeles Sunday to Tuesday. (When he's home, he's a very hands-on dad, Siri says, and is even in the carpool scene!)

"I'm a little bit of a control freak, and I've gotten so used to the morning routines on my own that as much as you think I'd be thrilled when he is home, it almost like messes up my mojo," Siri says. "But, I mean, it can be tricky, especially with different schools, different drop-offs, different times. You really just have to wake up on your A-game because when the alarm goes off, you have that moment, like, can I just sleep? And you're like, no, I can't. It's all on you. You have to get up; you have to do this."

The first thing Siri does is make breakfast for everyone: Some kids want bagels, some want eggs, some want a smoothie, some even ask for tacos. Weird? Sure, but her ultimate goal is to send happy kids to school.

"Stressful mornings lead to stressful days," Siri tells us, "and they will bring that stress to their teachers, you know? So it's good to have that serenity as much as you can, and that really only comes with just embracing the chaos and going with the flow."

As for lunch, Siri once again puts together individual options for each child. And instead of doing the prep the night before, she tends to compile the lunchboxes the morning of to, you know, add to the chaos. She's actually partnering with Juicy Juice to share school lunch ideas and inspire meal creativity.

"It's always a struggle to find unique ideas. I can get into ruts that can get boring," the Siriously Delicious author admits. "And another thing I like to do is ask my kids because they'll give me ideas. I mean, sometimes the ideas will be a no, but they will offer good ideas at times — and they're going to be much more willing to eat something that they're excited about and that they want."

Between meal prep and getting the kids out the door and off to school safe and sound, being a parent this time of year is hectic. No more summer sleep-ins or vacation time. It's back to the grind. But if Siri has any advice, it's to lean on your village.

"It's OK to be excited when they're gone and you have some time to yourself, but it's also totally normal to be distraught," Siri says. "I've been there when you need to sit and cry for a second or have a lunch date with another mom. We're all doing this together, and we've all experienced similar emotions at similar points in the journey."

Siri Daly's lunch idea calendar can be found on Juicy Juice's website.