Serena Williams offers up parenting advice to Meghan Markle

With Meghan Markle (aka the Duchess of Sussex) due to give birth any day now, it’s no surprise her longtime pal Serena Williams, a powerful mother herself, has been fielding questions about the royal mom-to-be.

When E! News asked the tennis legend for tips for Markle and other new moms, she offered a key piece of advice: “Accept mistakes and don’t expect to be perfect,” Serena said. “We put so much pressure on ourselves.”

Are you nodding? We’re nodding.

Sure, it sounds simple, but how many of us heard the very same advice when we were pregnant, only to think we’d be the exception? (Raises hand.) I was healthy and fit before I got pregnant, so I thought my delivery would be a breeze. (I can hear you laughing now.) Sure enough, it was actually a nightmare.

It sounds like Serena, who had a pretty frightening postpartum experience of her own, can sympathize. “I had all of those high expectations, and then I had what I was gonna do and [how] I was gonna recover and I was gonna be great—[but] this is a time where everything is not going to go as planned,” she said.

The good thing about getting the bad out of the way up front? You learn that, “You just got to go with the flow,” as Serena puts it. How our bodies respond to pregnancy and childbirth is often beyond our control. So are our kids.

“My friend is pregnant, and she was like, ‘My kid’s gonna do this,’ [and] I just looked at her like, ‘No, she’s not,’” Serena said.

Amen! We can all do our best to love and guide our children, but at the end of the day, they’re still tiny people with their own personalities.

Learning to let go is such a crucial part of parenting—and yet so hard to do. I hope Meghan emulates Serena’s zen approach, for her own sake!

I don’t think Serena’s too worried, however. “She'll be the best mom, for sure," she said about Meghan, who royal experts believe is due to give birth in a few weeks. The Duchess of Sussex is expecting her first child with her husband, Prince Harry (in case you’ve been living on the moon).

Serena threw a baby shower for her in New York City in February, and we fully expect plenty of playdates between Serena’s 18-month-old daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr. and the soon-to-arrive newest member of the royal family. One request: Pics please!