Dylan Dreyer Explains Why She Prefers a ‘Tough Love’ Approach to Raising Her Children

Dylan Dreyer, a meteorologist for TODAY, grew up in a household that featured a lot of ‘tough love’ from her parents. It helped make her the person she is today, crediting her tough attitude and problem-solving skills to how she was raised. And now that Dreyer is a mother, the apple isn’t falling far from the tree.

“I liked having the responsibility of having to try and figure it out myself. And we’re instilling that in our kids because I just do think that it makes them tougher,” said Dreyer in an interview with TODAY Parents. She’s not in the business of playing referee for her children and instead wants them to find a solution. 

“When the boys are fighting over the TV, I’m like, ‘I don’t care that you want to watch ‘PAW Patrol’ and you want to watch ‘Spirit Rangers. You guys need to figure it out,’” she continued – a parenting approach many of us can relate to and one many of us continue to utilize to this day – including the Dreyer family. 

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Apparently, the married couple has a dynamic balance in the household – noting that her husband is more disciplinary than she is. “It’s one of those things where if the boys aren’t behaving, I’m like, ‘Do you want me to call Daddy?’ And they’re like, ‘Please don’t call Daddy,” she explained to TODAY Parents. 

In an effort to diffuse the situation, her husband takes her sons into a room and has a long conversation with them – ‘as if they’re older than they actually are.’ She believes they ‘understand more concepts than we give them credit for’ and praises her parenting style – which seems to have worked out well for her. 

Dylan Dreyer met her husband, Brian Fichera while working the morning shift at the WHDH station in Boston – he worked behind the cameras, while she worked in front of the cameras. The couple became engaged in July 2011 and got married in October 2012 – around the same time Dreyer joined TODAY. 

In December 2016, they welcomed their first child – a son named Calvin Bradley. Their second son, Oliver George, was welcomed in January 2020 and their third son, Russell James, followed in September 2021. The couple now has three children all under the age of five, but are done having children now. 

Dylan Dreyer Takes Her Two Youngest Sons to the Hospital for RSV

A few days ago, Dylan Dreyer announced that her two youngest sons were recently admitted to the hospital for RSV – also known as respiratory syncytial virus. She grew concerned when her children developed a nasty cough and were having difficulty breathing. Dreyer knew she had to act immediately. 

She was especially concerned for the one-year-old, who was born six weeks premature and had sensitive lungs – placing him at an increased risk of complications. While RSV generally results in mild cold-like symptoms, the virus can be very damaging and even fatal to children and infants if not treated properly. 

“(RSV) sucks, it just really sucks, and it’s hard to watch your kid go through it, but they go through it and it just takes a few days and a few nights of lost sleep, but you’ll get through it. Hopefully, they don’t have a bad case… but for the most part, I think most kids can handle it. It’s just hard to watch,” said Dreyer. 

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While children’s hospitals are usually prepared for a spike in RSV cases around December, that spike has come much earlier as hospitals are already working at full capacity. If your child is breathing weirdly or you suspect they might be sick, take them to a doctor immediately to confirm it’s nothing serious, like RSV.