Jerry O'Connell has found a silver lining amid the pandemic.
While speaking with PEOPLE as he partners with Tropicana for their new #TakeAMimoment campaign, the 46-year-old actor says that being able to spend more time with his 11-year-old twin daughters — Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip — has been a blessing despite a more than tumultuous year.
Detailing that he "will never get this time with them ever again," the Stand by Me actor says, "This is it. Very soon, when this is all over and everything's back to normal and kids are back in school all the time, I have a feeling parents are gonna be like, 'Oh, it was kind of nice having my kids at home.' "
"I almost feel like, just because the age that they are, I'm getting a free extra year with them," O'Connell adds.
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However, as the actor admits, his two daughters — whom he shares with wife Rebecca Romijn — haven't exactly changed their own outlooks on time spent with Dad. O'Connell says that Dolly and Charlie are now at that age where they don't want to be associated with him, like most pre-teens.
"Normally, this is the age — I know, because I'm sort of experiencing it — where they want me to drop them off at school two blocks away so their friends don't see me," O'Connell says. "They want to be dropped off at the mall and hang out there for four hours, but they don't want their friends to see me when I pick them up."
For the father of two, being a girl dad — and being the only man in his home (besides his male dogs and male cat) — is an experience unlike any other. "It is interesting being the father of girls. I never had sisters so it is a little different," O'Connell says.
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But, for the actor, the coronavirus pandemic hasn't come without some difficult moments as well, which is where his partnership with Tropicana and their latest campaign comes in.
The beverage company is offering parents a chance to #TakeAMimoment and win one of three mini-fridges that are filled with orange juice and champagne if they comment where they take time for themselves during the pandemic on Tropicana's recent Instagram post.
Comprised of a storage cabinet for the bathroom, a tool cart for the basement or garage and a hamper for the closet, O'Connell loves the tool cart Tropicana has gifted him with to #TakeAMimoment, "because it gets me out of the actual house and I can act like I'm still being of service in my household while working."
"The campaign is celebrating parents because we've been through it … And that's why the Tropicana #TakeAMimoment campaign was so fun," O'Connell adds. "It really put a smile on my face and that's sort of what we need right now — anything that puts a smile on our faces."
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