Will Smith__ and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have a pretty interesting approach when it comes to parenting. In fact, the actor recently confessed in an interview with New York Magazine that his kids are "not his property." Which technically is true, but I can't help but wonder if his super non-strict form of parenting will eventually wind up biting him in the butt. It's one thing to give your kids some freedom and it's another thing to not discipline them at all!
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The interview with both Will and his 14-year-old son, Jayden Smith, was for New York Magazine's new summer issue. The two recently co-starred together in After Earth, a sci-fi film about a father and son left stranded on the earth. So naturally Will felt a need to share about how he feels about his kids entering the entertainment business along with his views on parenting in general. He told the mag:
It is the excruciating parental pain of having to let your kids go, and you just have to hope that the lessons you've instilled will kick in at the right time … we don't own our children, you know. They own themselves.
In terms of how he feels about his kids following in his career footsteps, he really couldn't imagine it any other way. He claims that his children all made the decision themselves to enter the entertainment world and he just tries to support them as much as he can.
I'm not at all surprised by any of this. After all, this isn't the first time Will has openly spoken about his off-hands parenting approach. In fact, he's actually admitted in the past that he and his wife don't punish or even really discipline their son Jayden or 12-year-old daughter Willow at all.
This makes absolutely NO sense to me! Again, I'm all about allowing your kids to express themselves as individuals, but at the same time, a 14-year-old and 12-year-old need to be disciplined. They need guidance and they need to be told what's wrong and what's right. Not to mention, if you're giving them so much freedom now, could you imagine how out of control they could get once they hit their late teens? My question is, where do they actually draw the line?
Image via Getty Images
