Why Mila Kunis & Ashton Kutcher Refuse To Give Their Kids Christmas Gifts Or Inheritance Money
The couple has strict guidelines for keeping their kids humble.
Instagram Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher's kids may have been born into luxury but the couple is doing everything in their power to ensure their kids aren't spoiled. The couple has strict guidelines for keeping their kids humble. This even means no trust funds and, rather controversially, no Christmas gifts.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher want to donate to charity instead of spoiling their kids.
In 2017, Kunis revealed that she does not give her daughter Wyatt or son Dimitri gifts at Christmas. Later that same year, the "Bad Moms" star clarified that she isn't anti-gifts, she just doesn't want spoiled children.
“I give them presents, I’m not like anti-gifts,” Kunis said. “It’s just that they get so many wonderful gifts from my family and my husband’s family, that he and I literally give them one present.”
She has also mentioned that the couple wants to raise respectful and humble children. As a result, they even made it a tradition to give one gift each year and donate any others to charity.
“We've told our parents, ‘We're begging you — if you have to give her something, pick one gift,” Kunis said. “Otherwise, we'd like to take a charitable donation, to the Children's Hospital or a pet [or] whatever you want.’ That's our new tradition.”
Ashton Kutcher says he doesn't plan on leaving money to his kids.
In a 2018 episode of Dax Shepard’s podcast, “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard,” Kutcher talked about his kids and how he won’t be leaving any money for them in their wills.
"I’m not setting up a trust for them. We’ll end up giving our money away to charity and to various things,” he said, mentioning that he wants his kids to be self-reliant when they grow up. He also takes his kids on camping trips so they can learn to fend for themselves.
"I want them to be really resourceful," he said. "Hopefully they'll be motivated to have what they had, or some version of what they had."
He has the hope that his kids will become independent enough to earn their own money when they are old enough. That being said, Kutcher has mentioned that he is more than willing to help his kids out when they need it.
"If my kids want to start a business, and they have a good business plan, I'll invest in it," he said.
As both Kunis and Kutcher grew up in lower-middle-class families, they are aware of real-life struggles. Kutcher mentioned that he had issues within his family while growing up as his parents got divorced when he was young, so he didn’t have a father figure.
“I don’t have a male figure that I know and look up to that took on this role,” he said. “I’m inventing the role as I go.”
According to experts, Kutcher and Kunis' parenting style has its advantages.
In an article for YourTango, Sherly Ziegler, mother, psychologist, speaker and author of Mommy Burnout, explained what parents can do to raise unspoiled kids. Some of her suggestions mirror the parenting decisions Kunis and Kutcher have made when it comes to gifting their kids, including practicing altruism by donating and not buying the kids too many things — as well as passing this information along to family members.
In fact, "stuff-less" Christmases have become a trend in recent years, with many parents opting to give their kids experiences rather than gifts, which research has found can boost a child's intelligence and create stronger family bonds.
Kunis and Kutcher clearly understand that being a celebrity has its privileges and they just want to do their best for their kids by raising them to be good people.
Sanika Nalgirkar is a News & Entertainment Writer based in Seattle. She has a master's degree in Creative Writing. See more of her writing on her website.