7 Weird Rules Will Smith And Jada Make Their Kids Follow
They're not just regular parents, they're cool parents.
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have carefully adopted a rather unique set of rules that they've taught their children to follow.
The rules are pretty evident in the way that Willow and Jaden Smith carry themselves in the media, with unadulterated freedom of expression.
Both Will and Jada have given their kids the privilege to be comfortable speaking their minds, regardless of the topic.
Of course with their unique approach means not everyone will find them as liberating as Will and Jada do, but rather weird and unconventional.
Here are 7 weird rules Jada Pinkett and Will Smith have for their kids:
1. Will and Jada "don't do punishment."
In an interview with Metro, according to E! Online, Will revealed that everyday life in the Smith household doesn't involve disciplinary action.
"We [Will and Jada] don't do punishment," the actor said in response to when he last punished his son, Jaden Smith.
"The way that we deal with our kids is, they are responsible for their lives. Our concept is, as young as possible, give them as much control over their lives as possible, and the concept of punishment, our experience has been—it has a little too much of a negative quality," Will continued.
Jaden is also a fan of the way his parents' discipline, telling Metro "it works pretty well."
"Other teenagers go to parties and sometimes I be like, 'Why am I here right now?' And most of the time, I just leave right then and there. Some things I don't like to do, that other teenagers do. Everyone thinks that since you make movies, you go to parties, and I like to party, but not normal teenage parties," Jaden explained.
2. The Smiths allow their kids to have creative freedom and artistic expression.
According to The Richest, Will and Jada are very encouraging when it comes to Willow and Jaden's artistic expression.
They allow them to be who they are, and they don't try and squeeze them into a box.
It's evident in the way that Willow and Jaden express themselves in the media, from Willow shaving her head, to Jaden's gender-bending style.
In an interview with BBC 1 Radio, Will explained, "There's a really powerful internal quality as an artist that as parents we encourage. You gotta get out on the edge, you have to try things, you have to be comfortable doing things that people don't agree with, and you have to be comfortable doing things that you could fail."
3. They provide a "circle of safety" where their kids can tell them anything.
The Smiths created their own "circle of safety" that allows for their children to feel comfortable talking about their concerns with no judgment.
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on the 'Tonight Show,' Will further explained the parenting technique he and Jada formed back when their kids were very young.
Will said that the "circle of safety" works as a safe space for open conversation, even about “bad things” the children may have done, and that they are allowed to say anything they want without getting into trouble.
Will also revealed that if he and Jada find out after the end of the “circle of safety” that the children have hidden something and didn’t reveal it during this process, then they will be in hot water!
4. Will and Jada make quality time spent together a priority for the family, regardless of their busy schedules.
Despite both Will and Jada sometimes having hectic schedules due to the fact that they are both successful individuals and are often booked and busy, the parents still make time to spend with their children.
One of the most important things for the Smith family is quality time, which Jada discussed in an interview with The Huffington Post.
“Everybody works so when we come together, we’re focusing on each other,” Jada explained. “We really cherish the time we have together.”
5. They leave egos at the door.
Will told Ellen DeGeneres in an interview, according to E! Online, "Because [Jada and I are] both artists, we decided a long time ago that it's sort of better to flow with what people are naturally more than what our egos need them to be. So we really just try to find the things that they're good at and support those things rather than forcing them."
Will and Jada are definitely not going to stop their children from doing anything just because they're not good at it, instead choosing to support them.
"Jaden loves math, and Willow is more of a reader. So we kinda just support those things," Will added.
6. Will and Jada speak to their children just as they would adults.
Will and Jada trust that there should be a balance in a parent-child relationship for it to really flourish.
Their approach to parenting is to treat their children with the same respect that they would other adults, and that they want their children to treat them with.
“We respect our children the way we would respect any other person,” Will told Haute Living. “Things like cleaning up their room. You would never tell a full-grown adult to clean their room, so we don’t tell our kids to clean their rooms. We tell our kids, ‘You don’t have a room, that’s our room and we are letting you borrow it.’”
7. They allow their children to negotiate with them.
According to The Things, Jada and Will allow their children to negotiate with them if something doesn't go their way.
If Jaden or Willow made a mistake or did something they regret, they are at liberty to negotiate a deal with their parents.
Apparently, the negotiations also work with chores that are assigned to them at home.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.