These Hollywood Parents Raise Their Kids With Strict Rules
These Hollywood Parents Raise Their Kids With Strict Rules
strict-parents
Some celebrities lavish their children with designer clothing and trips around the world, while others hesitate to pass down their privilege. And for good reason — while kids from wealthy families tend to fare better academically, they also run the risk of becoming entitled and unappreciative of their fortune in life.
It’s why parents like Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher dress their children in hand-me-down clothing, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos limited their children’s cell phone use when they were younger, and Viola Davis and Julius Tennon hold their tween daughter “accountable for everything.”
After all, celebrity parents deal with the same types of parenting challenges as the rest of us, from kids who refuse to go to bed on time (Kim Kardashian’s complaint), technology overload (Jennifer Lopez’s twins have to earn their devices with good behavior), and the occasional poor manner (Victoria and David Beckham have always enforced saying, “Please” and “Thank you” at home).
Keep in mind that there’s a difference between parenting with rules — and ruling with an iron fist. According to the nonprofit organization The Child Mind Institute, kids need to learn boundaries in order to thrive socially and emotionally and the enforcement of rules fosters healthy development. Plus, the more children learn from their mistakes in a safe home environment, the better they’ll navigate roadblocks out in the real world. And if that means confiscating a cell phone or two, it’s worth it!
A version of this article was originally published on Nov 2021.
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria recently revealed she’s a strict mama. “I’m the discipline. I’m very tough. I’m a disciplinarian. I’m very loving and very supportive,” Longoria said. “We have structure, bedtime’s, bedtime, you know, no candy is no candy. If there’s candy, it’s one. You know, if he wants to play a game on the iPad, there’s a time limit.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar & Freddie PrinzeJr.
“We are strict as hell,” Freddie Prinze Jr. told Us Weekly in December 2021. “Look, I don’t believe in whooping kids. I’ve never whooped mine. My mom whooped me. They were, like, preventative whooping, so I know how to be strict.”
Prinze, who shares daughter Charlotte, 10, and son Rocco, 9, with Sarah Michelle Gellar, also told the outlet that his wife “knows how to be strict” too. As a result, their kids know they can’t break rules easily.
“Friendships come and go. I tell my kids all the time that family is forever,” he said.
Ashton Kutcher & MilaKunis
In addition to taking their kids Wyatt and Dimitri camping so they learn how to be “really resourceful,” Mila Kunis once noted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that she and husband Ashton Kutcher avoid raising “entitled” kids by limiting their material posessions and dressing them in hand-me-down clothing.
Viola Davis & JuliusTennon
Actress Viola Davis and producer Julius Tennon share daughter Genesis whom they try not to spoil. “I never had a house; Genesis has a house,” Davis told People in 2020. “I do shop at Target, I buy all her clothes at Target or H&M. And maybe, if I’m feeling really good, Nordstrom Rack.” Davis also said that both she and Tennon try to hold their daughter “accountable for everything.”
Candace Cameron Bure
“They would also describe me as strict,” Bure told LA Parent in 2016 of her three children, Natasha, Maksim and Lev whom she shares with husband Val Bure. “We set firm boundaries, but there is always love and grace. I’m the mom that needs to meet the parents before my kids can go to a new friend’s house. I want to know who they’re with, where they’re going. Even now that they’re driving, I want them to text me when they arrive and when they’re heading home. We work hard to keep our communication open and talk through any situation. I am always willing to listen. But, I don’t always say yes.”
Gabrielle Union & DwyaneWade
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade share daughter Kaavia James and are co-parents to Wade’s three children from previous relationships: Zaya, Xavier, and Zaire. Wade is also the guardian of his nephew, Dahveon Morris. In 2020 on The Drew Barrymore Show, Union admitted that she’s a bit of a helicopter parent. “I am the psychotic, overbearing, ‘What are you doing now?’ kind of parent,” she told Barrymore. However, she added, she is “learning to kind of let go.”
Victoria & DavidBeckham
In 2015, Victoria Beckham told Good Morning America that she and her husband David Beckham insisted that their sons Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and daughter Harper are polite. “We’ve always been strict with the children,” she said. “They have great manners. They always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ and I think that’s very important.” We would agree!
Madonna
Madonna’s eldest daughter Lourdes recently shared that her mom wasn’t easygoing — at least, in her opinion. “We don’t get any handouts in my family,” she told Interview magazine. “…But I think my mom saw all these other kids of famous people, and she was like, ‘My kids are not going to be like this.’ Also, I feel like if your parents pay for things, then it gives them leverage over you. My mom is such a control freak, and she has controlled me my whole life. I needed to be completely independent from her as soon as I graduated high school.”
Julie Bowen
The Modern Family star once told Working Mother that she prioritizes structure over making her children happy. “That being your kids’ best friend is not always the best parenting choice,” she told the outlet in 2013 when asked what her Modern Family character Claire Dunphy has taught her about motherhood. “It’s not about everybody being happy all the time. It’s about setting limits. In my house that makes my kids very unhappy, like tantrums-on-the-ground-twice-a-day unhappy. But the limits are set.”
Kelly Ripa & MarkConsuelos
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, who are proud empty nesters, share daughter Lola and sons Joaquin and Michael, and when the kids were smaller, they lived by a tight set of rules. In 2014, Ripa shared with Wendy Williams that she had confiscated Lola’s phone and computer adding, “I don’t think she likes me, but I don’t care. … I’m like, “I’m not your friend! I’m your mom.”
The Ripa-Consuelos kids also adhered to a “no phones policy” at the dinner table and Ripa has admitted to snooping and reading their text messages.
Jessica Alba
In 2020, Jessica Alba, who shares daughters Honor and Haven and son Hayes with husband Cash Warren, told Parenting that she is strict. “I think it’s because I was kind of a naughty kid myself,” she told the outlet. “I’d push my parents’ buttons and test them to see how much I could get away with.”
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West share four children (daughters North and Chicago and sons Saint and Psalm) and the reality star admits she has her hands full. In August, Kardashian told Parents Magazine that she is working on “being stricter and saying no,” especially when it comes to bedtime. “…It’s rare that I get all of them down as planned, but now that North is older, she’s become my little sidekick and helps me with the younger ones. It’s actually so cute,” she said. Parenting is indeed a work in progress!
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez’s twins Emme and Max (whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony) have to earn their weekend technology privileges, the singer told E! in 2015. “…They don’t get to use their iPads during the week,” she said. “Or play video games or anything because it’s school time. And they have to be good in school and then they get Sunday Funday. It’s something I made up so they could work towards it and behave!”
Some celebrities lavish their children with designer clothing and trips around the world, while others hesitate to pass down their privilege. And for good reason — while kids from wealthy families tend to fare better academically, they also run the risk of becoming entitled and unappreciative of their fortune in life. It’s why parents like […]