Jaden and Willow Smith, two of Will Smith’s three kids (one is from a previous marriage), have a reputation for being deeply philosophical in their interviews, and are known to talk about quantum physics and energy in the air.
It’s time to admit Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith had the whole parenting thing down to a science.
Not too long ago, many questioned the Smith’s child-rearing practices, especially as we watched both Willow Jaden repeatedly go against the grain on a number of occasions. From waxing poetic about everything from school (they said it was overrated) to meditation to science, and beyond. Their maturity and independent spirit made them a target for the mainstream. But it’s clear from the latest episode of Red Table Talk that Willow and Jaden turned out just fine, thanks to their parents’ unconventional style.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing, though, as Pinkett Smith’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, said during the show, she didn’t always agree with her daughter’s parenting practices.
“I felt like you guys had too much say over your own lives,” Banfield-Norris told her grandchildren, explaining that she was used to the “old school” way to raise children. “Their idea of parenting is so different from what I was used to. I was like, ‘These people are crazy.’”
While Pinkett Smith joked the world also thought they were crazy (and admitted she and Will would “go to war” over how to raise Jaden), she said her ultimate goal was to prepare her children for the world — not treat them like they were her property.
“I don’t want to make decisions for you,” Pinkett Smith said. “I want to prepare you as quick as possible and start to give you as much power over your life as quickly as I can.”
