Jada Pinkett-Smith Raises Children With 'Partnership' Not 'Old School' Parenting
Although Jada Pinkett-Smith is known as an actress and wife to star actor Will Smith, she is also the mother of two budding entertainers who is revealing some of her tips for contemporary parenting.
Smith's children, 14-year-old Jaden and 12-year-old Willow, are coming into their own as recording artists and thespians. However, their mother insists that she refuses to raise them on an "old school" style of parenting.
"I think that old school style of 'I'm your parent and I'm greater than you' doesn't work," the 41-year-old told PEOPLE Magazine recently. "What I establish with my children is a partnership."
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Smith told the publication that she lets her children express their individuality and emphasized how vital communication is in parenting.
"We … communicate with our kids in a way that our message overpowers any other message that they get out there," she said. "We can't control what our kids learn anymore. We have to inform them and have real conversations … and [create] that foundation of them feeling assured in themselves."
While both Will and Jada will celebrate their 15th anniversary next month, she told PEOPLE that it is important for her kids to know that they can come to their parents with any issue.
"I think for our children … they feel like we really care and they come to us and go, 'Mommy, I'm having this problem,'" she said. "And it's like, 'Okay, let's figure this out together.' And it empowers them."
While Pinkett-Smith has taken on a more contemporary style of parenting, her husband Will admitted that he still had somewhat of an "old school" mindset when it came to his children.
"Listen -- look, that's a handful. That Willow, she is, uh… You see, boys are easy," Smith told Access Hollywood last April. "Like, it's really easy with boys. It's like, until you can beat me in a fist fight you've gotta do what I say!"
