Actor Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith have received both criticism and praise for their modern approach to raising their two children, Jaden and Willow Smith. During a recent interview with The Sun, Smith shared the details of the pair’s modern parenting techniques and even spoke on 14-year-old son Jaden wanting to be emancipated for his next birthday.
“He says, ‘Dad, I want to be emancipated.’ I know if we do this, he can be an emancipated minor, because he really wants to have his own place, like ooh. That’s the backlash. On the other side, if kids just want to have command of their lives, I understand,” Smith explained.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Jaden also hopes to make his mark in both Hollywood and in the world of Hip Hop. He’ll star alongside his dad in the upcoming film After Earth and on the music end he released his own mixtape titled The Cool Cafe: Cool Tape Vol. 1 just last year. The actor/rapper has also appeared on records with Justin Bieber and sister Willow Smith.
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During his conversation with The Sun, Smith also spoke on not punishing his children and shared that he and his wife instead ask that they explain why they believe there actions were right.
“We generally don’t believe in punishment,” said Smith. “From the time Jaden was five or six we would sit him down, and all he has to do is be able to explain why what he did was the right thing for his life. I think it’s a much more difficult question to ask someone — ‘Why was that right?’ — than to try to show them why it was wrong. Nobody wants to be wrong, all parts of yourself fight like crazy to not be wrong. So I’ll say to Jaden, ‘Why was that the right thing to do for your life?’ and if he can explain why kicking his sister in the chest was the right thing to do, we can see to it that he understands that it wasn’t so smart.”
There’s no word yet on if Jaden Smith will release any new music in the near future, but he can be seen in After Earth when it’s released in theaters on May 31.
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(May 14)
UPDATE: Even though Jaden Smith has said he wanted to be emanicapted when he turns 15, the rapper-actor no longer seems interested in the idea of leaving his parents’ house. “I’m not going anywhere,” Jaden says during an interivew with “Ellen,” which also featured Will Smith. “The thing that people don’t get is everything at his house is free.”
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