Brooke Shields talks about being a responsible parent

In a new interview with Redbook, actress Brooke Shields says she’ll never be a mom who turns a blind eye to her kids’ shortcomings. Quite the opposite, Brooke — who has two daughters with husband Chris Henchy; Rowan, 4, and Grier, 16 months tomorrow — feels that she is sometime overbearing but at the end of the day "I don’t think we have a responsibility to anybody else but our kids and ourselves."

I always feel like the odd mom out, because trust me when I tell you I’m on my girls.  And every time I am, I know from the outside it looks like I’m an overbearing, controlling parent.

When it comes to being a playdate referee, Brooke admits that it is sometimes difficult to not overstep the boundaries and to instead exercise restraint.  For Rowan, Brooke’s approach can be equally difficult, for her elder daughter "always has to take the high road."

The worst part about it is when I look at my daughter (Rowan) and she’ll be fighting with some other kid and I have to be careful not to always make it her fault.  But I can only tell her what to do — I can’t tell the other kid. I’ll tell her ‘Hey, you suck it up; you give him the toy, and we’ll talk about it later.’

Source:  People

Thanks to CBB readers Michelle and Mary Beth.

Comments

Yikes! Usually the overbearing ends (or slows way down) once you have another baby. She’d better watch out our her girls are going to rebel one day!

- Lorus on August 17th, 2007

Not sure but to me it looks like redbook photogs airbrushed this picture just like they did with faith hill’s…brooke is just NOT tat skynny..look at how much her jaws notice in there and she looks like a lollipop with tat head bigger than the rest of her body..

- Lola on August 17th, 2007

Brooke is a great example of growing up in the spotlight from young, but turning out ok. Sure she has admitted her life wasn’t all easy, but at least she went to college, wasn’t seen with drugs, problems with the law, etc. She seems like a nice lady, and her daughter rowan is so pretty IMO.

- gabriella on August 17th, 2007

Not all kids of strict parents rebel – I didn’t (and neither did my siblings)and my parent’s parenting style sounds a lot like Brooke’s. I commend Brooke for not being the kind of parent who let’s her kids run the show. Her kids might not be crazy about her parenting style now but when they’re adults I bet they’ll be happy they had a mother who set firm limits, I certainly am.

And it doesn’t sound to me like Brooke is being overbearing. It just sounds like she’s not engaging in the over-permissive parenting that’s becoming more prevalent in recent years.

- Kate on August 18th, 2007

My parents sound a lot like Brooke as well, and while I may have resented the fact that they were picking on me about my “tone” while my peers were trashing their parents’ houses on the weekends, I never rebelled against them because I respected the values and expectations they set for me. Brooke probably sounds over-bearing because of the non-existent parenting that goes on nowadays, such as allowing kids to scream and carry on in public setting. Most parents nowadays seem far more concerned with being their childrens’ best friend than their parent, and thus they fail to set rules and boundaries and end up with entitled little brats as a result. Brooke has mentioned that even Grier, at her age, knows and understands that she has to say thank you if she is given something. I highly doubt most parents do that these days. Amen to Brooke for not choosing to let her kids run the show; they will be heads above the rest because of it.

- Lauren on August 19th, 2007