David Duchovny and Téa Leoni "Split Up Time" With Kids

Work keeps actors David Duchovny and Téa Leoni, 42, busy, but the husband/wife duo want to make sure that their kids Madelaine West, 9, and Kyd Miller, 6, always have time to spend with each of them. In a new interview in Good Housekeeping, David revealed that the best thing he and his wife can do for their kids is "split up," adding that "each of us will take a kid out to dinner, alone." The reason, the 47-year-old believes, is that "it’s nice for each child to experience our full attention."

Of course, my wife and I also like that they can’t play us off each other that way!

David’s new film The X-Files: I Want to Believe will be released on July 25th.

Source: Good Housekeeping, August 2008 issue; Photo by Flynet.

Do you and your partner do individual activities with your kids?

Comments

David is 47??? wow! I had no clue! He looks amazing! I think they are great, unconventional parents. They have some pretty cool ideas!

- tink1217 on July 23rd, 2008

im a huge fan of splitting. my sil would never split her kids (4 and 6) so we could take one of them for an outing, trip or camping when we can’t take both, and they are missing on so much great things since she never ever takes them anywhere. she wont even sign up for swimming lessons since they cannot attend the one course

- Molly on July 23rd, 2008

I do a Mommy/Daughter date with my little girl, we do lunch or get our nails done. The boys get alone time too, but not as much as they are younger. It’s great to have one on one time.

- ann on July 23rd, 2008

for a minute I thought DDTl split up. Can’t wait for the new xfiles movie.

- Mary on July 23rd, 2008

I thought they were divorcing! I had to re-read this a few times to figure out what it really meant!

- Laura on July 23rd, 2008

Yah, I was a little confused by the post title at first glance. I think the splitting idea is good. We would do things one on one with my parents growing up. Another thing my parents did that my husband and I would like to do as well were individual nights out. The first Friday of the month my parents would go out to dinner with just me. The second Friday belonged to my brother, and the third to my sister. That last Friday of the month was my parents’ night to have just for each other.

- MB on July 23rd, 2008

Mary and Laura, my thoughts exactly! I was like “Oh my god, they split up?!”

That’s cool though. My parents did the same thing with my and my brother, sometimes I’d go out and do errands with my mom and my brother would stay home with my dad and then other times they’d switch, and my dad would take me somewhere and my mom would take my brother. I loved my time with each of my parents by myself.

- Cait on July 23rd, 2008

We split time with our kids, too. And we like to mix it up. I will take the boy (teenager) to the grocery store and shopping with me and we end up having some of our GREATEST conversations in the car while we do errands. My hubby will take the girl (tween) fishing and she loves every minute of it. I think we can all agree how important staying in touch with your kids is these days!

- Queen Diva on July 24th, 2008

I think that’s a very good idea — each kid gets some individual time with Mom and Dad.

At first I thought the item meant David was splitting from his wife, which I found hard to believe. I know David was very hurt by his parents’ divorce, and I don’t think he’d want his kids to ever go through the same thing — besides, his marriage seems pretty solid.

I think David was hurt not just by his parents’ divorce, but by the fact that his father lived so far away — in Paris, if memory serves. He’s clearly a very hands-on, devoted father to his own two kids.

- SAR on July 24th, 2008

YES! When our kids were younger, we had time when each of the four would have a special date with my husband and a special date with me. Since we have four, we also included our oldest daughter, and we all loved it! Our oldest daughter was in college, about 2 hours from home, so she got a weekend to spend with her younger siblings EACH! They still talk about those special times.

- Jasmine on July 26th, 2008