Jack Black on His Crafty, Conflicted Son
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Things are looking up for 3-year-old Samuel Jason Black, son of actor Jack Black, now that new baby Thomas David, 13 months, is “starting to get a personality.” Noting that “the first year is kind of a gelatinous period,” Jack said during a recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman that Sam is warming to the role of big brother. “[At first], Sam was like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want this thing around me,’” Jack recalled. “But now he’s starting to say, ‘Okay, there’s something I can work with here. I can maybe play with this guy.’”
Although Jack and wife Tanya Haden Black consider the thaw in sibling relations ”promising,” there is always room for improvement! Adds Jack,
“[Sam] still once in a while gets really mad that there’s another baby there, and he will punch him in the face. And I say, ‘No, no, he’s a baby. You don’t punch.’ So he’s learned to get crafty with it, where he’ll come in for a loving embrace but then you’ll see it, he’ll [squeeze Tommy too hard on purpose]. I’ll say, ‘No no no, don’t squeeze.’ But I feel that there’s going to be a good bond there, eventually. That’s my hope.”
Jack is approaching his 40th birthday later this summer, and he said he’s been thinking long-term. “I figure I’ve got, like, 30 really good years left, and then five or 10 not very good years after that, and I just want to get it all in,” he explained. “I want to raise my boys and lead them into manhood, to be responsible, kind gentleman.” To that end, when asked by host David Letterman whether he’ll someday make Sam and Tommy hold summer jobs, Jack joked,
“Yeah, I’m going to encourage them to work the land, work with the soils. Primarily, I wanna have a good relationship with my boys and have things in common with them. So I hope that they’re into the arts…and the Lakers. But, you know, I can’t force them to do anything. We’ll see what happens.”
Source: Late Show with David Letterman
– Missy
