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Father-of-three Matthew Broderick has tossed the parenting books aside and is relying on pure instinct when it comes to raising James Wilkie, 7, and his fraternal twin daughters Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, 6 months. “The father thing is basically improv,” the actor tells PARADE.
“I’m just making it up as we go along. I love being a father, but I don’t have any advice about it.”
Case in point? For Matthew there is no problem admitting defeat when reasoning with James. “The other day he was having an argument with me. He was like, ‘Can I just say something?’” he recalls. “I was like, ‘No, I know what you’re gonna say.’” It was at that moment that son quickly turned the tables on his father!
“He said, ‘How is it ever possible to know what somebody’s gonna say before they say it?’” he shares.
“And I said, ‘I guess it isn’t.’ So where could I go from there?”
With his top-notch negotiating skills, James’ future is looking bright. And while Matthew would not be surprised to eventually be joined by his son in the acting industry, he says James is determined to cover his bases.
“He has a whole list of career possibilities already, he wants to be ready in case one doesn’t work out,” he quips. “Astronaut is high on the list and there’s also fireman and maybe being a baseball player.”
While Loretta and Tabitha have yet to put their reasoning abilities to use with their dad, the twins still manage to keep Matthew and mom Sarah Jessica Parker on their toes! Noting that the girls — who are already sleeping through the night — are “basically … very easy to take care of” — a Christmas cold put a glitch in the family’s schedule.
“They would wake up every two hours coughing. It’s really hard because one would hear the other cry and start crying too, so that was absolutely exhausting,” he admits.
“But I won’t lie, we have plenty of help because you can’t really handle them alone.”
Source: PARADE
– Anya
