What to Know
Dax Shepard and wife Kristen Bell are known for raising a little controversy when they talk about the ways they parent daughters Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10. According to the proud dad, a friend of their family’s recently called his parenting methods into question, noticing that the girls could be “disrespectful” to their parents at times.
On a recent episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Dax admitted that this is all by design — he’s actually raising them to be “entitled” on purpose.
Dax told a story about something that happened during a family trip to Nashville.
On the podcast, Dax said that a friend of his was “kind of shook” to hear the way Delta and Lincoln speak to their parents — especially as someone who is from the south, where it’s common for parents to raise kids to be especially respectful of adults.
“She’s like, ‘Yeah, your kids will let it rip.’ They seem to have no kind of respect, is what she was saying. And feeling a little entitled,” Dax said. “And I said, ‘You’re dead right.’”
He wants his daughters to learn to speak up for themselves in the future.
Dax was willing to admit that he does see the “value” in teaching kids to have manners, but he has a bigger priority while raising his daughters.
“‘They do talk back and they are not respectful,” he said. “I can understand where that seems completely unruly, but I want you to know what I’m prioritizing, which is when they’re 19 and their boss is a f—— creep, I want them to talk back. I want them to be disrespectful. I want them to always advocate for themselves, whether I think they’re right or wrong.”
Dax is willing to face “embarrassment” as a dad for the greater good.
In the meantime, Dax acknowledged that people are going to call his parenting into question similarly to the way that his friend in Nashville did, but that’s something that he’s made peace with, knowing that it will pay off for Lincoln and Delta as adults.
“I can handle that because I want this other thing for them as women,” he said.
It makes total sense that Dax would want to raise strong daughters who don’t take any bull from anyone, but is this really the right way to do that? If it works for their family, it works… but it seems like he truly is going to have to deal with a lot of side eye in the meantime.
