Being a parent is a tough job. While many of us might have had parents that were good at making it look like they weren’t just making things up as they went along, everybody just does their best. Ryan Reynolds is a parent to three young girls and the Deadpool actor, and perpetual foe of Hugh Jackman, admits that he’s made his share of mistakes while raising them. But he’s discovered that mistakes are an important part of learning, and that’s something he is now trying to teach his daughters.
Ryan Reynolds is the youngest of four boys himself, so the actor likely has found himself in a very unfamiliar place as the parent of three girls with actress Blake Lively, Betty, 2, Ines, 5, and James, 7. Reynolds clearly takes being a parent seriously as he’s taken breaks in his career in order to be there for his kids. Speaking with People, the actor is honest about the fact that sometimes things with his kids get out of control and he’s been known to “snap.” Reynolds explains…
I’m a parent of three girls. They’re wild. I think they have rabies sometimes. I’m like any parent — I’ll have a moment where I’ll just snap. It’s not so much what you do in the moment that’s interesting, it’s what you do afterwards.
Most parents have likely had similar moments, whether they are the parent of one kid or several, boys or girls. Reynolds himself has spoken about having a difficult relationship with his own father, so he likely understands the situation from both sides now which allows for a unique perspective. The recent movie The Adam Project brought forth many thoughts for Reynolds about his father, and probably being a parent as well.
As a parent of two girls myself, I’ve certainly been there. Kids, especially of the age that Reynolds has, aren’t exactly known for their ability to listen and follow directions, and that can certainly wear you down as a parent. You don’t want to snap at your kids, but it happens. Maybe for Reynolds it was one too many times hearing Baby Shark.
Losing your temper with your kids is a mistake as a parent, but Ryan Reynolds understands that, regardless of how old you are, mistakes are how we get better. He focuses on how he responds after he makes that mistake. He has also tried to instill the same lesson in his children, making sure they use those mistakes and learn from them. Reynolds goes on…
I used to tell my kids, ‘Don’t waste your mistakes. When you’re making mistakes it’s easy to be absorbed by shame and this idea that you’ve done something wrong, but you also have to look at it critically and use it as a stepping stone to learning something profound.
This is a good way to look at mistakes. It’s basically impossible to avoid making them, and they come with the territory of new experiences, so the goal should be to gain something from them. If you make a mistake, but never make the same mistake a second time, it’s because the first one taught you something. We should always strive to make new mistakes.
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