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Mel Gibson: Renaissance Dad The Gibson Guide to Raising Kids
MEL~"People always ask me to list my greatest accomplishments, expecting me to rattle off a bunch of movies I've made,"
the 43-year-old actor has said. "But what I'm proudest of is my kids."
"I protect my family,"
he has said. "They didn't choose this life, I did. And I know it can't be easy being my kid. Puberty is hard enough;
can you imagine having to go through it under the watchful eye of the paparazzi?"
How does this man that fiercely
protects his children and family deal with kids and raising them?? What are some of his helpful hints and ideas? WELL listen
up cuz he is way cool!!
"We're a team," Gibson admitted. "When the tough stuff comes along -- the
birds and bees and those talks you dread - we handle it together. We're a unified front, which makes it a lot easier because
there's an unequal ratio of kids to grown-ups in this house!" "
Mel Gibson: Renaissance Dad The Gibson
Guide to Raising Kids
1. Don't let the "small stuff" pass you by. "Kids grow up so fast. In a blink
of an eye they're out of diapers and driving your car. Savor every minute. I always balance my work with my time at home,
because I don't want to wake up
one morning and realize I've missed their childhood. I make my family my top priority."
2. Be tough -- and tender. "Sometimes I think it's impossible to balance both. You have to be firm, you have
to lay down the laws; yet you also have to remember what it was like to be that age. I beat myself up all the time-'Was I
too strict? Did I go too far?' Guilt goes hand in hand with being a dad."
3. There are no rules. "Why
didn't someone write the book on being the perfect parent? Why don't they send you to school to study? Because there's no
such thing. You make the rules as you go along. I think about how my parents raised me -- there are things I do differently
and things I try to
emulate. I think about how our friends raise their kids. Then I go with what I feel is right. No
one ever said it was going to be easy."
4. Kids are people, too. "How may times have I started a sentence,
'As long as you live under my roof...' But I try to cut my kids some slack, especially the older ones. Sure, I want to keep
them from making the mistakes I did, but
you can only give them the foundation they need to build on."
5.
Have an open-door policy. "My kids can talk to me about anything, any time. I make sure they know that. I want them to
feel that if they are ever in trouble, their dad is their best friend and the one they can turn to -- no matter how big the
problem is. Sometimes I'm amazed at the stuff they know so young; amazed at what they are curious about. But no topic is ever
off limits. I'm always honest with my kids, and they're honest with me in return."
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