Dax Shepard is OK with his two daughters being disrespectful under certain circumstances.
During Monday’s episode of his “Armchair Expert“podcast, Shepard — who shares daughters Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10, with his wife, Kristen Bell — explained why he allows his children to talk back to adults.
“[Our friends] are kind of shook with how our daughters will talk back to us or to anybody, because it’s very un-Southern, right?” Shepard explained. “Down there, everyone’s like, ‘Hi, Ms. Kristen. Hi, Mr. Dax.’”
“She’s like, ‘Yeah, your kids will let it rip,’” he added. “‘They seem to have no kind of respect’ is what she was saying. And feeling a little entitled. I said, ‘You’re dead right. They do talk back, and they are not respectful.'”
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Shepard admitted that he understands the concept might seem “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,” he said.
Shepard said he is “willing to deal” with how others perceive him and his kids’ “embarrassing” behavior.
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“I can handle that,” Shepard said. “Because I want this other thing for them as women.”
This isn’t the first time Shepard and Bell have been hit with criticism when it comes to their parenting style.
In 2023, Bell shut down the parenting police after she was criticized for letting her kids drink non-alcoholic beer.
Bell and Shepard discussed the backlash on his podcast, with Shepard noting that people were upset after Bell mentioned it on a talk show.
“They’re allowed to be upset about that because they’re not their kids,” Bell said. “It’s not your kid, you can think whatever you want.”
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Shepard countered with a statistic, saying orange juice has a 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) while non-alcoholic Heineken has 0.0%.
“What’s so cute about you to me is that you are so logical and fact-driven and evidence-based, but if people want to be angry about something, they’re going to be angry about it,” Bell noted. “Of course, they could look up other foods that have different ABVs.
“Of course, they would not choose to listen to the context of the story, which is when they have tried to order NAs like at a restaurant or something it’s because of a very specific connection to you,” Bell added. “Because, first of all, they’re educated on addiction and what substances are and how they affect your body and how scary they are and what they can do to you.”
Shepard noted he gets defensive when people criticize Bell and “insinuate” she’s a bad mom.
“If anyone has a problem that I let my kids drink NA beer sometimes, that’s fine with me,” Bell emphasized. “Because I’m not going to change based on what anybody else says, because this is our family and not your business.”
