By Kayla DeKraker
Dax Shepard and his wife, FROZEN star Kristin Bell, have a unique parenting style that centers around letting their children take risks.
“Do whatever you want. I trust you, you know how to get home,” Shepard said of their parenting style during an interview with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. “You know how to flag a stranger. They’ve had really a ton of autonomy, I think, relative to other kids.”
Shepard and Bell share two daughters, Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 10.
Shepard compared allowing children to face risks to the risk we all take when we drive a car.
“What people are not doing, I think, accurately, is assessing what’s at stake,” he said. “You know, if you don’t drive a car, you’re not going anywhere in your life. And if your kids don’t have the sense of competence and autonomy, they’re going to miss out on where the car takes you.”
Haidt added how the biggest risk is actually not taking any risk. “The gut response is, why should you take any risk? Whereas, if you think of that, you realize, ‘Wait, if I don’t train my child how to take risk, I’m crippling this child. I am creating a child that won’t be able to deal with the world.’ And that’s what we’ve done.”
Related: How Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s Family Practices This Biblical Virtue
Shepard chimed in, “If they get in a situation, they’re actually far more vulnerable. So if your goal was to inoculate them from danger, them being as competent as possible is the best solution.”
Haidt explained that “anti-fragility” is important, which teaches children that they “get better when they get challenged.
Shephard and Bell’s “free-range” parenting style allows their children to take risks and learn from their mistakes. PsychCentral defines free-range parenting as “Parents who…often teach their children essential skills but then allow them freedom based on their developmental level.”
This style allows kids to explore the world “without direct supervision” and encourages them to problem-solve on their own.
“Examples of free-range parenting include letting your child take public transit or walk to school without you, often at an age when other parents might typically accompany their kids,” PyschCentral explains.
Obviously, there is balance to everything, and being either too “free-range” or too overprotective could be detrimental to a child’s development. Successful parenting takes people who use wisdom and discernment to find a what’s best for their kids and are willing to adjust where needed.
Read Next: Why Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell Call Parenthood ‘Most Transformative Experience’
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