By Michaela Gordoni
Actor Matthew McConaughey believes parenting is extremely important.
In a recent episode of BEAR GRYLLS IS RUNNING WILD, McConaughey told Grylls that the “greatest art” a man can create is being a “good father to a son or a daughter.”
“I think a man’s a prince until he has children, then he becomes a king. I don’t think there’s anything more important that a man can do,” he said.
The father of three says having children is the “beginning” of immortality.
“It’s a challenge once you have children. Sometimes we get down to track where it’s so much about the kids, and we look up and go, ‘Oh, hey. Yeah. How are you doing?’ ” he said, referring to balancing parenting with a marriage.
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“And I got to remind myself, I forgot who told me this long time ago, [but] the best example you can give your kids is how you treat the mother.”
McConaughey always knew he wanted to have children.
“The only thing I ever knew I wanted to be was a father,” he said. “And it’s remained the pinnacle for me. Being a dad was always my only dream…I can’t think of anything being more important.”
He and his wife believe loving their children means sometimes giving them tough love.
“Sometimes loving your kids means giving them just what they want. Other times, it means tough love,” McConaughey said. “Affluent people can give their kids everything they want, but they’re not usually going to get what they need. Loving a child is a lot harder if you really give a damn.”
McConaughey also believes being a father has made him a better actor.
“Having children, I know, has made me a better artist and has made me a better actor, because kids see things for the first time all the time. Their questions are innocent,” he said.
He continued, “I cannot tell them what the show’s really about, it’s not age-appropriate. So I have to go into a parable for them…I had to become a better storyteller to tell my kids about a good guy, a bad guy, and a monster.”
He’s had to do that less now that his children are all teenagers.
“Coming into the teenage years — which I will say are fun because you don’t have to edit the good stories as much — I’ve had to almost be less of a dad in ways, be less judgmental… to sit on it and listen, then they keep sharing,” McConaughey said on THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW. “I’d rather know and not judge right now, than not know and wonder what they hell I’m supposed to judge about. I did not know that there was a bridge between being a parent — which I believe you need to be early — and then if you’re lucky, a friend maybe later on in life but I didn’t know there was a bridge of being a big brother.”
Lessons he takes away from his parents are not saying the words“can’t” and “hate,” and lying. He says he learned to be a prepared, capable and integrous person because of that, and hopefully his children will be the same.
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