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Shawn Johnson East Teaches Daughter ‘God Made Her on Purpose’

Shawn Johnson East Teaches Daughter ‘God Made Her on Purpose’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Olympian Shawn Johnson East recently shared a conversation about value between her and her 4-year-old daughter, Drew, who learned how to find her own God-given “treasures.”

“Okay, so Drew and I were talking about value — which is what we’ve learned at Rock House — how she has infinite value no matter what; she doesn’t have to do anything. She doesn’t have to, like, earn it,” Johnson East shared in a YouTube video Monday. “It can’t be taken away because God made her on purpose, and she was like, ‘What does that mean, ‘on purpose?’”

“I said, ‘God closed his eyes one day and said Drew Hazel East needs to be on this earth, and he handpicked every single thing about her,’” the gold medalist said. “’Everything that’s in her heart, all these things put her in mommy’s belly, and she came to this world’ and I said, ‘You don’t have to do a single thing to have value’ and she, like, thought about it for a second.”

Trying to wrap her head around the concept, the 4-year-old couldn’t understand what to do with her value.

She asked Johnson East, “What do I do?

“I said, ‘That’s the fun part.’ I said, ‘God, when he makes all of us, hides these treasures inside of us and we get to spend all of our life finding them’ and she’s like, well, ‘What are the treasures?’ I was like, ‘That’s the cool part.’”

Johnson East shared some of her treasures. She’s a gymnast, wife and mom and is gifted in mathematics.

“She’s like, ‘What are some of daddy’s and what are some of nana’s?’” Johnson East continued to recall. “And we were just kind of going on the list and she was thinking for a little bit and — I died — she goes, ‘Mommy, I already found one of my treasures.’ I was like, ‘You found a treasure? Are you serious? This is so exciting.’”

“I was like, ‘What is it?’ and she goes, ‘Ice skating.’ Wow,” Johnson East responded. “I was like, ‘Baby, that’s so special. Wow, that’s cool!’”

Movieguide® previously reported on Johnson East and her former NFL player husband, Andrew’s, parenting journey as a mom and dad to three little ones:

“For the most part, we try to be very intentional,” Andrew said, with Shawn adding, “We try to think through everything…but we lose it sometimes.”

When they do “lose it,” what does the couple do?

“Shawn, early on, encouraged us to have conflict in front of the kids,” Andrew explained. “Which does two things: one, it helps us keep each other in check and keep tempers mellow and then two, dealing with conflict is a big part of life, so showing our kids how to do that [is important].”

Last year, Drew asked Johnson East if she could do “big girl gymnastics.” She was in a “little gymnastics” class but was ready for a more “big girl” level.

“I have this weird fear that our accomplishments will set an unhealthy expectation on our children,” Johnson East told E! News last year.

“I have a lot of friends who will say, ‘Oh, is my daughter good? Do I need to be putting her in X, Y and Z?'” the athlete said. “And I always tell them, ‘The greatest chances of success with any kid is for a kid to love what they do. Because a lot of times the people who make the Olympics aren’t the best and most talented. They’ve just loved it enough to work through every hurdle that has come their way.”

In January, Johnson East shared a video of Drew copying her as she performed a wall handstand.

“Doing this stuff with her is fun :),” Johnson East captioned the video.

At the upcoming Summer Paris Olympic Games, the gold winner will serve as a gymnastics correspondent.

The Hollywood Reporter said on Monday, “The sports platform has hired seven-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix, who will provide coverage and analysis of track and field events; three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, who will cover beach volleyball; five-time gold medalist Missy Franklin and silver medalist Katie Hoff, who will provide coverage of swimming events; and gold medalist Shawn Johnson East, who will cover gymnastics events for Yahoo.”


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