Jada Pinkett Smith Opened Up About Her Son Saying The Words No Mom Wants To Hear

Celebrity couple Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith have presumably tried to do what they believe is best for their children. But it’s fair to say that their parenting techniques have sometimes appeared quirky to the outside world; even Jada’s mother admitted that at one point she thought their approach was “crazy.” Despite this, though, the A-lister mom was taken aback when her son, Jaden, came to her with a heartbreaking request.

Jada opened up about the particular exchange with Jaden in an episode of her online chat show Red Table Talk. During the clip, the mom discusses a conversation that she had with her actor son when he was just 15. And she admits that she was “devastated” by what he had to say.

But despite her heartbreak, Jada did her best to understand Jaden’s point of view. And in the end, she said that she came around to his way of thinking – even though it wasn’t what she’d wanted. So using her motherly instincts, Jada proved that if you love someone, you truly should let them go.

Judging from their interviews and social media channels, the Smith family share quite a special bond. And while many kids might go out of their way to avoid public appearances with their parents, Jaden and Willow seem to enjoy the company of their mom and dad. And as they’ve grown older, they’ve kept Jada and Will close.

For example, by January 2019 Jada and Willow had racked up over 275 million views on their Facebook Watch web series Red Table Talk. Thanks to their efforts on the chat show, the mother and daughter have even earned a daytime Emmy nomination. Furthermore, no subject is off-limits on the series – revealing Jada and Willow’s sense of ease with each another.

Elsewhere, when Jaden performed to a heaving crowd at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2019, he kept things in the family by inviting his dad Will and sister Willow on stage with him. The former’s performance became one of the standout sets of the event, and to top it off, he had shared the special moment with his family.

It’s fair to say that Jada and Will have been extremely supportive of their children throughout their lives. They have encouraged their offspring to pursue their own passions – rather than forcing their own interests on them.

Now Jada and Will aren’t strangers to the parenting game. After all, since tying the knot in 1997, they’ve welcomed two kids together. The couple had their first child, Jaden, back in 1998. And two years later, they added to their brood with a daughter: Willow. Plus, Will has an older son named Trey – whom he shares with his first wife Sheree Zampino.

Over the years, meanwhile, Will and Jada have become infamous for their somewhat non-traditional approach to parenting their three kids. The celebrity couple have been open about the relaxed view on discipline in their household, for example. And in 2013 Will explained to Metro, “We don’t do punishment.”

Will went on, “The way that we deal with our kids is [that] they are responsible for their lives… Our concept is as young as possible, give them as much control over their lives as possible. And the concept of punishment – our experience has been [that] it has a little too much of a negative quality.”

To add to that, Will and Jada have apparently encouraged their children to be as open as they can with them. For instance, the couple created a so-called “circle of safety” when the kids were very young. The thinking behind this was supposedly to allow the family to have honest conversations with one another without fear of judgment. But as we’ll find out, this didn’t excuse the kids entirely from punishment.

You see, during a 2016 appearance on The Tonight Show, Will told host Jimmy Fallon, “[In the circle of safety, the kids are] allowed to tell us everything that they did, and they can’t get in trouble… The rule is, if we find out after the circle of safety that there was something you didn’t say, there was hell to pay.”

Yes, the aforementioned concept certainly sounds good in theory. But as Will and Jada’s kids grew older, there were some details that their parents began wishing they wouldn’t share. For example, Will admitted that when Willow became a teenager, he struggled to listen to some of her admissions

On The Tonight Show, Will explained, “As a father, you do not want a circle of safety with a 15-year-old daughter. You do not… I’m like, ‘Baby, you need to start lying!’” In fact, Will joked that he had sometimes found this time with Willow so difficult that he’d had to pass her along to Jada. He confessed, “[I’m like,] ‘Nope! You and your mom can talk about that one!’”

That said, Will can hardly be surprised at his children’s openness, given that he and Jada have always encouraged self-expression. And that goes for Willow and Jaden’s unique fashion senses, too. Yet the doting parents have stood by their kids’ clothing choices – even when they may have raised some eyebrows.

For instance, Jaden has been known to blur conventional gender lines by wearing garments which have traditionally been donned by women. And it seems that Will and Jada couldn’t be prouder of their son’s radical approach to fashion. In 2016 Will told BBC Radio 1Xtra, “Jaden is 100 percent fearless.”

Will added, “[Jaden] will do anything. As a parent, it’s scary; it’s really terrifying. But he is completely willing to live and die by his artistic decisions, and he doesn’t concern himself with what people think.” Furthermore, it appears that Will and Jada fully support their son’s freedom to express himself, and they believe that this helps him grow as an individual.

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