Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are known for their unconventional approach to parenting, but this is another level!
On Tuesday, The Good Place star appeared on the Say Yes! with Carla Hall podcast and chatted about her life and her kids. In particular, she revealed an unusual habit her daughters, Lincoln, 7, and Delta, 5, have picked up: a taste for non-alcoholic beer!
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Before explaining, Bell added a disclaimer:
“I’m going to get a lot of flack for this. And let me start by saying I don’t care. You’re allowed to give me any advice you guys want, any of these listeners. You’re welcome to tell me I’m a terrible parent. I don’t care. I’m a great parent, I think. I’m learning every day.”
LOLz! Way to head off the criticism!
She went on to share that the girls “often” ask to share their dad’s O’Douls, a non-alcoholic beer that has “less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume” according to the company’s website. She explained:
“The reason for this is because when we first had our child and my husband would put her in the BABYBJÖRN and we’d walk around the neighborhood, he’d pop a nonalcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth. It’s a sentimental thing for my girls, right? It makes them feel close to their dad.”
According to the actress, the kids have even ordered the drink out at restaurants. She continued:
“We’re like, ‘I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just essentially a bubbly juice.’ Right? There’s nothing in it. We also talk to them very much about [Dax’s] sobriety and the importance of it and why Daddy can’t drink.”
The family recently celebrated Shepard’s 16th year of sobriety with some very sweet “birthday” cards from their daughters (and a unique gift from Bell, below). But these parents probably didn’t imagine being open about dad’s sobriety would lead to raising regular “beer” drinkers!
Bell went on to say:
“They have 15-minute breaks where they’re allowed to jump around and grab a snack and wiggle it out. And I walk in to check on them at 9:30 and both of them are drinking an O’Doul’s on their Zooms. They’re both just sipping their Doulies. And I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?'”
Certainly television’s Veronica Mars is used to facing some backlash on her personal parenting choices. Her habit of sharing the good, bad and ugly of her family life has made her vulnerable to criticism from the public. But, she added:
“And then I remind myself, ‘You don’t care, Kristen. They can pretend like you’re doing something wrong.’ I would argue that I’m not, because it’s nonalcoholic. If anything, it opens up the discussion for why Daddy has to drink nonalcoholic beer, because some people lose their privileges with drinking. Drinking’s not always safe.”
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That’s an important lesson for any child, especially for those who have addiction in their families. Still, seeing a young kid popping an O’Douls during school hours does seem to blur the lines a bit — it might confuse the boundaries of what’s strictly an “adult drink.” Not to mention the argument about it leading to a taste for the real thing — we mean, isn’t that why candy cigarettes got banned??
Then again, plenty of kids in Europe grow up sipping table wine with actual alcohol in it, so this does feel relatively harmless all things considered.
What do U think, Perezcious readers??? Do you agree with Kristen and Dax? Or do you think kids drinking non-alcoholic beer crosses the line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments (below).
[Image via Kristen Bell/Instagram]
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