We know Pharrell Williams as a music artist, composer, actor, and much more, but his four children know him as a dad. While on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast, the renowned artist and dad shared that he believes in being a “strict dad,” his parenting approach is to prepare kids for the real world.
The “Piece by Piece” producer also encouraged other parents to let their kids experience a “guided struggle”.
“…When parents say things like, ‘Oh, I never want my kids to struggle the way I did,’ you have to understand that the way your struggle produced you being a hard-working [and] critical thinking individual,” Happy singer said.
He continued, “…When you don’t allow your kids to have guided struggle, they don’t develop the coping skills, they don’t have the courage, they can’t deal with challenges, and it oftentimes doesn’t end so well.”
While sharing his parenting approach on the podcast, Pharrell explained that he’s a “strict dad” because our world is “harsh.” Part of showing his kids how life is in the real world is exposing them to the experiences of the less fortunate. That can look like visiting a homeless shelter or a children’s hospital in real-time.
“During the holidays, we go and feed the homeless and serve the homeless. We go to different children’s hospitals where there are a lot of kids that are challenged, like [with] conditions that aren’t curable—or haven’t been cured yet—and that’s because [they have] to have real coping skills and see what real courage looks like,” he said.
The Frontin’ artist shares his four children with his wife, Helen Lasichanh–they’ve been married since 2013. The longtime couple met in 2000 and were friends for two years before they began dating. Their kids include Rocket, 8, and 7-year-old triplets, whose names they’ve chosen not to share with the public.
