Camila Alves McConaughey on parenting: 'When the kids want to get away with something, they definitely go to their father'
Actor Matthew McConaughey's wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, discusses her new children’s book, living with her "troublemaker" mother-in-law and how she and her husband "balance each other out very well" when it comes to raising their three kids.
Video Transcript
CAMILA ALVES MCCONAUGHEY: We balance each other out very well. I think that I'm more disciplining the kids. And then I try to have fun with it. But when the kids want to get away with something, they definitely go to their father, because they know they can probably get away with it better than with me.
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When I had little ones-- everybody talks about how you don't get enough sleep. And then you hear the stories about really bad teenagers. But the challenges of trying to guide a pre-teenager-- all of a sudden, you're like, whoa. I'm actually more exhausted. I didn't have many people talk to me about it, to prepare me for it.
At the end of the day, I'm like, I want my tequila, and I want to go rest. But this is exhausting, you know? But in a good way. And I think the biggest joy on that is that you do see this transition from being kids, fully depending on you, to young adults, really being independent.
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It's definitely a change, right? It's definitely a transition. But it's been a big blessing. She brings so much joy into the household. She's funny, she's sassy, she's a troublemaker, and the relationship that we're having with her now, and the kids are having, is priceless.
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In our family, we are big in manners, for sure. But I'll tell you this-- table manners, I need help with. They're not crazy, but you know. It is an area that I'm always like, can we please not leave the table? Your grandmother's doing-- your mama eats with us. She takes longer to eat. So it's like, she's not done eating. Stay on the table. Sit down.
We're still working on it-- don't have it fully down yet. I'll be lying if I tell you we do.
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I didn't want it to be preachy, and this book is not about follow one way, or follow a diet, or what's right, what's wrong. It's really about getting kids and parents to talk about-- how can we have a healthy relationship with our foods? And have fun with it. Switching the rows is such a refreshing way to talk about this topic.
My kids do it with me now. If you give kids the information and the knowledge, they'll actually grab onto it and take ownership to actually doing right for themselves and for the ones around them. Hey, you know, what about your good fat? What about your protein? Where is this?
And we have had enough conversations that they then start thinking for themselves, instead of arguing with me about it.
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I get that question a lot. Like, you have two kids. You have work. You have a foundation. My husband's got a really busy life. We all have a really busy life, as a family. As moms, we have really high expectations of what we can do-- as we should. But the reality is that we have to step back and go, all right. I know I can handle a lot, but what is really realistic for me?
I've learned that, one, my recharge is sometimes 10 minutes that I get to go into the room and lock the door. And I just sit there and go, ahh. OK. Let me catch my breath. Sometimes I just sit in the car before coming in the house, and I just breathe. It just gives you that booster, that energy, to continue going.
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