Ryan Reynolds Reveals One Parenting Move He'd Make That's 'Generally Frowned Upon'

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Ryan Reynolds is a dad to three — with one on the way! — so he knows a thing or two about just trying to survive this wild journey called parenting. He and wife Blake Lively share daughters James, 7, Inez, 5, and Betty, who turns 3 on October 4, so it’s no doubt things can get pretty chaotic at home. He recently joked about a little trick he’d like to use with his kids that’s “generally frowned upon,” and we’ve never felt more seen.

“I know that it’s generally frowned upon, but if I could, I would just duct tape an iPad to their faces,” The Adam Project star said on an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan last week. “Because, really, I get the allure of that. We try to limit the screen time to just very small chunks, but…” If only, right? It’s like the little kid version of wishing you could duct tape a pacifier to their mouths as babies (it’s a fun dream but we would never act on it, obviously).

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The hosts were talking about back to school season, and host Kelly Ripa, who is mom to Michael, 25, Lola, 21, Joaquin, 19, with husband Mark Consuelos, said, “I remember my kids getting really excited about like getting the stuff. Like, I’ve gotta get my pencil case.”

Reynolds responded, “Um, yeah. But that’s just like good old fashioned bribery, right? Like that’s what that is. It’s like, oh we’re going to go back to school. I’m going to ply you with some capitalism, and we’re going to go buy all this sh*t that you don’t need and we’ll never look at again and that’s going to make the transition to school easier.”

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“’But aren’t you excited, guys?’” host Ryan Seacrest joked.

“Exactly. We’re going to nourish our little brains,” Reynolds adds. “Nothing better than that.”

He also joked about everything having a screen. “You buy a box of Cheerios, there’s like a screen on the back.”

Reynolds spent the summer with his kids, which was “quite nice actually.” The Deadpool star stayed home the whole summer and took one-year off from filming (which is officially over now, as he’s working on a new project!).

“It was just nice to be at home with my family,” he said, adding that “it’s pretty wild.”

“The summer times at home are pretty special,” Reynolds continued.

Ripa said, “They’re still sweet. You’re in the golden age.”

“Yeah, they’re still sweet,” he agrees.

Seacrest asks if his youngest throws tantrums, to which Reynolds hilariously responds, “They all have — I have most of the tantrums!”

“But they have a ball,” he adds. “I would say, I easily said this is the best summer that we’ve ever had as a family. It’s just been so nice to be home and kind of be present. The kids do all the same stuff every other kid does. They’re, you know, drawing and coloring, they’re doing their dance parties, they hunt mom and dad in the woods with a crossbow…” making everyone laugh. “You think I’m kidding. It’s at that time of your life. It just reminds me of that, when I was a little kid and everything was just so easy.”

This isn’t the first time he’s talked about his “wild daughter.” At a panel at Cannes in June, he said, “I’m a parent of three girls. They’re wild. I think they have rabies sometimes.”

Parenting isn’t easy, but Reynolds seems like he’s doing a great job of soaking it all up and making it fun, too. And hey, if you didn’t duct tape any electronics to your kids today, you’re doing great!

These celebrity fathers are all proud to be “girl dads.”

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