{"id":9857,"date":"2025-11-14T17:44:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=9857"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:44:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:44:24","slug":"dax-shepard-defends-letting-his-and-kristen-bells-daughters-talk-back-to-them-and-show-no-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2025\/11\/dax-shepard-defends-letting-his-and-kristen-bells-daughters-talk-back-to-them-and-show-no-respect.html","title":{"rendered":"Dax Shepard Defends Letting His and Kristen Bell\u2019s Daughters \u2018Talk Back\u2019 to Them and \u2018Show No Respect\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jaguar PS \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Actor and podcast host Dax Shepard is opening up about a parenting choice that\u2019s raising eyebrows \u2014 and he\u2019s perfectly fine with that.<\/p>\n

On a recent episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast, Shepard explained why he and his wife, Kristen Bell, allow their daughters Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10, to talk back to adults, even when it comes across as disrespectful.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Our friends] are kind of shook with how our daughters will talk back to us or to anybody, because it\u2019s very un-Southern, right?\u201d Shepard said. \u201cDown there, everyone\u2019s like, \u2018Hi, Ms. Kristen. Hi, Mr. Dax.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a friend recently pointed out the girls\u2019 behavior bluntly. \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Yeah, your kids will let it rip,\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201c\u2018They seem to have no kind of respect\u2019 is what she was saying. And feeling a little entitled. I said, \u2018You\u2019re dead right. They do talk back, and they are not respectful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepard admits the whole idea can sound chaotic or poorly disciplined. \u201cCompletely unruly,\u201d he added. But for him, there\u2019s a purpose behind the approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I want you to know what I\u2019m prioritizing, which is when they\u2019re 19 and their boss is a f—— creep, I want them to talk back,\u201d he said. \u201cI want them to be disrespectful. I want them to always advocate for themselves, whether I think they\u2019re right or wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of that long-term goal, he\u2019s not overly bothered by how others view his parenting or how his kids behave in public. \u201cI\u2019m willing to deal with how others perceive me\u201d and the \u201cembarrassing\u201d moments that come with it, he shared. \u201cI can handle that. Because I want this other thing for them as women.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Shepard and Bell have faced criticism over their unconventional approach to raising their daughters. In 2023, Bell pushed back on online reactions after she mentioned letting her kids occasionally drink non-alcoholic beer.<\/p>\n

Bell addressed the backlash directly. \u201cThey\u2019re allowed to be upset about that because they\u2019re not their kids,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not your kid, you can think whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepard jumped in with a fact many people didn\u2019t know: orange juice has a 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), while non-alcoholic Heineken has 0.0%. Bell said the criticism revealed something deeper about how the public responds to parenting choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so cute about you to me is that you are so logical and fact-driven and evidence-based, but if people want to be angry about something, they\u2019re going to be angry about it,\u201d she told Shepard. \u201cOf course, they could look up other foods that have different ABVs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that people ignored the real context: the girls sometimes order NA beer because of a special connection to their dad. \u201cBecause, first of all, they\u2019re educated on addiction and what substances are and how they affect your body and how scary they are and what they can do to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepard said he tends to get defensive when people \u201cinsinuate\u201d Bell is a bad mom. But Bell remains firm in her choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone has a problem that I let my kids drink NA beer sometimes, that\u2019s fine with me,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I\u2019m not going to change based on what anybody else says, because this is our family and not your business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor and podcast host Dax Shepard is opening up about a parenting choice that\u2019s raising eyebrows \u2014 and he\u2019s perfectly fine with that. On a recent episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast, Shepard explained why he and his wife, Kristen Bell, allow their daughters Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10, to talk back to adults, even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":9860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"yoast_head":"\nDax Shepard Defends Letting His and Kristen Bell\u2019s Daughters \u2018Talk Back\u2019 to Them and \u2018Show No Respect\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Actor and podcast host Dax Shepard is opening up about a parenting choice that\u2019s raising eyebrows \u2014 and he\u2019s perfectly fine with that.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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