Rihanna’s recent comments on how she’s raising her sons have stirred up a passionate conversation among parents and not everyone agrees.
In a candid interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Grammy-winning mogul and Fenty Beauty founder opened up about her parenting approach, and how it’s been influenced by her late father, Ronald Fenty, who passed away in May.
“I’ve always dreamed of what type of grandfather he would be to them,” Rihanna said, speaking of her father. “[He] prepared me for having two boys, really. The adventurous side of me, the outside side of me, the daredevil — it’s how I want to raise them. I want them to be outside and in nature. No tablet babies.”
And with that one comment, “No tablet babies”, a divide quickly emerged, and the court of internet opinion weighed-in.
Some parents took offense, criticizing the star’s words as unrealistic or out of touch given her billionaire status.
One person wrote on Reddit, “Rihanna is a billionaire. I don’t like being lectured on everyday parenting by someone whose children probably have an entire toy room in a mansion staffed with people to watch them run barefoot and free probably on a private beach or by the pool, depending on how they feel that day,” adding, “If Kim Kardashian had said this, 90% of you would be calling it ‘parent-shaming.’”
Critics also pointed out how long-standing this type of parental tension has been.
“Parents have been making these judgy comments to each other forever—in the ‘90s it was about too much TV. And it’s especially gross coming from a billionaire with a gaggle of nannies. Keeping kids engaged in activities and/or responding to ‘I’m bored’ 24/7 sounds exhausting when you don’t have hired help to do it for you, and there’s nothing wrong with a reasonable amount of screen time.”
It’s worth noting that despite her massive platform and access to resources, Rihanna has previously spoken about parenting without a nanny, especially in her earliest months as a mom.
On the flip side, many others came to Rihanna’s defense, praising her for being intentional and grounded in her parenting choices.
“Not people mad at Rihanna for being a mindful parent,” one supporter wrote.
Another said, “I didn’t have access to any electronics regularly (we had a family computer that we would play games on sometimes, I grew up in the late 00s and 2010s lol) but otherwise we were outside.”
Whether you agree or disagree, one thing’s clear, Rihanna’s parenting style is sparking important dialogue.
Rihanna, currently pregnant with her third child, is already mom to two young boys, RZA, 3, and Riot, 1, with rapper A$AP Rocky.
Photo Credit: Rihanna Instagram; Freepik.com
