Kevin Hart is not a stridt dad.
The comedian opened up about his parenting style during an April 29 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, where he explained why he gives his children more freedom than he had growing up.
“I’m not that strict. You know, we’re living in a different time,” Hart said. “So, holding my kids to a time of old and expecting them to do and move the same way that I had to, I don’t think that’s fair.”
Hart is a father of four. He shares Heaven, 21, and Hendrix, 18, with his ex-wife Torrei Hart. He later married Eniko Hart, and they share Kenzo, 8, and Kaori, 5.
“You have to be a little more lenient, a little more loose,” he continued. “So, the curfew is a little later. I will give you as much as you’re asking as long as you’re matching it with responsibility and maturity.”
If his kids start to “sway”, he says is gives him a reason to take things away.
“So, I’m only taking things away because you’re not doing what you said you were gonna do. So you can play the good game all you want, you can play me. You can have me thinking I got a saint as a child because you’re on time, you’re getting your work done, when you say you’re gonna be back, you’re back. When you say you’re going somewhere, that’s where you are. Hey, man, if you’re in between those lines, I don’t know what the f–k is going on in between that, but you’re giving me that visual, I leave you alone.”
He is now bringing those real-life experiences into a new Audible Original, Kids Make Me Angry, set for release June 4 ahead of Father’s Day. The project pulls from more than 20 years of raising kids, from the early days of figuring things out to navigating the teenage years and beyond.
“I had no blueprint for being a dad, so I had to figure it out on my own,” Hart said. “And let me tell you, I wasn’t always perfect, but I showed up 100% of the time. In this Audible Original I am getting real about the last 21 years—the chaos, the lessons, the moments that broke me and built me back up. What’s important is that I showed up, continue to show up, and love my kids with all my HART!”
The audio project is broken into eight stages of fatherhood, covering discipline, pressure, and the shift that comes as kids get older.
