Raising kids to have respect for money and the desire to earn their own is always difficult. Figuring out an allowance, or chore money, or when they should get their first part-time job — it’s tricky to do it right!
When you’re a celebrity with a ton of money, it probably gets even harder to figure out how to handle the topic of money with your kids.
We all know the stereotype about celebrities’ kids.
The idea that any famous person’s kid is going to grow up with almost unlimited access to money making them spoiled and unaware about the true value of money is pretty prevalent — but it’s not always the case.
There are some notable exceptions.
Like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, who have gone on record as saying that they’re not planning on leaving their two kids any money when they pass away, saying, “When the time is right, we will donate everything we have to charity.”
Elton John has a similar philosophy with his sons, Zachary and Elijah.
“It’s terrible to give kids a silver spoon,” Elton said . “The boys live the most incredible lives, they’re not normal kids, and I’m not pretending they are. But you have to have some semblance of normality, some respect for money, some respect for work.”
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Actor Don Johnson has his own way of dealing with this.
The Knives Out star shares daughter Dakota Johnson, 31, with Melanie Griffith, and has four other kids of various ages — Jesse, 38, Grace, 21, Jasper, 18, and Deacon, 14.
What’s his solution to teaching them they will need to earn their own money?
He made one very important condition for when his kids are allowed access to his money — they have to be in school.
“We have a rule in the family that, you know, if you stay in school, you get to stay on the payroll. So, you go to college, you get to stay on the payroll,” Don explained to Seth Meyers in a recent interview.
Don said that for Dakota, at least, it was definitely not an issue.
“Toward the end of high school, I went to [Dakota] and I said, ‘So, do you want to go visit some colleges?’ Or something like that. And she was like, ‘Oh, no. I’m not going to college,'” he revealed.
“I went, ‘OK, you know what that means? You won’t be on the payroll anymore.'”
Don said that her response was “Don’t you worry about it,” and that three weeks later Dakota was cast in the Oscar Award-winning film The Social Network .
I can’t say that my high school graduation was anywhere near that cool!
You can watch the interview for yourself right here!
It’s really no wonder that Dakota turned out so warm, funny, and sensible with a dad like Don raising her — and everything seemed to work out just fine for her money-wise too!
Fans took to Twitter to share how much they loved this parenting style!
“She made it on her own, after watching interview you can see he is very proud of her,” wrote one fan.
Duh. She only married like the richest guy in the entire Pacific Northwest, Mr Grey…” joked another.
Other fans loved the obvious respect Don had for his daugher!
“I loved how Seth said “your daughter, Dakota” and Don was like “Who’s that? Oh! You mean The Movie Star, Dakota.” Yeap, not anyone’s daughter, granddaughter, stepdaughter or girlfriend. SHE IS DAKOTA JOHNSON. PERIOD,” one fan tweeted .
What do you think?
Do you agree with Don’s version of parenting and keeping children “on the payroll” if they’re in school? Or do you think support should be unconditional? Let us know in the comments!
