Chip and Joanna Gaines are old pros at this parenting thing. The Magnolia power couple will celebrate 17 years of marriage this spring. They have five beautiful children — 15-year-old Drake, 13-year-old Ella, 11-year-old Duke, 10-year-old Emmie, and nearly 2-year-old Crew. As their kiddos continue growing up, it seems like Chip and Joanna are about to enter the most challenging part of their parenting journey.
In a recent Instagram post, Joanna got emotional about raising toddlers and teens. She reflected on a day that was filled with milestones for Drake and Crew. After spending the morning helping her youngest learn how to navigate the stairs, she took her oldest to get his learner's permit.
That's an emotional thing to handle for anyone. Preparing your children for adulthood is what parenting is all about. You can't help but feel those pangs in your heart as they get closer, however. For Chip and Joanna, this is just the beginning.
Chip and Joanna Gaines are embarking on an emotional new chapter in their parenting journey. The couple has five children — 15-year-old Drake, 13-year-old Ella, 11-year-old Duke, 10-year-old Emmie, and nearly 2-year-old Crew. As they're celebrating all the new and exciting things happening in little Crew's world, their oldest is also experiencing a pretty exciting milestone.
Joanna took to Instagram to share that 15-year-old Drake got his learner's permit. You can tell she's emotional about having a driver on her hands.
"Drake waited in line for an hour and finally got called up to get his drivers permit and then my 15 year old little boy drove home with Chip and all of a sudden he is all grown up," she captioned the image of Drake at the DMV.
"It's crazy because this morning I spent most of my time teaching Crew how to go up and down the stairs because he is still so wobbly (his weight is not distributed evenly quite yet)," she continued.
"The gap between these two circumstances with my boys is wide but the feeling on both is somehow the same. So many hard and beautiful moments of beginnings and ends."
Joanna ended the caption with a sweet sentiment on the roller-coaster ride that is parenting. "Parenthood is all about training these babies up to eventually let them go," she concluded. "May we savor all the big and quiet moments along the way. ."
Chip and Joanna reflected on their parenting in a 2018 interview with People. "I grew up in an environment that was pretty much 'back by dark' — [my parents] didn’t generally know what we were doing, and it was all good, clean fun," Chip said of his own childhood.
"So I thought, 'Oh, I’m gonna be a wild parent.'"
"And when I got to be a parent, I don’t know what it is about it … I feel a little bit like a drill sergeant sometimes," he admitted. "Some elements of my personality, as a parent, I’m not real crazy about." Joanna has found the opposite to be true of her parenting.
"It’s funny, I’m a little more laid back than I thought I’d be," she noted. "[There are] certain things that I really care about, but I think the funny part, with Chip, is just the video games, the TV. That’s where he kinda gets a little strict. It’s, ‘You go play outside.'"
Joanna mused it wouldn't be easier the older they got. "I don’t even know what’s gonna happen when the girls start asking to wear makeup, but we keep telling our kids they don’t get a phone until they go off to college," she said.
Thinking about the eventual dating days also has the couple split on how they imagine they'll be.
"I’ve got buddies who are like, 'Oh, can you imagine your girls dating?' I think I’m gonna be a good dad when it comes to that," Chip said.
"I want my kids to date, I want them to go out," he continued. "I just remember great experiences as a kid, you know? Driving your car for the first time, picking up a young lady on a date for the first time. All those were little milestones to some extent."
Joanna thinks dating will be the end of her mellow streak. "That’s where I’m gonna turn on the crazy," she joked.
Joanna and Chip can't know what to expect as their kids reach their teenage years. With good times come struggles. What's important to the couple is that their children are always kind.
"Every day we try to teach our own kids to be kind to themselves, to each other, to neighbors and especially to those who look like they are alone," Joanna told People late last year.
"When I was little, I was new to a school and walked into the cafeteria thinking, ‘Where do I sit?’ This little girl tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Come sit with me.’ That has always stuck with me."
"The fact that she stepped out of her world to show kindness to me is something I’m now teaching my own kids," Joanna continued.
"We try to be conscious of what we hear them say to each other and how they say it. I know the kind words that were spoken to me as a kid that were really impactful — but also the negative words that I had to work through up until my 20s and 30s. We try to teach our kids that their words really matter."
It can be bittersweet and, in ways, nerve-racking to watch your kids become little people of their own. Chip and Joanna's brood certainly seem to be on the right track. Besides, that extra driver in the family could come in handy with the busy year the couple has ahead.
Chip and Joanna's Magnolia network is set to launch this October 4 with "content that inspires, encourages, and helps to build bridges across our communities," according to a press release from the couple. In addition to that, they have their multitude of already running Magnolia businesses. They're also working on a hotel due to open in 2021.
