Actress Julia Fox, who you may know from Uncut Gems (or at the very least, her viral pronunciation of it), is opening up about her life as a parent.
Julia is the mom to a 19-month-old boy named Valentino, who she shares with her ex-husband, Peter Artemiev. In a recent TikTok, Julia shared that her little one simply “doesn’t care for his toys.”
She says he likes to do what his mom does, rather than sit and play with baby toys. “He is actually more interested in what I’m doing,” she said in the video.
If you can get past the initial hilarity of the video (like the part when she's talking about how children look different in paintings now?), then some of her points make sense. Honestly, a lot of parents can relate to having a boat-load of toys for their kids that their kids simply don't touch.
“So I suggest that everyone buy their kid a mini-mop and mini-broom and start teaching them those life skills really young, so when they enter the real world they don’t have to outsource for everything," she says in the video.
She says the idea is two-fold. Not only will they get to do what they actually want to do, they'll also be learning. “And they know how to do things for themselves. I think that’s really important,” she added.
Julia is probably going to catch some grief from parents on the internet. But her point does make a bit of sense. She also acknowledged how expensive parenting can be when a lot of times, it's just money wasted.
Still, her delivery might be a little off. The actress says, “The idea of childhood was invented as a way to get parents to spend a lot of money on s— that’s not really teaching your kid anything.”
She continued, likely digging herself into a pit of what some will view as parental superiority, saying, “The concept of childhood was only invented in the 18th century" and that “prior to that, children were just regarded as little adults,” she claimed. Well, it's perhaps not not true. But maybe also, not great?
Julia does make some fair points in saying that most toys are essentially a waste of money and space. Plus, kids do love to imitate what their parents are doing and it's probably the best way for them to learn anyway.
Still, some toys really are fun, cool, and also educational.
