Reese Witherspoon, who is the global ambassador for the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence campaign, talked to her children – Ava and Deacon – about domestic abuse and used Rihanna’s relationship with Chris Brown to explain it to them. Reese admits that the idea was hard for them to understand, but they are slowly getting to grips with it and talk about it as a family:
“My daughter knows what happened (with Rihanna and Brown). My son knows as well. We talk about what is abuse. I think it’s important to talk to our daughters – and our sons – in order to educate them at an early age about what’s appropriate and what is absolutely not acceptable. We talk about domestic violence and what that means. Although the concept is somewhat foreign to them, they’re starting to understand that this happens to families in our country and all throughout the world.”
Reese also admits that she is a little worried about her kids turning into teenagers because she knows nothing about what kind of rules she should make for them as they grow up, however she is slowly beginning to learn with the help of some other mothers:
“I don’t know anything about teenagers so I’m on a big learning curve here. This is the time where I start asking all my friends who have kids who are older, ‘What do you do about the cell phone, what are your rules about the computer, is she allowed to go out with friends, is she not?’ I learn a lot from other mothers.”
Reese comments that it is sad to see her children growing up, but she also likes that they are being smart individuals that she can talk to:
“It’s great to have older children – there’s a little sadness, like they’re growing up and walking away from you, but it’s changed the whole dynamic. We have really funny dinner conversations now, they know more about certain topics than I ever knew – certainly I can’t keep up with their homework anymore… it’s like I’m learning from them.”
