Kristen Bell slammed for letting five-year-old daughter drink non-alcoholic beer – but insists she’s a ‘great parent’
FROZEN star Kristen Bell has been slammed for giving her daughter non-alcoholic beer, but she insists she’s a “great parent.”
The 40-year-old actress admitted that she is happy for her kids Lincoln, 7, and Delta, 5, to have the drink.
Speaking on the podcast Say Yes! With Carla Hall, she said: “I'm going to get a lot of flack for this. And let me start by saying I don't care.
“You're welcome to tell me I'm a terrible parent. I don't care. I'm a great parent, I think. I'm learning every day".
Kristen revealed that her girls regularly indulge in their dad Dax Shepard’s O'Doul's booze-free beers and even order them in restaurants.
Dax has been sober for 16 years and so has been enjoying the drink for the entirety of his children’s lives.
And Kristen says that the girls now like to pop a bottle to feel “close” to their dad.
She continued: “When we had our first child and my husband would put her in the Babybjorn and we'd walk around the neighbourhood, he'd pop a non-alcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth.
"It's a sentimental thing for my girls, right? It makes them feel close to their dad."
She continued: “We're like, 'I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. It's just essentially a bubbly juice.
"Right? There's nothing in it. We also talk to them very much about [Dax's] sobriety and the importance of it and why Daddy can't drink."
The mum revealed that the girls had left their fellow pupils rather taken aback when they cracked a bottle during their school Zoom calls.
She explained: “"They have 15-minute breaks where they're allowed to jump around and grab a snack and wiggle it out. And I walk in to check on them at 9:30 and both of them are drinking an O'Doul's on their Zooms.
"They're both just sipping their Doulies. And I'm like, 'What must these other parents and teachers think of me?'
"And then I remind myself, 'You don't care, Kristen. They can pretend like you're doing something wrong,'" she defended. "I would argue that I'm not, because it's nonalcoholic."
This is not the first time that the actress has caused controversy with her parenting methods.
Earlier this year she received flack for admitting that her five-year-old was still in nappies.
In May, the Frozen actress admitted that her youngest daughter Delta has struggled with potty training - but insisted ";every kid is different".
Chatting with Maya Rudolph and Casey Wilson on her podcast Momsplaining, the mum-of-two spoke about how easy it was to get her eldest daughter Lincoln out of nappies.
She said: "My oldest daughter at 21 months, we merely suggested that she use the toilet in the other room. [She] never wore another diaper beyond that."
However, potty training Delta has been a different story - and the 39-year-old added: "Currently, my youngest is five and a half, still in diapers."
After the podcast came out, Kristen defended herself against mum-shamers on Twitter - and insisted that Delta was confident wearing nappies.
After one Twitter user accused Kristen of "humiliating" her daughter, Kristen replied: "I don't think it's humiliating if you kid wears diapers late. Everyone is different.
"My five-year-old wouldn't be embarrassed even if she was in diapers during the day! She's confident and goofy and doesn't see anything about her beautiful unique self something to apologise for."
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