Tom Hanks “made every mistake” while raising his four kids.
The “Big” star, 68, is a dad to Colin, 45, and Elizabeth, 42, with his first wife, Samantha Lewes, as well as Chet, 34, and Truman, 28, with Rita Wilson, and Tom has confessed he wasn’t the perfect father and it led to some difficult conversations with his kids over the years.
During an appearance on the “On Purpose with Jay Shetty” podcast Monday, Tom explained, “I made every mistake. You know, you scar the kids somehow in the same exact way. And as they get older, you come back around and [say], ‘Hey, can I talk about what a knothead I was with you for all those years?’
“And [they say], ‘Yeah, sure, Dad. Yeah, I’ve been kind of waiting for this. Why don’t you unload?’
“But I would say at the same time … does it come up to be 50-50? Maybe the attitude and the life that we led. The laughs, that stuff’s worth its weight in gem-encrusted gold.”
He added of his kids: “[They taught me] how different they all are. They are not the same type of human being ever.”
Tom went on to recall a story about his youngest son, Truman, revealing he felt like he’d let the youngster down when he promised him a game of baseball and failed to deliver.
He said, “He was younger. He was like 7 or 8. I said, ‘Oh, at one point, let’s go down — we were in New York — let’s go down to the park and we’ll take our gloves, we’ll throw it around. We’ll bat the balls. We’ll just find a place [on the] grass. And [Truman] said, ‘OK, let’s do that.’
“And it got away from me,” and their outing didn’t happen. “Something happened and I realized, ‘Oh, the sun’s going down now.’ And I said, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Hey, I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘We were going to go down and throw the ball around. It got away from me. Forgive me.’
” And he said, ‘No, that’s OK, dude.’ And he sounded disappointed.”
However, Truman helped his dad feel better. Tom explained, “[I told him] I don’t want you to be bored. ‘And he looked at me with a look on his face and said, ‘Dad, I’m never bored.
“And that … speaks to curiosity and drive and also the comfort of where one is in order to feel free in order to explore whatever world that is …
“[I realized the children] had the ability to pursue their own interests without being prodded, without being forced to. I’ve learned from that.
“They have never said that they’re bored. They’ve always had some action thing that was going on, whether I understood their passion for it or not.”
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