But at 15, was he really making money? I know he did Karate Kid and that Pursuit of Happiness movie. For child actors, some of their salary must be put in a trust which he wouldn’t have access to (well, I guess unless he was emancipated).

I’ve been just reading about these Red Table talks and by this one, I have to say someone needs to give Jada a job. She’s airing out her family’s laundry and hosting a therapy session with her kids, past issues with Union (over what really??)

The interview with Willow made me compassionate towards the family and their kids but this makes me want to ask, “are you raising these children or just financing them?”

Jaden: Mom I want to live on my own. You won’t stop crying over Tupac and it’s weird.

Jada: What will you do?

Jaden: Train competitive lizards.

[End…

LOL

Teenagers in general are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, they think they are but they aren’t, you as a parent have to give the rules and guidelines so they don’t grow up to be complete fools. I think the Smiths failed their children by treating them like friends instead of parents, luckily they have the money…

Is it wrong of me to feel bitter that some people can choose to leave home as a teenager while others have that thrust upon them by the breakup of their unstable family and the loss of a home? I can’t hate the Smiths but I can hate a system that provides different outcomes by accident of birth.

You have to think about what he thought emancipation meant. Getting his own sweet house, negotiating his own deals (laid out by mom and dad, of course), spending money on whatever he wanted without mom and dad there offering their opinions. He wanted all the same trappings, without a parent in the house.

I guess we should be celebratory of privileged Black kids with celebrity parents who have the choice to become weirdos with arbitrary pseudo philosophy. This boy said he wanted to cut his penis off! Willow actually cut herself just to feel something super young. These babies were given the world and don’t know what to…

You may be conflating the time I turned 18 with the story I told my kids. I may have confused you by leaving out exact details.

Yeah, I feel like Mary Shelley could write a book about this exact scenario.

Sure, teaching children to set goals and take care of themselves is great, and should be done throughout their childhood. Snatching the rug out from under them because they’ve hit 18, not so much.

But Pinkett Smith reveals in a new, candid conversation that trusting your kids’ autonomy doesn’t come without heartbreak.

I turned 18 six months before I graduated.

That’s actually a pretty mean thing to do to a teenager who just turned 18 and just graduated high school.

Every other black mom in Baltimore would have been, “Yeah boo, emancipation costs, how you gonna pay?”

I guess it doesn’t hurt any less (and probably hurts more) realizing that she and Will raised their weird children to be free-range. Like, she shouldn’t have been surprised.

Had a thought, but nope. Nope.... Lana Kane-styled NEWP. 

“Being in this lifestyle, in this world is a bubble and he wanted out.

The whole damn point of being a parent is that you make decisions for people too inexperienced (or stupid) to make on their own. Y’all raise a bum that pretends to express artistry instead of the tomfoolery of the wealthy.

I used to spin a hardship lie to my kids. The nest is now empty, so I dropped this falsehood, but then my kids didn’t turn out bad.