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Ryan Reynolds first came onto my radar because of his relationship with Alanis Morrissette. I thought he was hot (I did!) but was probably one of those men who know they’re attractive and therefore act like immature jerks. He just gave me those vibes. Fast forward 20 years and the more I learn about this now grown-up, mature Ryan Reynolds, the more I like him beyond his looks. He seems like he’s got his sh-t together and is in a good place as a family man and supportive friend. Earlier this week, Ryan accepted an award from Bring Change to Mind, Glenn Close’s organization dedicated to raising awareness for mental illness. At the awards, he spoke about how different he thinks parenting is nowadays, thanks to more “self-awareness” that his parents’ generation didn’t have.
“I think it’s more about talking to them about everything,” the actor, 46, tells PEOPLE at the Bring Change to Mind Revels & Revelations 11 event in New York City on Monday. “It’s genuine when I say I take a huge interest in their days and how things are going.”
Reynolds also opened up to PEOPLE about how he and his wife Blake Lively stress the importance of “self-awareness” to their four kids as well as sharing details of their daily routines.
“For me, the best time of my day is walking them to school and walking them back,” he says to PEOPLE at the event. “I think as parents, we are so much better equipped to handle the rigors of childhood through our kids now than when I was a kid. It’s just totally different now. People are much more self-aware. And that’s the thing we sort of hang our hat on the most is self-awareness with our kids. Not be happy, not be anything, just be self-aware and welcome everything in.”
The Deadpool star was honored with the Robin Williams’ Legacy of Laughter Award at the event. Actress Glenn Close and her family established the organization Bring Change to Mind in 2009 to fight the stigma of mental illness.
I’m an Elder Millennial. I know that generational talk is a touchy subject, but I think Ryan gives a fair assessment. There’s more awareness and less stigma placed on certain things nowadays, like a child’s mental health, “non-traditional” gender roles, and neurodiversity. While we still have a long way to go in getting society as a whole to support our more vulnerable children, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community, so many parents are making progress and acquiring better parenting tools because they are aware that those tools are out there. I think each generation improves upon the last one, and that’s how it should be. I’m sure my children’s generation will still have plenty to go to therapy for and therefore continue to do better by their own children.
As far as Ryan’s focus on doing the school run, I do find that with my kids, there are three times during the day that they’re most open and likely to share: on the way to school, on the way back home from after-school, and right before I leave their rooms at bedtime. The one thing that holds true through all generations is that kids will legit say, do, and need everything just to avoid going to sleep.
The Welcome to Wrexham series has totally changed my opinion of him. He seems like a genuinely kind guy.
Also that show is lovely. It is well worth the watch when the rest of everything feels so awful.
Wrexham is a great series-just interesting and heart warming. He does come across so well.
Same. I just watched the ep where it was all about autism. It was sooo well done. Being a mom of an adult son with autism I was so appreciative of that
What is Welcome to Wrexham about?
Reynolds and Rob McIlhenny bought the Wrexham football club and the series covers not only them trying to figure out what they’re doing with a Welsh soccer team and the team’s struggles, it also shows a lot of the behinds the scenes work for the club and about the city of Wrexham as well. It’s nicely done
Thank you!
I’m an elder Millennial and my child is in elementary school. There’s definitely a big difference in education compared to when I grew up. My parents certainly didn’t ever engage me in conversation about my feelings…those were irrelevant to whatever the task was at hand. Whereas today, much of the conversation at school is about navigating your feelings. I think Mr Rogers got it right when he said that the internal world is sufficiently dramatic for children. They need guidance on how to navigate those dramas. But while Mr Rogers was popular when I was a child, my parents didn’t grow up with him and didn’t get the message. So I guess us elder Millennials are the Mr Rogers generation, the first to actually engage our children around their feelings and mental well-being because we developed some level of awareness as children ourselves.
There’s a whole world of evidence out there that emotionally and mentally unhealthy children that don’t feel safe to seek help just don’t retain learning and are at incredibly high risk for dropping out of school (with very rare exception). The sooner we can teach healthy emotional regulation, safe management of fears and anxieties, and healthy social and digital boundaries, the more engrained they are in kids and they’ll have those tools their whole lives. I say this as a former teacher btw. I’ve seen the proof.
From previous interviews Ryan’s given, it sounds like his dad was distant and scary at best. His own childhood was filled with a lot of anxiety, he said.
Good for him for trying to break generational cycles of bad dads. I hope his own family life is as happy as it seems.
Being an older gen X and having kids in my late 30s, I can agree with this assessment. I have a better relationship with my kids than I have with my parents. My kids, and their friends, give me hope for the future. I think we are raising a more empathetic generation.
Did we over course-correct? Maybe, yeah, but it was a change that needed to be made. It will right itself naturally over the next generation I think, giving more of a balance of empathy and resilience.
My kids are way more self-aware as teenagers (and when younger) than I have ever been up until my 40s when I really did the work to grow as a person.
I do see where many of my kids’ generation (they just started college) are still dealing with the effects of lockdown at a crucial time of social development, and also a tendency to be maybe too idealistic and anti-capitalism to the point of not being realistic, but my stance is this is the time of their life to be that and hopefully affect change that will be lasting. The acceptance of people being who they are, period, end of story, is not something that I experienced with my parents (a young silent gen and an older boomer).
This is something my parents cannot and will not understand.
My daughter is now 15 but when she was 11 her bestie ( still is) who I love like my own, was super pokey. She could never seem to get out the door and at a certain point would completely tune you out. After one of these incidents, and me teasing “pokey” on the way home ( after we dropped her) my 11 yo said “ Mom she’s neurodivergent, please be more sensitive!”
I who feel like I’m super empathetic learned something that day. I would love to see the wonderful kids this next generation produces!
I love that my (Gen X) kids (just turned 11 and 16 at the end of the month) will straight-up call you out if they think you’re being insensitive or otherwise not respectful of others. They’ve done it to me, their dad, and even my mom, and they do it so kindly yet matter-of-factly that you just stop, consider, and apologize/promise to do better. They “get it” in a way that I’m still learning, TBH.
Yes, Gen Z/Gen Alpha have their quirks (for example, my son’s music drives me bananas, lol!) but I am SO PROUD of how accepting, empathetic, and caring they are.
My mom and I are close, and she and my dad were/are pretty great parents, but she makes a point to tell me how much she admires the emotional support I give my kids and how we are making parenting choices that are helping them to thrive. It means the world to me to hear her praise that because I’m constantly worried that I’m not doing it right, lol.
I’m a late boomer and I must admit that my daughters are raising their children better than I raised my own. I’m happy for them and my grandchildren; I feel so badly that I made the mistakes. I have good relationships with them in spite of it, for which I’m forever grateful.
Yes, the tools and information available now are so much better than what I had. I wish I could do it over but the thought of doing it over is also horrifying. So glad to be done!!