Victoria and David Beckham have some strict parenting rules that they swear by to keep their four kids happy and healthy and every parent should follow at least some of them.
Parenting styles and parenting rules don't tend to be different just because you're a celebrity you can be shop worker and still regret gentle parenting.
Even before opening up their home to Netflix's cameras for their documentary series Beckham, in which the couple spoke candidly about the ‘trauma’ over ‘kidnapping threats’ sent to their newborn son, the Beckham family has very much lived life in the spotlight.
But that doesn't mean their four children, Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper Seven, aged 12, have had an especially different childhood from any other average kid. That's because David and Victoria have some strict rules that they've made sure all their kids follow to make sure everyone in their large brood is happy and healthy.
One rule that every parent can understand is ensuring good manners. Back in 2013, KidSpot reports that David shared how both his and Victoria's strict upbringings had influenced their own parenting styles, instilling in them and subsequently in their kids that good manners and respect are a must.
“Me and Victoria were brought up with strong discipline by our parents and to have respect for people and our boys have definitely got that,” he said. “They've been saying their please and thank-yous since they were two or three years old. They're very polite boys.
“That's one of the first questions that we ask when we go for meetings at school is about their manners and it's one of the first things their teachers say – that they've got impeccable manners."
Similarly, HELLO! Magazine writes that Victoria once told Good Morning Britain, "We’ve always been strict parents. It was very important to me and David that our kids had manners".
These 'impeccable' manners are further instilled in their kids through David and Victoria's insistence that they 'give back.' With all their kids growing up in incredibly privileged lives, the couple were keen to to show them the importance of 'giving back.'
"David and I explain to the children what privileged lives they lead. We tell them that in many places in the world children are hungry, homeless and sick. They all understand how important it is to help others," Victoria previously told Grazia. "Romeo ran the children’s marathon earlier this year and raised an amazing amount of money through sponsorship, which he divided between David’s charity and UNAIDS."
Their inherent privilege also means that Victoria and David have strict rules around their kids working for a living rather than settling back into the celebrity lifestyle they were born into.
HELLO! reports that Victoria once said of her kids, "They won’t be these children that stay at home and don’t do anything. They will definitely work." And they have worked. The couple's oldest son Brooklyn started working at just 15 in a local cafe while both his younger brothers, Romeo and Cruz, are laying the foundations to become professional footballers.
David previously shared, as reported by KidSpot, "Being hardworking is the best thing you can show your children. We try to lead by example, by showing them it's important to work hard. That's one of the key things me and my wife have always done, before we had children, and now we have four children."
These strict rules will all work hand in hand to help the couple's kids grow up to be well-rounded and hard-working humans, but there is one slightly more average household rule that they've struggled to enforce in the kids.
"They're [the kids are] still fun and they still run around the house and they're still crazy and they're dancing and they're kicking footballs around, which I don't allow them to do,” Victoria previously shared.
“That seems to be the one area I can't discipline them, they will not stop playing football in the house."
