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Brad Pitt feeds his kids Coca-Cola for breakfast. He admitted this in a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning and, let me tell you, people are infuriated. They’re wondering how Brad and Angelina Jolie – parents to six children under 10 – could be so “neglectful” as to pump up their little ones with sugar and caffeine. But to all these critics I say, Get a grip. Don’t be so judgmental! You’ve probably done the same, if not worse.
For starters, let’s look at exactly what Brad had to say:
Listen, I admit there’s times like, “We gotta get up. Get up! Here’s your shoes. Here’s your shoes. Drink this Coke. Drink this Coca Cola. Drink it all. Right now! Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!” Just so we could get ‘em up and going.
Okay, so who here can’t relate to the morning frenzy, to that desperate feeling of “Holy shit, we are so late, I will do whatever it takes to get my children out of the house at this exact moment?” Hell, I’ve given my 2-year-old an entire bag of animal cookies before 8 a.m. just to get his arm in his jacket sleeve! I’ve also allowed my kids to eat ice cream for dinner because, well, sometimes they don’t eat dinner and then their grandparents take them out for ice cream anyway. Does this happen on a daily or even weekly basis? Of course not. Once a month? You bet.
Also, do you know how much sugar is in a serving of children’s cereal? Copious amounts. In many instances, the same amount of sugar as a serving of Coca Cola. I’m not saying that either is right. Obviously, a more nutritious breakfast would be eggs, fruit, yogurt, smoothie – the list goes on. But, hey, sometimes parents take shortcuts, and sometimes they feed their kids crap. Part of our responsibility as parents is ensuring that our kids are healthy – that goes without saying. But name me one parent aside from Gwyneth Paltrow who doesn’t make poor food decisions on occasion? (And, really, would you rather read about Brad Pitt and Coke or Gwynnie and those damn cleanses?)
Re-reading Brad’s quote above, I get the feeling he was being facetious. In all likelihood, he does not force soda down his children’s throat each morning. But, again, even if he did serve Coke for breakfast, it’s probably one of those desperate-to-get-the-gang-out-the-front-door moments, and it probably doesn’t happen often. I mean, look at those children. Do Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne look unhealthy to you? Are their insides rotting away? I highly doubt it.
One of my colleagues admitted that she sometimes lets her 3-year-old daughter order Sprite when they eat at a restaurant. “She thinks that getting soda pop makes her the coolest thing ever and I’ve told her that only big kids can drink pop so if she’s getting it, she has to act like a big kid,” this mom tells me. “So, yeah, I’m saying that that I’ve bribed good behavior out of my daughter with pop.”
Her story made me laugh because ginger ale is like crack to my older kid, and so I could relate – bribery and all. I guess the point is that even “good” parents let their kids indulge every now and then. (Have you been to a McDonald’s lately?) And if anyone’s going to get all up in arms over sugary/caffeinated drinks, they should be focusing on Toddlers & Tiaras‘ Alana, better known as Honey Boo Boo Child. The pageant queen is forever downing “Go Go Juice” – a combo energy/caffeine drink – that makes her act like a pint-sized drunk. No, really, it’s disturbing.
So lay off Brangelina! Those kids are just fine.
(Photo: usmagazine.com)
I think if I were famous, and had people hanging on my every word like this, I would totally say stuff like that. Because it’s hilarious to see how gullible people are, and how quickly they jump on the hate wagon.
Good grief. He was joking. I can totally relate to the frustration of trying to get those little bodies moving each morning, and I thought it was hilarious. People need to chill out.
I have read interviews where both parents have stated that they believe that their children receive better schooling by not going to school. That’s a sentiment that only very wealthy people can afford to belive, on top of all the other bad examples these people set. There is no excuse for using caffiene to wake up children – it is dangerous to their health. Fact. If this was a poor family with a track record of drug addiction, bizarre behavior, adultery, and let’s face it – flaunting these bad qualities they would receive no mercy from the public. Less privileged people would be seeing their parole officer or CPS.I know people who lived just like Jolie in their ‘pasts’ who are not allowed to adopt and were under police scrutiny for years. But they were poor and not white…
People aren’t up in arms about the kids drinking soda occassionally, they are taken aback by stimulants being used by parents who do not have to rush to work in the AM, who have the advantage of staying at home with their children, and who can afford healthy food. Personally I find them to be really preachy given all their hypocrisy. There was an interview several years ago wherein Jolie said somewhat snidely that the children are not allowed to watch American cartoons or TV – while the mother sells her cartoons to American kids which make her a ton of money. Pitt was probably getting paid by Coke.
Wait a minute, it IS a well known fact that they don’t have their kids in school…if you only read the tabloids that is. I actually went to high school with one of their former nannies, and she remains very tight lipped about their personal life bc of everything they made her sign, but she claims that they traveled with tutors bc they were very focused on education, although not in the traditional sense. I don’t know if they drink coke all the time or not, she won’t say anything else, but it seems like some people think they know an awful lot about this family based on a snapshot of their life. People that defend them aren’t trying to justify their own “bad” parenting, but rather it serves to remind us that the Pitts are only human, and nobody is a perfect parent.
It’s a well known fact that the Pitts do not have their kids in school – lots of interviews with them sort of bragging about it. They’ve actually said that traveling is a better form of education. I agree with Linda – are they rushing to a photo shoot? My family lived overseas and did a TON of charity work, in dangerous locations, constantly on planes, kids changing schools every year, etc. But one of the goals was to be healthy and put the kids health first. Sounds to me like some people are defending their own bad parenting skills by defending Pitt…plus it is dangerous to a child’s health to force artificial stimulants on them.
My concern about the Coke for breakfast would be the caffeine more than the sugar. Though I do know plenty of folks my age (mid-30′s) who drank tons of Coke/Pepsi/Mountain Dew as kids whose growth didn’t appear to get stunted by it.
Oh you judgmental people. Sometimes I wish I could shove a stick up your uptight a-holes. Who cares. Pop isn’t going to kill kids if they have some here and there. My daughter gets to drink (dark) pop on occasions when that’s all we have available or we want to give it to her as a treat, other times we let her have clear pop, like Sprite. We don’t always have pop around our house as it is a bad drinking habit, but once every few months is okay in my book.
And just because you’re “rich” doesn’t mean you can’t act like a normal person. A lot of normal parents let their kids have pop.
Brad Pitt’s comment was clearly meant to be facetious. Linda, how do you know if they go to school or not?? You must read US Weekly and the Enquirer, so it sounds like you know the ins and outs of their daily life. A child abuse accusation is a very serious and ugly, I hope you have more to go on than your ‘soda’ clue. And Kate, if having Lucky Charms in the house makes me a bad parent, then please call the authorities and have me locked up for the bowl of cereal I allow my daughter on Saturday mornings.
Why are these people rushing around in the morning – they don’t allow their kids to go to school so what’s the hurry? At least you have to put milk on breakfast cereal. I was addicted to soda when I was in my mid twenties and it was really hard to kick the habit. To get your own kids on it so young is bordering on child abuse, especially if you have the money to buy them healthy food.
I would imagine that is more in preparation for moving film sets or something
Occasionally, or even regularly giving children a drink with sugar in it is NOT child abuse (hello, fruit juice DISSOLVES tooth enamel)
giving a child a drink with caffeine in it is NOT child abuse (breakfast tea? many british children drink it and have no problems at all, its full of goodness in fact!)
And its not even approaching abuse, either.
Traffic fumes have far worse residual chemicals in than cola does.
I work in Public protective services specialising in investigating domestic abuse. You should come to see what I deal with and then you would realise what abuse really is.
I would get my kids hot chocolate from Starbucks in the morning if I wanted them awake before they wanted to wake up, but we do not keep pop in the house. Juice is not a staple either, but I would offer it to my kids to wake them up. Neither myself or dh has a pop issue as my parents are kind if hippy and his are chinese (none of our parents would waste mOney on something unhealthy on a regular basis). I’ve seen friends addicted to pop and they can’t quit even if they’ve switched to diet it’s still bad for you and I wish the author could address this. The fact that cereal is sweet too is irrelevant. If you buy your kids lucky charms that’s just as bad parenting as keeping pop in the house often. And the fact that another(terrible) ‘celebrity parent ‘ uses energy drinks
does not make using coke less harmful than it still is.
I think when you have the options in life that Brad Pitt possesses, it does make you a bad father to feed your kids soda for breakfast. Hire a cook if you’re too lazy to feed your children properly. You can afford it. I know many middle class and ‘underprivileged’ families who do not allow their children to have harmful eating habits – my own family included. Pitt is just way too busy jet-setting to care for all the kids he’s gone out of his way to bring into his life apparently. These are not ‘working class’ people just trying to get by – they have huge sums of money which could be spent on …. fruit or oatmeal. This is the sort of behavior that poor women who receive government aid are criticized and stereotyped for, but it’s ok to harm your child’s health if you’re a wealthy person who can afford to do better, I take it.