President Donald Trump has offered a rare glimpse into his approach to parenting, revealing his four golden rules for raising children.
The 78-year-old Republican leader, widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the world, is a father of five — with his first child born nearly five decades ago. Despite the years, it appears his parenting style has remained largely unchanged — something his youngest son, Barron, likely knows well.
Before diving into Trump’s parenting principles, let’s take a quick look at his children.
His eldest is Donald Trump Jr., followed by 43-year-old Ivanka and 41-year-old Eric — all three born to his first wife, the late Ivana Trump.
Then there’s 31-year-old Tiffany, whose mother is Marla Maples, Trump’s second wife. Tiffany recently made headlines after giving birth to the president’s 11th grandchild.
Trump has five kids (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
Finally, we’ve got 19-year-old Barron, Trump’s tallest son at 6’7″, and who he shares with First Lady Melania.
Now, the president has divulged his secrets to being a good dad while appearing on new political podcast Pod Force One.
While sitting down with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, who hosts the show, he was asked to reveal his ‘formula for parenting’, and in doing so shared his four golden rules.
He replied: “Well, I always said the same thing – I said no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. I also would say don’t get tattoos, but I don’t say it too strongly because a lot of people have gotten tattoos and that’s what they chose to do, but I would say if you can avoid it, avoid it.
“But I’d say no drugs, no cigarettes and no alcohol, and like Ivanka would say ‘Dad give me a break how many times you have to tell me?’, I said, ‘I’m going to keep saying it’ – I would say it for their whole life – I said it all the time, I still say it.”
Yes, Trump believes his children should live life T-total as he does.
That’s because of his late brother Fred Trump Jr. having struggled with alcoholism. Fred was eight years older than Trump, and the president recounted how he told him to ‘never drink, never ever smoke’.
Fred died of a heart attack at the age of 42 in 1981, with alcohol having contributed to his death.
Reflecting on his brother, he said: “He had a unbelievable personality but the booze got to him – and he’d always say don’t drink, don’t smoke.
Trump previously opened up about his brother (Shizuo Kambayashi/Pool via Bloomberg)
“Now, in those days there were no drugs, you know? I guess there were but you didn’t know about it, but he would have added drugs in there but he said don’t ever smoke and don’t ever drink.”
Whether his children follow their father’s rules is a different matter. It’s understood that Barron doesn’t drink – being under 21 and all – but Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany have certainly had their fair share of booze.
However, Eric has conceded that he’s not much of a drinker, while Tiffany’s party days are over having birthed her first child last month, with Donald Jr. announcing some three years ago that he had given up alcohol.
Whether Ivanka Trump has ever had a glass of wine or beer is unclear – but one thing you can say, none of them are heavy boozers.
