Having six kids should really be enough to make any mum look borderline frazzled and at wits end, but Angelina Jolie makes it all look so easy and chic. (Catch that recent Vogue editorial of the whole family frolicking on the beach?)
The trick, it seems, though, is to just enlist a lot of help (like two(!) nannies per child), and not bother with those pesky rules and routines that the rest of us so desperately try to enforce upon our children and households.
Recently some former nannies employed by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to look after their six children revealed the less-than-conventional ways they Hollywood duo are raising their kids, Maddox, 13, Pax, 11, Zahara, 10, Shiloh, eight, and twins Knox and Vivenne, six.
“Brad and Angie are very unconventional parents, to say the least,” a former nanny told Star magazine. “It’s like they’re living in a hippie commune most of the time, because Angie doesn’t believe in rules. She thinks it’s important for the children to have freedom of expression, but that doesn’t always work well.”
Another nanny told the magazine Angelina insists on the kids being home schooled, but that she is less concerned with the curriculum they are being taught. “She lets the kids learn what they want and ignore stuff that doesn’t interest them,” the former nanny said.
The aul' homework hassle isn't really Angie's cup of tea either, it seems.
"They don’t take tests or do homework," the former nanny reveals. "The kids browse the internet as much as they like. They’re allowed to stay up until they can’t keep their eyes open any more.”
When it comes to help, the Pitts don't skimp, though, employing six full-time nannies, and double that amount every time they are traveling, so that each of the children have two nannies attending to their every whim and need. These are rarely seen in photographs, however.
“Notoriously obsessed with her public image, Angelina is a master of disguising her staff in public, shunting them to the backgrounds of photographs.”
Now, if we all had two nannies per child, we're fairly sure we could all pull off looking as glam as Angelina every day too!
Does the news that the Jolie-Pitts are less hands on with their own children than they make it seem publicly surprise you? Join the conversation with us on Twitter at @Herfamilydotie
