Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life’s parenting collection on the fun and challenges of childrearing.
Dave and Jenny Marrs are doing their greatest to watch their youngsters’s display screen time.
The Fixer to Fabulous hosts, who’re elevating 5 youngsters on a farm in Bentonville, Ark., say that whereas they was once “really strict” with regards to screens, their standpoint has developed as they’ve added extra children to their brood.
“I was like, ‘no screens ever at all,'” Jenny tells Yahoo Life’s So Mini Ways. “But now we have five kids, and they range in age. We don’t have strict guidelines around it, but we’re pretty limited in screen time. Nobody has an iPad or a computer.”
“They don’t have cell phones,” Dave provides. “If it’s a screen in front of us, everyone’s there.” And if the HGTV stars see their children “getting sloppy,” then it is time to encourage them to go outdoors. “We don’t like anybody being buried in a screen in our house,” Dave notes.
The couple has teamed up with fan favorites Ben and Erin Napier for a six-episode season of Home Town Takeover, premiering Sunday, April 23, at 8 p.m. EST and streaming the identical day on discovery+. Along with a crew of different HGTV and Food Network expertise, they’re going to assist full 18 renovation initiatives throughout houses, native companies and public areas. It’s a large challenge, along with their very own dwelling renovation empire. That’s why the Marrs say their largest parenting problem proper now could be giving every of their children sufficient particular person consideration.
Asked what he wants most, Dave solutions, “Time! I think every parent can relate to that. It’s never enough. I always want more time with my kids.”
“We try to be really intentional and be present, which is also hard because we’re still working all the time,” says Jenny. “Because of the cell phones, we’re accessible all the time and people anticipate [that] if they reach out to you and they just get an answer. We’re working under really tight timelines. So there’s lots of pressure and people need answers yesterday on everything.”
While the duo did not predict their rise to HGTV stardom, they’ve realized that navigating fame together with their 5 children can get a little bit difficult.
“We always said when we started the show that our kids did not choose this, so if they want to be a part of this show, they can. And if they don’t want to, then that’s that season of life for them,” Dave explains. “I think maybe when we first started, we probably pushed them a little bit more.” Some 4 years after the present’s 2019 debut, the couple have discovered that “inviting people into our living room” generally is a difficult blessing.
“There is [the public] knowing a lot about our family, a lot about the kids. We’re just still trying to navigate that, and we’re probably not doing a very good job with it,” Dave shares. “Every year, it gets a little bit more and more difficult.”
Recently, the couple had been shocked to be acknowledged by followers whereas on a household trip in Italy. That degree of notoriety generally is a bit off-putting for his or her youngsters.
“It’s just hard, especially when we’re out with the kids. We keep getting stopped, and so a lot of times the kids don’t want to go to things because it’s like they don’t want to be singled out. It’s kind of embarrassing for them,” says Jenny, including that she was stopped 10 occasions on the nursery just lately whereas shopping for vegetation along with her son. “He’s like, ‘Mom, I just want to buy some plants and go,’ and I’m like, ‘I know, I know.’ I think there’s a bit of pressure sometimes that we feel as a family.”
Despite the challenges of elevating 5 children, the dad and mom are decided to show their little ones to discover the world.
“We do that because we want them to see other cultures, we want them to get to know people that don’t look like them, that don’t have the same language, that don’t eat the same foods, that have a very different life than they do,” says Jenny. “Because then they realize ‘Oh, they’re just like us.’ It’s just developing the idea of linking arms with other people.”
Wellness, parenting, physique picture and extra: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life’s e-newsletter. Sign up right here.
