Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s Go-To Parenting Tips: Nightmare Threats and More!

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard certainly have some unorthodox strategies for raising Lincoln, 11, and Delta, 9.

Do: Let Them Roam Theme Parks Alone

While vacationing in Copenhagen recently, the family stayed at a hotel that opened onto the Tivoli Gardens amusement park. When Mom and Dad wanted time alone to explore the city, “we were just kind of like, ‘Are we going to ‘free-range parenting’ and roll the die here?’ ” Kristen, 44, told Jimmy Kimmel on September 19. “We let them wake up at 6 a.m. Every morning. They scanned their bracelets to go outside. We didn’t see them for seven hours.” Don’t worry, she assured him: “They’re both alive!”

Do: Serve Them Fake Beer

After sampling recovering addict Dax’s non-alcoholic beer, the girls got a taste for O’Doul’s. “It’s a sentimental thing — it makes them feel close to their dad,” Kristen explained, but during Zoom school sessions in the pandemic, “they’re just like sipping their Doulies, and I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?’ Then I reminded myself, ‘You don’t care.’”

Do: Use Nightmare Threats

After spilling all the Frozen 2 spoilers with her daughters, “it occurred to me I was in breach of my contract,” Kristen recalled in 2019. Her solution? Warning what would happen if they blabbed to friends. “I told them, ‘All of your teeth are gonna fall out.’ Which is the best thing you can say to a kid.”

Don’t: Force Them to Bathe

“I wait for the stink,” Kristen said in 2021, admitting she didn’t force her kids to bathe every day. Her comments elicited a firestorm of controversy (and support from fellow stars like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis).

Tell Them Their Birthday

“If it’s, like, a Wednesday and we can’t celebrate and we’re both working late, then, guess what, your birthday is on Saturday,” she said when the kids were younger. “They don’t know.”