“If they talk back or rebel, they know they’re safe with you.”
Josh Hartnett said this during his appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, while promoting his thriller Verity, based on Colleen Hoover’s book. Speaking about raising his four children, ages 2 to 11, whom he is raising in England with his wife Tamsin Egerton, the actor humbly clarified that he’s no expert. But he wanted to share something someone else had taught him: when a child argues with you, they aren’t afraid of the consequences.
Drew Barrymore connected right away. She said that people with abandonment issues struggle to understand it, because they fear that if someone gets angry, they’ll simply disappear. Hartnett agreed and revealed where his perspective comes from: he grew up as an only child with a single mother, in a very quiet house. When he visited his friends’ homes and saw children yell “I’m going to my room!” and slam a door, he thought: “Wow, these kids feel really safe in their surroundings”.
Sometimes a slammed door isn’t disrespect. It’s proof that home is a place where you can be angry without losing love.
