Abhishek Bachchan wants to ‘lead by example’ for Aaradhya, reveals his parenting techniques: ‘I want my daughter to say…’

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Abhishek also said that parents aren’t always the best teachers for their children. “I don’t know if parents are the best teachers, I am on the fence for that. I think our emotions and desire for our children to get it right, succeed, and not hurt themselves come in the way. Our emotions towards them maybe colour our judgement. A parent should lead and teach by example. Today, whatever I have learnt and imbibed from my parents is by seeing the way they conduct themselves. Not necessarily by what they told me I should be doing. Thankfully, they have given me the freedom to take my own decisions. But, if I am ever stuck, I would still sit back and say, ‘What would my dad have done?’ If he or my mom approached this scene, for example,” he said.

There are certain values that Abhishek stands by strongly in life. “You have to learn to be resilient, hold on to your dream and fight for it. With that, you also have to stand for dignity. I don’t know if that’s going to be easy but it’s one of the toughest ones. There should be sense of principles and living by them. Live life on your terms and hold your head high,” he said. Nevertheless, he takes inspiration from his own father Amitabh Bachchan. “My dad is 82 and still shooting KBC since 7 in the morning. He is leading by example, I want to be like that. I go to bed and think that even when I am 82, I want my daughter to be able to say that about me that he is still at it,” he shared.

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Talking about his observations about the younger generation, and how they conduct themselves, Abhishek said, “I think they (kids) will show you the way ahead. One thing that I’ve realised with the younger generation is that they are very different. To start with, they have no sense of hierarchy like we did. When we grew up, we knew that once your parents say something, you just listen to it. The younger generation is far more inquisitive. They want to know why. They will not just do something because their parents said it. Just because you are older does not mean you have the right answer, they have Google.”

He added, “They don’t need to go to their parents to ask questions, they come to them for love. They are not dependent on their parents for that factor. They need a justification of why they are doing something and I think that’s wonderful. They will dictate how we treat them going forward. Mine just turned 13, she has about 50 trillion questions on an hourly basis.”

Having said that, his parenting journey was made smoother because of the experiences he had with his nephew, Agastya, and niece, Navya Nanda. “With Aaradhya, I had a bit of a soft landing because I have seen my niece and nephew grow up. I was kind of used to it and knew what to expect with Aaradhya. They are by no means rude, in fact, they are very well mannered. We just need to tilt our perspective towards it,” he said.

On the work front, Abhishek Bachchan was last seen in I Want to Talk (2024), and is now gearing up for Be Happy and Housefull 5, scheduled to release this year.