If you imagine the Terminator as a father, the idea of a strict child upbringing is definitely closer than that of a neglectful cuddly dad – and you’re right. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened up to Jimmy Kimmel on Monday about how he raised his children to be independent people, money or not.
Despite a fortune of around 410 million dollars, according to “Vermögen Magazin” estimates of Schwarzenegger’s assets, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s children could not avoid helping around the house and learning certain basic rules.
The father of five children, four of whom were raised by him and his ex-wife Maria Shriver, one of whom was the result of an affair, admits that his upbringing was quite strict by American standards. He stated that it was the children’s duty to clean their bathrooms – whether it was scrubbing toilets or cleaning showers. The Schwarzenegger kids also had to do their own laundry, and the audience in the Kimmel Hall applauded.
In a further chat with Jimmy Kimmel, he revealed that it was also the children’s duty to make their own beds in the morning. However, once his son had the nanny make up the bed. When Schwarzenegger found out, consequences immediately followed: “So, I came in and the bed was so immaculately made that I looked at it and said, ‘Patrick, did you do that?’ and he said, ‘No, I didn’t.’ So I grabbed the mattress, opened the doors and threw it from the balcony into the pool,” said Schwarzenegger. He added that Patrick had to fish the mattress and pillows out of the pool himself.
His daughter Katherine also felt the harsh upbringing of the Terminator. When he asked her several times to please get her tennis shoes out of the way, Schwarzenegger quickly burned them in the fireplace. Schwarzenegger also learned from his own upbringing that you turn off the lights when you’re not in the room to save energy. He passed that on to his children. If his children didn’t comply, he would unscrew the light bulbs.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book with tips for life will be published on October 10th – his children probably no longer need to read this and are well trained.
Sources: Daily Mail, Jimmy Kimmel, Fortune Magazine
