Chip Gaines is a father to five children; it’s expected that he would get a little unorganized sometimes, right? The famous dad and HGTV star recently opened up to People about his and wife Joanna Gaines‘ parenting fails – one of which was a bit shocking.
Upholding the trope that first-borns are a parents’ “guinea pigs”, Gaines admits that he “made every mistake in the book” with his two oldest children, 14-year-old Drake and 12-year-old Ella.
“There’s lots of stories of me leaving kids places I shouldn’t have left them,” he continues. “I’ve forgotten birthdays. Afterward, you’re like, ‘I’m the worst person.'”
The comment seems shocking at first, but really, what parent hasn’t forgotten an important date? (Or two, or five.)
But ultimately, what matters is that parents learn from mistakes, Gaines adds, who is father to three other children: Crew, 11 months, Emmie Kay, 9, and Duke, 10. “I’m a firm believer that it’s the mistakes that make us who we are. We learn the most from them, and I think that goes for parenting as well,” he says.
Gaines has certainly learned a lot along the way, since becoming a father 14 years ago. “I was a bit more adventurous than maybe your typical first-time father,” he told the magazine. “But like anyone else we were scared to death because you have no idea what you’re doing.”
Chip Gaines on His Transition from Bachelor to Married Life with Joanna: ‘I Had to Make Changes’ https://t.co/ev9NeLMwPl pic.twitter.com/bGHerAqMff
— People (@people) June 5, 2019
But once Chip met Joanna, he says he felt himself changing in ways he hadn’t before.
“It felt like there was this real transition. I matured and grew up,” he says. “It just kind of clicked in my brain: ‘This is going to work.’”
