Walker Hayes’ Parenting Style: Survival
Things can get a little wild at Walker Hayes' house; after all, he and his wife Laney are the parents of six children (three girls and three boys) ranging in age from three to 13. And on any given day, you're likely to find plenty of their friends and neighbors there, too.
"It literally looked like Chuck E. Cheese had just vomited in my house. I'm telling you: Kids everywhere," Hayes jokes to Taste of Country Nights about one recent afternoon. "And they love coming to our house because after three kids, Laney and I stopped caring."
Hayes doesn't mean "stopped caring" in a neglectful way, of course, but the rules are perhaps a bit more relaxed in the Hayes household. The "Don't Let Her" singer admits that everything from skateboarding to archery are a go in their home — and, yes, he legitimately means in their home. Hayes jokes that their parenting style is a bit like going into survival mode.
"It's literally like, can I find food and hunker down and basically make 'em not want to wrestle as much as possible?" he says with a laugh. "Because I get beat! They overtake me."
"But, man, it's the life Laney and I dreamed [of]," he adds. "It doesn't really make sense all the time, as much as I travel, but gosh, it's my happy place, just being home with them ... That's Laney and I's comfort zone."
The one part of parenting six children that isn't particularly comfortable for Hayes is the grocery shopping. "It is [a nightmare], but it's fun," he admits of family trips to the store. "We laugh at the looks on some people's face ..."
But Hayes isn't allowed to see the bill at the end. "My wife won't even let me look," he says. "I'll get too stressed out if I see that number, what we're spending every two weeks, every month or so, on groceries."
LISTEN: Walker Hayes Chats With Taste of Country Nights
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