"Your life becomes shared and your joys become shared joys, and in a really beautiful way," Van Der Beek said.
Actor James Van Der Beek has played many roles on screen but he definitely loves playing the role of dad to his 6 beautiful kids, whom he shares with his wife Kimberly, the most. The couple married in August 2010 and shares Jeremiah, 17 months, Gwendolyn, 4, Emilia, 7, Annabel, 9, Joshua, 11, and Olivia, 12.
The Dawson's Creek star loves spending time with his kids in and around their Texas home. The 46-year-old admitted what he loves most is being active and playing outdoors with his children. "For me, playing with the kids is so important. It's good for them physically, it's good for them mentally, emotionally. It's good for our relationship," he told PEOPLE. "But as any busy parent knows, if you don't schedule that play, the odds of it happening dwindle."
Being a parent to six kids is no easy feat but Van Der Beek finds it a joyful experience having so many different types of personalities in his home. "I think the biggest delight I find is how they interact with each other. They all take care of each other. Sometimes they step in to help solve problems of their own volition," he shared. "And the moment I see them looking after their baby brother, I really feel like, 'Oh man, for whatever I've done wrong, I'm doing something right here.' "
He also feels that it is not easy to figure out what parenting challenges any of their kids may toss toward them. He said, "It's just humbling. When you think you've got it down, you get one that throws a curveball at you." He added, "And it's regulating our own emotions when things do get hectic and chaos ensues, which is inevitable at times."
Becoming a father is "the craziest thing I've ever done" but also "the thing that's made me happiest," he told Good Morning America in May, adding that having kids changed "everything" for him. "What you genuinely want is to take care of them, to make them feel safe, to keep them safe, to connect with them and feel that joy," Van Der Beek said. "Your life becomes shared and your joys become shared joys, and in a really beautiful way, that expands your level of circuitry out to other people instead of just keeping it all for your own gratification."
"The lessons," he added, "they keep on coming."
One of those lessons came from being a girl dad. A couple of years ago the Varsity Blues actor mentioned how having a daughter helped redefine his idea of masculinity. In 2022 he took to Instagram to share a picture of his then three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Gwendolyn painting his nails light-pink. Van Der Beek also shared a video of himself cheering on his kid's nail painting skills. In the caption of his post, the actor wrote, "#Parenting perk: Surprise liberation from limited belief systems." He added, "If you think I’ll be removing this pink nail polish before pouring concrete with a few friends tomorrow… then you probably don’t have kids."
References:
https://people.com/parents/james-van-der-beek-humbling-life-six-kids-always-curveball-exclusive/
https://www.instagram.com/vanderjames/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Alex Goodlett
