Will Smith explains why he doesn’t impose gender stereotypes on son, Jaden

Will Smith recently spoke out on raising children who are experimenting with their identity and gender stereotypes, like his son Jaden, 18.

“First of all, I don’t give parenting advice per se, because it’s such a unique task. The greatest human task is to render a human being into the world,” the 48-year-old actor cautioned. “The greatest gift that I can give my children is the freedom to be who they are.” Smith added when speaking with BET.

“I feel like a lot of times, when I was growing up, I would see parents… force a child to be what you want them to be. As a parent, if it’s an oak tree, I want it to grow as an oak tree. I’m not gonna try to force it to be an apple tree,” The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star explained.

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The Suicide Squad actor went on to say he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have always been very accepting of their children.

“Jada and I are very serious about finding what they are, and encouraging them to be what they are because you can never be happy being what you’re not,” Smith told BET. “We encourage our kids to experiment and seek who they are more than who we want them to be.”

At the crux of the conversation was Jaden’s recent gender-bending fashion statements (he’s been wearing skirts and dresses and painting his nails). He also became the face of Louis Vuitton’s SS16 Womenswear campaign in early January.

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“I’m just expressing how I feel inside, which is really no particular way because everyday it changes how I feel about the world and myself,” Jaden told GQ of his sartorial sense. “I just want to teach people how to be comfortable. Stop being so scared.”

In March 2016 he told the magazine, “I feel like people are kind of confused about gender norms… I feel like people don’t really get it.

“I don’t see man clothes and woman clothes,” he continued. “I just see scared people and comfortable people.”

Going genderless in his fashion is merely one of Smith’s mainstream-defying moves. He plans on coming out with a book of philosophical essays in the near future.

“I have a goal to be just the most craziest person of all time,” he said. “And when I say craziest, I mean, like, I want to do like Olympic-level things.”

In August, Jaden credited his parents as being the “biggest role models” in his life. “And that’s where me and Willow both pull all of our inspiration from to change the world.” he admitted. “It all comes from a concept of affecting the world in a positive way and leaving it better than it was than when we came.”

Jaden was named one of GQ’s 20 Most Stylish Men Alive in 2015.

With files from Chris Jancelewicz