Will Ferrell has spoken about the challenges of parenting three young children, comparing his little boys to “trial lawyers”.
The actor, who is a father to sons Magnus, Matthias and Axel with wife Viveca Paulin, said he is frequently amazed by the arguments they come up with.
He told the Press Association: “My kids turn into trial lawyers, with the most amazing defences.
“My son tried to convince us when he lost a $100 (£75) wetsuit that we bought for him at a resort that it was our fault for buying it for him in the first place because then he had to keep track of it. That’s amazing.
“I thought ‘You’re going to grow up to be a lawyer’. That’s amazing! You’re wrong but I can really appreciate the argument.”
Mark Wahlberg, Ferrell’s co-star in new family comedy Daddy’s Home 2, said he has similar struggles with his two sons and two daughters with wife Rhea Durham.
He said: “That sounds very familiar. My son had a major meltdown yesterday. He didn’t finish his work the day before, he had the tutor at the house there to help him and he basically chased her out of the house with a bad attitude.
“So then he’s rushing to try to do the work in the morning and finally he misses the ride to school because we won’t have the other kids be late for school.
“So my wife finally rips the thing out of the book and hands it to him saying, ‘Just take it to school, figure it out there’.
“And he’s like, ‘No, I can’t hand it in now because you ripped it out. It’s all your fault’.”
The duo star in the follow-up to the 2015 comedy Daddy’s Home, in which Ferrell played a stepfather desperate for his wife’s children to love him, while Wahlberg played their biological father, Dusty.
This time they are joined by their own fictional fathers, played by Mel Gibson and John Lithgow, who highlight the differences in parenting styles.
Ferrell says he tries to strike a balance between sensitivity and tough love, adding: “I fall probably somewhere in the middle because I think there are definitely moments where you have to just go, ‘No, you’re not. You don’t get that.’
“When they say, ‘Why?’ it’s just, ‘Because I said so’. You can’t be your child’s friend.”
Daddy’s Home 2 is out in UK cinemas now.
