Actor R Madhavan has often spoken about raising his son Vedaant Madhavan with strong values and discipline, despite his privileged background. Vedaant, 20, who is an international freestyle swimmer, has represented India in many championships. In a recent interview, Madhavan spoke about his parenting style for his son. The actor also admitted that while Vedaant is a good swimmer, there are many others around him who are better and deserve more attention.He was asked about that one lesson that he keeps reminding Vedaant about. He said, “I am a celebrity, he is a celebrity child. He has also done his bit of achievements that make him popular, and it gets enhanced through the fact that he’s my son. The most part I tell him is that he has far more opportunities than a normal child, because people know about him and he can become news very quickly, if he doesn’t know how to keep his ducks in a row.”Madhavan continued, “So, I keep reminding him that it’s reflected glory. Sometimes, you do get used to the attention. He gets treated like a celebrity at times. I said, ‘That’s going to be very short lived’. Sometimes, you do stupid things while trying to recover it back, make it come back.”The actor shared that Vedaant goes to bed early and wakes up timely in the morning. However, there are many other swimmers who should get more attention than him. “He’s thankfully a sportsman. So, he goes to sleep at 8:00 pm and gets up at 4:00 am in the morning. In between that time is all where all the things go wrong. So that is taken care of. He is doing well. He is still swimming for the country. There are a lot better swimmers than him who need to get more attention, but we are doing our best to see how that can happen as well,” he said.Having said that, R Madhavan ensures to draw a line between privilege and parenting. “As a father, I am as nervous and prone to making mistakes as any other parent. We always want the best for our child. We always go to great lengths to make that happen, but we also want to know where to draw the line. Where does parenting end and privilege start?”“It’s an important line for me to identify every time. Sometimes, that worries me the most. Do I allow him to enjoy the privilege or let him go and earn his medals on his own? If I’m pushing him hard, am I putting him in danger or am I actually doing what is right by? So, questions and doubts, that’s all part of being a parent,” he expressed.When asked about his son’s exposure as an adult, into the real world, Madhavan replied, “He is 20 years old, so he is pretty much an adult. I have always treated him as an adult from when he was 5 years old. He wasn’t prone to childish cajoling at all. We would take his opinion and then tell him why we were not taking his suggestion. He would understand.”“Right now, handling him is not as much important as how we both try to face the challenges that are ahead of him. The Olympics is coming, so he is doing his very best, but he is very far off the mark right now. So, what do we need to do special to make sure that he’s able to catch up with the world standards and see if he can get a medal for India. Those are the conversations we have. We are looking at science, other technologies, that help swimmers in what has to be done, what we can possibly do which is within our limits. That’s largely where the conversation is,” the actor concluded.R Madhavan got married to Sarita Birje in 1999, and the couple welcomed Vedaant in 2005.On the work front, Madhavan was most recently seen in the biographical drama, GDN, playing the legendary inventor G.D. Naidu. Directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar, the film also stars Priyamani, Jayaram, Sathyaraj, Dushara Vijayan, Vinay Rai, and Aditi Balan.
