Photo: Anthony Pidgeon / Bravo
'What Are You Playing With?' 'A Stick.'
The Whitacres are self-described nomads who wonder if living out of a car and being allowed one toy each is going to turn their kids into hoarders later in life. Hmmm, MAYBE?! But let's let them speak for themselves.
- Parenting Style #66: Anti-Establishment
- Our lifestyle makes anything possible.
- The kids are so used to this. They're super-good at self-entertaining.
- What are you playing with?
A stick. - We do bring some stress into their life by making them move around and going from place to place. I'm sure that people do judge me, but I just feel confident that it's the right way to raise my kids.
- I guess I don't really feel like I need to justify not having a house. Life isn't just about following this one pattern all the time.
- I miss privacy, yeah. I like privacy more than I used to. I'm getting older, and I want my own privacy, doing stuff. Like building Legos: that's what I need privacy for.
- Being a nomadic parent requires teaching your kids that possessions aren't important.
- And it's not cheap.
I know it's not cheap. That's -- that's what makes it so awesome. Because when it's expensive, it's awesome. - My kids are going to be well-rounded. They're going to care about people and nature and not so much about things.
- I've been telling my mom and dad we need a trailer, so I can put all my stuff in. I just want to keep my toys, that's all.
- I feel really sad when I trade things out, and I'm like, "Oh no!!!"
- If we had a trailer, I wouldn't have to worry about this!
- Since they are allowed to have such few things, I worry that maybe they'll just be collectors when they grow up, like they'll hoard things. I don't know, do you ever worry about that?
Yeah. That's okay with me, if that's what they decide to do.
I'd rather not--
I know a lot of good hoarders
-- have hoarders. - What do you guys want?
Can I have a hot dog?
We have no hot dogs.
What about macaroni?
We don't have macaroni.
Can I have a burrito?
You have to have a stovetop for a burrito.
One of these is a top.
A stove, sweetie. You know? Stove?
We've got stove!
Like in a regular house. A stovetop. Where you have lots of pans? You can make a feast?
Oh.
We don't have that. - I want a certain kind of sandwich.
'A certain kind of sandwich'? What does that mean? Every kind of sandwich is a certain kind. You'll have peanut butter and jelly. That's the 'certain kind' you'll have.
That's the only kind we have. Maybe we should invest in a real knife.
Maybe.
If we only had a trailer.... - The coolest thing is probably having...a kitchen? Or a bed. A kitchen or a bed or a toilet. One of those.
- Where do you live?
Basically everywhere.
Nowhere. I guess.
We travel all over the world.
You...don't have a house. - One friend that I had, I forgot her name, and [sighs].
- We could put our stuff in the car in the trailer, and then you could actually put your feet down in the car.
Yeah, I can put my feet down now.
Well, you're driving.
'Cause I'm driving.
But I have no room for my feet and neither do the kids.
That sounds like a personal problem to me. - My thing is, why do we need a trailer? We need a trailer so that we can live a normal life. So I don't want to live a normal life!
- They're just getting older, and I think it would be nice to have a drawer. A bed.
- This is like a gateway decision. First it's the trailer, then it's back to the house. That's my fear, man.
- Can we please stay and play some more?
The good news is we'll make some more friends in a little bit. Right? You think? - Maybe I'll see them again sometime.
- I just want my kids to be aware that there's a different way to live.
- If you're our friend, we're going to hang out with you, but we're also gonna, like, force you to let us do our laundry....We might shower at your place, you might have to feed us. You might even have to give us a bed. Sorry!
- The whole drawer was Legos! Nothing else but Legos! When I saw it, I was like, "What? I want this! I'm just going to take some of this!" But I didn't.
- This is a lot. I never get this many.
- When I grow up, I want to have a house. I want to have a big kitchen I can cook in. I want to have a lot of cars, like a Corvette and Mustang. If I can't, I'll feel super-duper-disappointed. Oh yeah.
- I miss fresh food....And the kids really want to learn to cook? So I feel a bit guilty that we have--
No place to do it. - A home is a great place to land every night.
- If we had a trailer, I would decorate it awesome.
Yeah, you'd like your own little space -- is that what you mean? I bet you would, buddy. We can put fake decorations in your fake trailer, how about that? - Sometimes I need to carry really heavy things, and I don't like carrying heavy things.
- I love it. I don't have to use any more public bathrooms.
- We all would like to spread out a bit.
Maybe. - Having them sleeping all the way in the rear and us all the way up here? That kind of stinks for me. I really like being in the same space.
- We can still use the tent, but maybe we could do it once in a while, like a normal family.
Yeah, but I don't want to be a normal family. That's not interesting to me. That's not what I committed to when we left our house. - They're growing so fast, and they're going to be teenagers in a matter of a few years.
People ask us that all the time -- "What are you going to do when they're older?" I feel like nothing's going to change! Everyone assumes that our kids are going to need privacy and need their own space, but I don't know that that's the case! - We got a trailer.
And a dog.