Victor Cruz Talks About Co-Parenting His 8-Year-Old Daughter And the Importance of Communication
If you ask retired football star Victor Cruz the one thing you need to be able to do to successfully co-parent, it would be talking. Cruz, who was a Super Bowl Champion while a wide receiver for the New York Giants, said he wouldn’t be able to “do anything as a co-parent without talking.”
In an interview with Parents Latina, Cruz said communication is key no matter what your relationship is with the other parent of your child. “Even if you’re no longer living under the same roof, the discussions still need to happen for the sake of your kid. And you have to put your ego aside because it can create turmoil and distraction.”
Another key to successfully co-parenting is making sure the focus is never on the parents, but rather also on the child. “If your child is happy, then everyone is going to be happy,” Cruz said.
Eight years ago, Cruz became a father for the first time when he and his ex welcomed a baby girl into the world named Kennedy. Kennedy quickly became the most important person in his life.
Now, they are making a conscious effort to raise Kennedy with a well-rounded knowledge of her heritage. As well as an understanding of where her parents came from and how hard they worked to give her the life she has now. Cruz does this by taking Kennedy to his hometown to show her his modest roots and also talks to her in Spanish as much as he does English.
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“We constantly speak to her in Spanish,” he told Parents Latina. “She’s in a language-immersion school because we want to make sure she’s fluent. We’re making a concerted effort to raise her to be bilingual and multicultural so she’s always in touch with her roots.”
Cruz has also created a tradition in which he and Kennedy volunteer at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving. Something he hopes she will continue when she has a family of her own.
The proud dad also told Parents Latina that their personalities are very similar. From their love of dancing to their energy, this father-daughter duo is two peas in a pod. “Winning a Super Bowl [in 2012] as an Afro-Latino, representing my culture in the football field and everywhere I go, and seeing people of all colors dancing salsa in the stadium—that’s my biggest legacy.”
Now when it comes to dancing, it’s Kennedy teaching Cruz. How sweet are these two?
