Former wide receiver for the New York Giants Victor Cruz may be retired from the sport, but he still has a pretty big job to do, be a dad to his 8-year-old daughter. And in a new interview with People, Cruz opened up about how he talks to his daughter, Kennedy, about racism and all that is going on in the world right now.
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And according to the dad of one, honesty is the best policy. As he explains, when talking about the news with his daughter, the 33-year-old tries to be “as real as possible.”
“Nowadays, with the amount of information that’s out there that’s accessible to these children at an early age, they have access to everything. My daughter knew about George Floyd before I even had the conversation with her about it because of her friends that she talks to … and I’m just like, ‘Wow, my daughter’s 8 years old and having conversations about this with her peers.'”
Cruz also recalled a recent conversation he had with Kennedy while watching a protest unfold on CNN. And although she may not have fully grasped ever concept he tried to explain to the 8-year-old, the dad believes Kennedy understood the jist of it all.
“I had the whole conversation about slavery and how that transpired all the way through to now, and then understanding where we are now and educating her on things we can do moving forward to better ourselves,” Cruz told People. “She may not have understood everything I was saying at 8 years old, but I think she understands the severity of the plight of the Black community, and I think she can put two and two together.”
He also stressed how important it is that Kennedy “understand that you’re a beautiful Black queen and that you will always keep your head up high — you will always be strong and confident and feel empowered because you’re a Black queen. Don’t ever feel discouraged or feel in a negative way because of who you are, and love the skin that you’re in.”
And Cruz says he will always be honest with his daughter because kids appreciate honesty.
“I think you’ll find out in the long run that your kids will understand the honesty and reciprocate that in the things that they do. I’ve noticed that with my daughter — that whenever I’m brutally honest with her and I talk to her about things, when things come up in the future that may be about what we spoke about, she’ll bring it up to me. She’ll ask me about it.”
He then encouraged other parents not to “be afraid to have that transparency with your child on difficult topics” because it’s important, that’s how they learn.
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