“Fixer Upper” star Chip Gaines wants his kids to grow up focused on things other than money.
The HGTV star, who turns 50 this year, opened up about how he wants his kids to define success in an essay he wrote for the latest issue of Magnolia Journal, according to People magazine.
Magnolia Journal. PHOTO Lisa Petrole for Magnolia JournalChip Gaines Doesn’t Want His Kids to Rest on His Success
Chip Gaines and wife Joanna have five kids: Drake, 19, Ella, 18, Duke, 16, Emmie, 15, and Crew, 6. And despite the couple’s incredible success, he says he’d prefer his family to embrace the experience of the journey.
“For me, the reward isn’t when I make it to my destination. It’s how I rode out the waves,” Chip writes. “How many times I was willing to take big swings even if it meant losing my footing. How often I dared to pivot not for the sake of danger but deep delight.”
“While there’s nothing inherently wrong with moments of comfort and reprieve, sometimes I worry our world has put these ideals on a pedestal, and happiness has started to look like ease and success like finish lines,” he continues.
“I already know these types of images will be fed to my kids every day of their lives. I don’t want them to have an unrealistic or discouraging grasp of the alternative: the joy of the journey.”
Chip writes that everyone is going to get the ending they’re destined for, and that he believes the person you end up being is formed by the decisions you make throughout your life.
“And despite what’s commonly thought of as the good life — one where you’re resting on the beach with a piña colada and a fat 401(k) — we are happiest when we’re rocking and rolling and figuring out complicated things,” he shares.
Chip and Joanna Gaines Watch Nest Begin to Empty
Last month, Joanna spoke to PEOPLE about dealing with their “emptying” nest after the couple’s oldest son Drake went away to college. And how they’re feeling now that daughter Ella is preparing to do the same.
While the older kids rarely make appearances in their parents’ television shows or social media posts any more, Ella did join mom Joanna recently near the end of an episode of her cooking show “Magnolia Table” to taste the food.
Having the kids grow up and move out has hit the couple hard. “I was so sad,” Joanna told PEOPLE. “I couldn’t believe how it hit me because Chip always says I’m not super emotional. I’m pretty steady. But, I think just the idea that I realize that one move out with that one kid, it triggers something now where it starts feeling everything goes fast.”
“How do I prepare my own heart for it?” she continued, referring to Ella, who will graduate from high school this spring. “It’s like you’re losing the one that you go on the weekends to get coffee with and shop at the antique stores. I’m like, ‘Where’s my friend going?’ It’s just being okay with the shift and letting go of what was, and just being excited for what’s to come.”
Chip and Joanna Gaines Get Intentional About Spending Time With Kids
The coming changes have the couple focused on making the time count despite their busy schedules running their Magnolia Empire. “Knowing that [the older kids] will be gone in the next few years, I’ve made a conscious decision to create micro-moments, to feel in the now with our family, just be really more intentional with our time together,” Joanna told PEOPLE. “And hopefully, try and slow it all down a bit!”
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Chip Gaines Wants Kids to Focus on More than Money