There’s something pretty refreshing about celebrity parenting interviews when they actually get specific. Lance Bass recently opened up to Business Insider about exactly how his family handles bedtime, and honestly, it’s the kind of routine that makes you wonder why more parents don’t steal these ideas.
The former NSYNC star and his husband, Michael Turchin, have four-year-old twins—a son and a daughter—and Bass says the key to surviving their busy schedule is sticking to a pretty rigid nightly wind-down. At 7 PM, everything shuts off. Dinner’s done, teeth are brushed, pajamas are on, and it’s time to head to the kids’ room.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of just tucking them in and calling it a night, Bass uses that final hour for something that honestly sounds kind of magical. They’re playing games, reading books, and getting those little brains ready for sleep in a way that feels intentional rather than robotic.
The Reading Obsession
Bass is also pretty transparent about wanting his kids to become bookworms. And from the sounds of it, he’s succeeding. The twins are apparently requesting four to five books every single night. That’s a lot of reading, but the guy seems genuinely thrilled about it. He wants reading to be something his kids crave, not tolerate, and that’s a refreshing shift from the screen-time-heavy default most families fall into.
The Gratitude Journaling Habit
Then there’s the journaling piece. Every night, the family writes down three things they’re grateful for, plus funny moments from the day and even stuff that didn’t go well. It’s a way for the kids to process their emotions and wind down mentally.
Bass told Business Insider that this ritual actually helps regulate his kids and tires them out. That makes sense from a developmental standpoint—reflection before sleep can be genuinely calming, and getting kids to articulate their feelings rather than just bouncing off the walls is a skill that pays dividends.
Clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly previously told Business Insider that having a set time for journaling each day makes it easier to stick with the habit. So Bass isn’t just making this up as he goes along. He’s apparently got some expert-backed thinking behind it.
Parenting Goals or Just Good Common Sense?
Look, not every celebrity parenting interview is worth your time, but this one has some real实用性. The bedtime routine, the reading emphasis, the gratitude journaling—none of it is revolutionary, but actually executing it consistently? That’s the hard part. Bass seems to get that success isn’t about finding some secret hack. It’s about showing up the same way every single night.
celebrity parents like Kate Hudson have also spoken about modeling accountability for their kids by apologizing when they mess up, which fits into this broader idea of teaching emotional intelligence early. It’s a theme that keeps coming up among parents who seem to think deliberately about raising grounded humans rather than just keeping kids busy.
Maybe the takeaway here is pretty simple: the most effective parenting strategies aren’t always the flashiest. Sometimes it’s just turning off the screens at 7 PM, reading a stack of books, and asking your kids what they’re grateful for.
Not rocket science, but definitely harder than it sounds.
