Kristen Bell Explained Why Her Kids Drink Non-Alcoholic Beers

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Kristen Bell is known for her honest and very refreshing approach to discussing parenting, so when she appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show recently, we knew we were in for some great chat.

Bell and Clarkson were discussing bringing their kids to Disneyland when the subject turned to whether their respective children had tried alcohol before.

The "Piece by Piece" singer revealed that her daughter had grabbed a tiny sip of her champagne as a baby, and that Clarkson had very quickly taken the glass out of River's hand, surprised that this had even happened.

Then Bell shared an unusual habit of her own children's (the Frozen star shares daughters Lincoln, 9, and Delta, 8, with husband Dax Shepard).

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"My kids have ordered non-alcoholic beers at restaurants before—which sounds insane if you don't know..." Bell began.

"Context is important, we've learned that over the last few years. So my husband and I, when we walked the babies at night in our neighborhood when my daughter was really little—he is a recovering addict, but he likes non-alcoholic beers, so he'd pop one open.

"He'd have her on his chest, and we'd walk and look at the sunset, so as a baby she was like pawing at it, and sometimes she would, like, suck on the rim of it, so I think it feels to her like something special, something Daddy, something family."

At this point Clarkson double checked whether these beers were non-alcoholic, and Bell said, "There's no alcohol in it."

She continued, "So we've been at restaurants where she's like, 'Do you have any non-alcoholic beer?' and I'm like, 'Maybe, maybe, maybe we don't—we just keep that for home...home time."

Although Clarkson's own children presumably don't drink non-alcoholic beers, the TV host could relate to the general concept of one's kids having unusual habits at home. "It's so amazing when in your own family, you're like, 'This is normal,' but then you go outside and you're like, 'So that maybe doesn't track as healthy,'" she said.

Bell agreed, but added, "But then I'm also sort of like, you can judge me if you want, I'm not doing anything wrong. Like, that's your problem."

The Veronica Mars actress has previously opened up about having honest conversations with her daughters, which includes telling them about drugs and sex, and being open about Shepard's history of addiction.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.