Matt Damon gets honest about ‘non-negotiable' parenting rule

Matt Damon may spend his days battling monsters in The Odyssey, but at home, the biggest challenge is keeping everyone off their phones.

As the Oscar winner prepares for life with an almost-empty nest, Damon is opening up about the one family tradition that has survived Hollywood schedules, international film shoots and teenage distractions.

“We have family dinner every night, and that’s non-negotiable, and it’s always been that way,” Damon told People magazine.

But even that sacred routine recently got a reality check—courtesy of one of his daughters.

“One of my daughters said, ‘Well, family dinner, last night we didn’t talk,’” Damon recalled.

“And we realized, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re right.’ We sat down for dinner, and you can get lost in that routine a little bit and not appreciate why you established the routine in the first place. So again, that’s the kind of family mindfulness we’re all working on.”

With two of his four daughters already out of the house, the actor admits the family is trying to embrace the next chapter instead of fearing it.

“I feel like we are facing it and embracing the fact that it’s happening,” he said. “We’ve been talking a lot about presence and about really trying to be in the moment... because you can’t slow time down, the only way to really do it is to really be there and be in it.”

The heartfelt reflection comes as Damon promotes Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

He recently revealed that his daughters attended the film’s London premiere after making “a lot” of sacrifices during the movie’s demanding production.

Turns out, even one of Hollywood’s biggest stars still answers to the toughest critics of all—his kids.