How Suri Cruise Went From an Ultra- Privileged Kid to a Sweet and Humble Teen Thanks to Single Mom Katie

Being the only child of A-listers Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes certainly means that you’re born with a silver spoon. Yet, Suri Cruise, who is 16 today, seems to have grown up to become a well-rounded, down-to-earth teen who is about to turn into a strong and independent young woman. This is mainly due to her mom’s clever parenting style after her split from Tom in 2012, where she knew how to keep her daughter protected from the pressure of Hollywood and connected to the real world around her.

Bright Side admires how Katie succeeded in raising a kind child who prefers volunteering and being with family instead of indulging in the excesses of her privileged life. Here are some of the things the actress did to make sure her daughter keeps her feet on the ground.

She was still bottle-fed at 3.

According to a pediatrician, children should be weaned off the bottle by the time they are 1-year-old. And even by the time they are 9 months old, they have “the physical development and mouth coordination necessary to be able to drink out of a sippy cup or a cup with a straw.” Yet, Suri was still being bottle-fed by her mom at the age of 3, which led to some criticism back then.

No more designer outfits.

At just the tender age of 3, Suri’s wardrobe was already estimated at 1 million dollars. This little kid was arguably one of the most stylish kids in Hollywood and known for her love of dressing up in girly, designer outfits, handbags, and heels.

Yet it seems that all changed when her parents separated and Suri moved with Katie to New York. It was reported that mama put a stop to the designer-focused outfits and was even “returning unsolicited gifts and loans from designers.”

She used to wear makeup at 5.

Besides her elaborate and posh wardrobe, Suri also loved makeup from an early age. In fact, she was often photographed wearing lipstick even before turning 4-years-old, she was even spotted shopping for makeup and testing some right before her 5th birthday. However, this also changed when Suri stopped living with her dad. A source revealed, “All that inappropriate dress-up and makeup was down to Tom.”

She grew up far from the spotlight.

Despite having 2 Hollywood stars for parents, we don’t see or hear much about Suri in the media. In fact, we don’t really see the teen on her mom’s social media platform either, aside from super rare glimpses every now and then. Katie once opened up, saying, “Every parent is challenged by social media and the internet.” She added, “I think, for me, it’s just limiting the amount of time for myself and for my child.”

So instead, this protective mom prefers that her daughter grows up as far as possible from Hollywood, spending plenty of time in Ohio, where the actress was born, surrounded by her grandparents and aunts. It was reported that “They are a close-knit family and have done everything they can to be there for her and to help with her upbringing.”

She does volunteer work with mom.

Despite being born with so much privilege, Katie made sure Suri didn’t grow up disconnected from reality and raised her daughter with moral values. This meant being physically and emotionally involved in helping others by doing a lot of volunteering, like going to Greece together and helping in a refugee camp in 2019.

We imagine that the time they spend together in humanitarian work worldwide also allows this mother and daughter to build strong ties. And Katie herself admitted, “I enjoy volunteering with my daughter and hearing her point of view and listening to her suggestions on how we can help.”

She has to do chores.

Growing up surrounded by a lot of help and people ready to make her life easy for her didn’t mean that Suri could get away with being lazy and spoiled. In fact, Katie once revealed that they have a very structured schedule at home and that little Suri has a list of chores she has to do every day.
The mom noted, ’’She has to make her bed, she has to take her dishes to the sink, she has to put her clothes in the laundry.’’

She attended mass every week

After being homeschooled at first, Suri was sent to a Catholic school, which meant that she didn’t have to follow her dad’s footsteps in Scientology and attend a Scientology school like her older half-siblings had. The Catholic school she went to had a lot of discipline, and this included attending mass every Thursday.

Mother and daughter quality time

It is clear by now that the mom-and-daughter duo always puts family first and has a super strong bond. And that means spending time together as much as possible and enjoying regular activities just like the rest of us. Katie revealed that some of the things the pair spent most of their time doing these past few months were going over Hollywood classic movies, cooking, and making quilts on their sewing machine.

Do you think Katie made the right decision by keeping Suri out of the spotlight as she was growing up?