“I want my kids’ childhood to feel as normal as it can…”
When Luke Combs isn’t selling out stadiums, recording hits or winning major awards, he’s living a pretty typical life as a husband and a father. So despite the massive fame he’s achieved, making the time to enjoy the little moments with his family and raising his kids to be good people are his biggest priorities.
The superstar recently appeared on a new episode of the MeatEater podcast where he shared insight into what his day-to-day really looks like when he’s not touring.
“My life is so normal outside of when I’m playing shows, I really don’t do a whole lot of anything other than I go play my shows and I come home and I spend time with my wife and my kids,” he explained. “And I do whatever work stuff I have to do when I’m home, whether that’s writing songs, which most of the time I’m doing at my house with my friends and stuff. I’m just there, dude.”
Balancing Work With Fatherhood
He went on to explain that the best part about having a more flexible schedule is that he’s still able to fulfill the duties of a stay-at-home parent during those off periods. And even when Combs is on the road, traveling from city to city, he’s only gone about three days a week, allowing him to take on the responsibilities that come with caring for his two boys, Tex Lawrence Combs and Beau Lee Combs. This includes “getting the kids up, changing diapers, doing baths, cooking dinners, cooking lunches, cooking breakfasts.”
Though each of these tasks occupy a good chunk of his time in a day, and sometimes even take away from other opportunities that could further his career, Combs admits “that’s what I want.”
“I want my kids’ childhood to feel as normal as it can, given the very strange circumstances that it will ultimately become. That’s a choice you have to make. And you lose a lot of things with that in the sense of like, there’s so many cool opportunities that I have that maybe would be really, not really beneficial, but cool experiences or beneficial to my career that I pass on to do that for my kids,” he revealed. “It’s not something I’m bragging [about], like ‘I’m such a good dad.’ It’s not that. It’s just, I say this all the time, but my kids didn’t ask to be born. It was my choice to bring them into the world. So to me, it’s my duty.”
starts now when they’re just 2 and 1 year old, respectively.
“Even now, the kids, we live in a 2000 square foot house, man, it’s me. It was two bedrooms. Me and my wife have a room and then the kids, the boys share a room. So we’re always close together,” he explained.
As Combs continues to learn how to balance his high-profile career with the duties of fatherhood, he places a strong emphasis on teaching his children the value of responsibility, beginning with the simple task of cleaning up after themselves.
“Every night it’s like, alright, we’re all cleaning up now and mom and dad are cleaning up…to the extent that a one-and-a-half-year-old can, he’ll get a block and bring it over and he might only pick up two things, but my two and a half year old now, he can make a 5% dent in the cleanup,” Combs told the podcast crew. “But he understands, dude. We make it a point to go, ‘Hey man, you need to help us with this stuff. This is your job. You make a mess. You got to clean it up.’”
How Combs Career Could Impact The Future Of His Family
Tex and Beau might be too young to understand the fact the uniqueness of their living situation, because to them, Combs is simply just their dad. And while he values spending time with his family and embracing the daily routines of fatherhood, he’s also conscious of the abnormal circumstances his kids are growing up in. Knowing this and the privilege that comes with his fame, Combs has already found himself thinking about what that could mean for their future and the kind of people they become.
“We don’t want them to be a product of their circumstances in a negative way. Someone in our particular situation would worry that it would be easier for them to fall into just being a complete dirt bag if left unchecked…it’d be easier for them to be like, oh well someone will come and get my coffee when I’m done. Someone will pick that up. That would be easier for them to end up at than it would be if your dad worked at a factory. You’re closer to that finish line of being a scumbag, pretty much,” Combs explained honestly.
He went on to acknowledge the fact that his sons aren’t able to fully grasp all of this, but he is still focused on making sure they don’t take anything for granted as they get older and start to understand things better.
“My kids, they haven’t been through the regular airport…they haven’t flown a bunch, but we’ve chartered a plane to go down to Florida or something and it’s like that to them is normal. And so it’s my job to explain to them that, ‘Hey man, this is not a normal thing and it’s super privileged to get to do this, but it’s not something that you are necessarily entitled to. It’s not something that you should feel like this is the standard and it’s beneath me to go to the airport.’”
Raising His Boys To Be ‘Good People’
Combs further emphasized that a bit part of his parenting strategy is his commitment to raising his sons to be humble, respectful, and hardworking individuals. “The goal for me and my wife with our boys is to make ’em respectful and we want ’em to just ultimately be good people,” he said.
However, he also opened up about the challenge that comes with being a father in his position and wanting to do everything he can to help his kids succeed in life.
“It’s like you ride that razor’s edge too, of you don’t want it to turn into a nepotism thing, but just your fatherly instinct is just to do everything you can for your kids,” he admitted.
At the end of the day, Luke Combs might be in a unique situation that has no guidebook to turn to when questions or challenges arise, but he’s still just a dad trying to do his best by his kids.
The North Carolina native is currently enjoying his downtime at home while preparing for a summer full of festival dates. He kicked off the year with a run of headlining stadium shows across Australia and New Zealand in January and February and will soon return to the stage for festival appearances like Stagecoach, Bonnaroo, and Boston Calling, and more.
