The celebrity chef and father of four, soon to be five, put his children to a herb test before agreeing to buy them new scooters. Photo / Getty
The celebrity chef and father of four, soon to be five, put his children to a herb test before agreeing to buy them new scooters. Photo / Getty
With four children and a fifth on the way, Jamie Oliver knows a thing or two about parenting.
Now the chef has revealed his secret to disciplining children - making them work for what they want.
The 41-year-old admitted that his children receive presents only if they first prove theydeserve them.
And he said that he once made his eldest daughters - Poppy Honey Rosie, 14, and Daisy Boo Pamela, 13 - identify herbs by smell before buying them a micro-scooter.
He said: "I'll never forget when Poppy and Daisy said, 'Dad, I want a micro-scooter', and I said, 'It's not your birthday, it's not Christmas, you ain't having it'. And they went, 'I want one, I want one'."
"They asked so many times I said, 'Look...' And out the front of our little farmhouse there's a little wall and everything is edible inside the wall. I go, 'Learn all the herbs and I'll buy you a micro-scooter'."
Jamie, his wife Jools and their growing brood. Photo / Getty
"Little b*****s came back in an hour and are like, 'Fennel, marjoram, thyme, orange thyme...' So I go, 'Now you have to do it blindfolded, by smell'. Hour later, 'Orange thyme, lemon thyme, lovage...' - like, complicated stuff. So then I'm like, 'Okay, okay!' I felt like I'd been done. If incentivised, kids are so clever."
The popular scooters cost between $100 and $190. Oliver is worth an estimated $560 million thanks to his cookery books, TV series and advertising deals.
In a wide-ranging interview with Hello! magazine, the chef revealed that he and wife Jools, also 41, have yet to settle on a name for their fifth child, due next month.
He said: "Jools is the gatekeeper of names. She has historically been very floral and there are some very extravagant, cute and whimsical names being flown around, with some very colourful middle names."
Besides Poppy and Daisy, the couple have a third daughter, Petal Blossom Rainbow, seven, and a 5-year-old son, Buddy Bear Maurice. They do not yet know the gender of their fifth child - Oliver said his primary concern is that the baby arrives safely.
