The Science Behind How Donald Trump’s Kids Turned Out Fairly Normal (VIDEOS)

Amazingly, Donald Trump’s four adult children, Ivanka, Donald, Jr., Eric, and Tiffany, all managed to grow up as healthy, hard-working, polite, and responsible adults despite their father’s orange hair, crude manners, lack of logic, and inflated ego. How did he do it? To a large extent, reports say, by outsourcing the rearing of his kids.

Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric have been working on the campaign and in Trump’s business empire; Tiffany, who is a recent college graduate, has made fewer appearances. Both Tiffany and Don, Jr. addressed the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on Day Two. Both were relaxed and confident in front of a national television audience. Tiffany said she loves her father, who she said is “friendly, considerate, funny, and real.”

Here’s Donald Jr.’s speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YshWb3QMDtk

Outsourcing the Work

Donald, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric were the children of Trump’s first marriage, to Ivana. Both parents entrusted them to the care of two Irish nannies. Eric says that when The Donald and Ivana split in 1990, they were about 12, nine, and five, respectively. Donald Jr. and Ivanka acted as parents to Eric as they adjusted to divorce. Ivana’s parents provided a loving influence as well. All three went to boarding school, the boys to the Hill School, and Ivanka, to Choate.

Trump married Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, when she was a few months old. They divorced when she was five. Maples moved to California. For most of her life, Tiffany spent a few weeks with the rest of the children each year.

Marla Maples says this about raising Tiffany:

“The truth was, the challenge was being able to balance being a working mom and being there for a child full time. Her daddy loves her, of course, but … I was the parent. I was the parent that was there in the flesh [and] with her all the time.”

Despite her glowing speech at the RNC, the fact remains that Tiffany Trump barely knew her father — or her siblings — growing up. From the Daily Mail:

The daughter of Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, Tiffany saw her father just a couple of weeks a year after her parents divorced when she was five.

She moved to Califonia with Maples, while Trump continued to work in New York. Her only interaction with the Trumps would come during an annual two-week stay at her father’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

From Inside Edition:

Author Gwenda Blair, who wrote the book “The Trumps,” previously told INSIDE EDITION: “Tiffany lived on the West Coast, Donald lived in New York City, so there was no way he could share in her life the way he shared in his older children’s lives. He was in touch with her. He paid child support. He paid for her education.”

The ‘Kids’ Perspective

Donald, Jr. and Eric both say their father was working 24 hours per day. That didn’t leave time for hand-on parenting activities like playing ball. But they went with their dad to job sites, and he helped them prepare for their careers.

Ivanka told a reporter in 2007:

“I look at my brothers and myself and I’m, like, really proud of the fact that nobody’s, like, totally f–ked-up. Nobody’s a drug addict, nobody’s driving around chasing women, snorting coke. There’s something amazing about that.”

It’s unlikely that Ivanka would use the same language today. In 2009, Ivanka married Jared Kushner and converted to Orthodox Judaism. They now have three children. Ivanka and Jared turn off their phones for 25 hours on Friday evenings to observe the Sabbath. Ivanka cooks Sabbath meals and keeps Kosher. The children and her husband have her undivided attention.

Vote today! I just voted in Philly! #VoteTrump #PAPrimary #Trump2016

A photo posted by Tiffany Ariana Trump (@tiffanytrump) on

What They’re Doing Now

Now, Donald, Jr., and Eric both are married. Both they and Ivanka work in Trump’s businesses. Ivanka also has her own businesses in jewelry and fashion. People who work with them describe the boys as honest and fair. Ivanka has her father’s ambition and business sense.

Don, Jr. has five children, just like Dad. Unlike his Dad, he had them all with the same wife, Vanessa, whom he married in 2005. Eric married in 2012. Like his father, he married a blonde with an exotic name, Lara Yunaska. He manages construction for Trump’s businesses.

Tiffany graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May. She has not announced her career plans.

Featured image via Instagram

Michelle Oxman is a writer, blogger, wedding officiant, and recovering attorney. She lives just north of Chicago with her husband, son, and two cats. She is interested in human rights, election irregularities, access to health care, race relations, corporate power, and family life.Her personal blog appears at www.thechangeuwish2c.com. She knits for sanity maintenance.