JANE SEYMOUR: RAISING HEALTHY KIDS FROM THE HEART

BY ELISA AST ALL

IT'S A SUNNY MORNING IN MALIBU, Calif, and legendary actress, author and artist Jane Seymour has just returned home from a parent-teacher conference at her sons'school. Like many 9-year-old boys, one of her twins needs reminding that it's important to "play nice" during recess, and Seymour and the teacher have worked out a plan to help him remember. And just yesterday the twins, John and Kristopher, had their first baseball game of the season. Seymour and her husband, director James Keach, cheered the boys on, elated that the less competitive of the two actually made an incredible hit and tagged out four runners.

I was just so excited," Seymour says. "He is tortoise and the hare, the little engine that could, and he just had a beaming smile on his face. Then his brother who usually wins everything, came out of the pen and gave him a pat on the back and cheered him and said, 'Way to go!' That is the stuff that makes my day."

While these vignettes from Seymour's life sound familiar to many of us moms, what happens next during her day is a departure from what most of us can expect.


Seymour will meet with her secretary, who coordinates Seymour's schedule and books her flights around the world. Once the to-do list is complete, Seymour is off to read a script for her upcoming appearance on the WB show Smallville, then to work on the funding and distribution of an upcoming film she's producing, then to continue painting commissioned pieces for the Naples, Italy, Wine Festival. She also has events connected with her role in this summer's Comedy The Wedding Crashers with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, and her documentar, Running Dry about the world's water crisis. And of course there's often work to do with her branded line of home products and children's apparel, which are available in Saks department stores.

And this is all before the twins return home from school.

When John and Kristopher get home, it's off to the races again. Depending on the season, there's
practice for baseball or football or soccer or basketball, and every night, no matter the season, there's piano practice.

"Music is very big, and they are both very naturally musical." says Seymour who also is mother to grown children Sean and Katie and stepmother to Jenni and Kalen. "Keeping all of this going is definitely difficult. I get frustrated about homework not being turned in, and I get frustrated when they study for something and then they rush the test. You know, the usual mother stuff."

The afternoon is all about family bonding "We have no television viewing or video games or computer games during the week," Seymour says. "It is school work, sports, music and family dinner time. We all sit together and talk and have dinner together. Then we read and we talk and they go to bed by 9. Before bedtime they will do an art project with me, or they will build things. They have pet lizards that they look after and play with."

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