Gisele Bündchen Turned the Super Bowl Into a Teachable Moment for Her Kids

Kids, understandably, have a hard time dealing with the emotions associated with losing—especially Tom Brady’s kids, who, let’s face it, aren’t especially used to the feeling. With that in mind, Gisele Bündchen used the Patriots’ Super Bowl defeat as an opportunity to teach them how not to be sore losers.

“Sometimes you have to let other people win. We have to share. Sharing is caring,” USA TODAY quotes Bündchen as telling her teary children, Vivian, 5, and Benjamin, 8, after the Eagles won. “Their whole life, they never won a Super Bowl. You have to let someone else win sometimes.”

(We won’t split hairs over her word choice of letting the other team win here.)

Bündchen also made it a point to congratulate the Eagles, both on Instagram and in person at US Bank Stadium.

By taking the time to constructively console her kids, Bündchen demonstrated what Harvard researchers would certainly deem positive parenting. In 2014, the university’s Making Caring Common project outlined four ways to raise a more caring, empathetic child, and last night, Bündchen checked off almost every box:

1. Kids need help seeing the bigger picture, as well as reminders to look at the situation from someone else’s shoes
2. Children need strong moral role models who practice what they preach
3. Children need to be guided in managing destructive feelings
4. Kids shouldn’t be expected to learn empathy overnight; practice makes perfect

Still, when Vivian announced, “The Eagles won the Super Bowl,” Bündchen took a moment to set the record straight.

“Just this time. Daddy won five times. They never won before.”