When it comes to raising his three kids, Tom Brady acknowledges that he's operating from an entirely different playbook than his parents. But the seven-time Super Bowl champ is still trying to follow the same game plan.
"My parents taught me a lot of great values," he shared of attempting to emulate the childhood he had growing up outside San Francisco as Galynn and Tom Brady Sr.'s youngest child (and only boy). "I'm trying to do the same even though my life now is different than when I grew up. But I feel like I'm still very much the same person that is going to do the best I could do with my kids."
Among the Xs and Os he's passing along to Jack (his 15-year-old son with Bridget Moynahan) plus Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10 (his kids with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen)?
"I'm trying to raise them—we all are, myself and their mom—in a very loving way toward one another," he told E! News in an exclusive interview, "to be very kind, to be empathetic and to have great perspective. Our kids are growing up in different ways than we grew up but also we want to raise them with the right values."
Because as fun as it can be to, say, cruise around Sardinia or YOLO your way through a celebratory Super Bowl boat parade, the retired NFL quarterback, 45, is acutely aware that life's most special moments don't include a superyacht or thousands of screaming football fans.
Asked his favorite aspect of fatherhood, he referenced an exchange he had with his younger two just before sitting down with E! News to discuss his new partnership with Hertz.
"It's just the individual moments that you share with the kids," he explained. "I have this wall where I measure how tall they are. And I said, 'You guys look like you've grown, let's see how much you've grown.' They grew two inches in two months, both of them. Big growth spurts."
One could argue Brady is enjoying his own season of growth.
For the first time in 23 years, the single athlete (he and Bundchen finalized their divorce in October) won't be reporting to training camp this summer. Though he will be suiting up next year, Brady likening his upcoming gig as a color analyst for Fox Sports to reality TV, saying, "There's a lot of realness to getting on there and broadcasting sports."
And when he kicks off that new career in 2024, he's sure he'll have just as many critics as he did when he was out there calling the plays.
"That's live TV," he noted. "So there's not much opportunity to make a mistake then. If you make it, you got to live with it. But that's part of life too. And whatever mistakes I make going forward, I'll try to learn from as best I can."
That's just another lesson he can pass along to his kids, sandwiched in between the importance of having compassion for others and charting your own course.
Because, despite an obvious genetic leg up, Brady isn't pushing his children onto any field, court or pitch.
"In a way, it's very challenging for our kids to be involved in sports, because there's a lot of expectations that come with that," explained the 14-time Pro Bowler. "I don't think that's necessarily fair to the kids to put expectations based on their parents, so I want them to grow up as their own unique individuals with their own unique traits that they've got. They're going to contribute into the world in the way that they see fit, and certainly not the way that their mom or dad see."
And he's looking forward to cheering them on from the sidelines.
With his kids' school years wrapped up, they have plans "to travel to different parts of the world and see some different things," Brady shared, making time for "enough fun in between some work commitments."
Though he doesn't predict "a super chill summer" as he juggles various balls like his Brady Brand apparel, his TB12 lifestyle brand, his new gig with Hertz and other partnerships, his children remain firmly at the top of his depth chart.
"We're not promised anything in life," he explained of his family-first mentality. "We just try to make the best out of the situations that we have and spending time with my kids is a great thing for me. They bring so much to my life and they add so much joy and energy and life and intensity and maturity that you see them mature in different ways. And I just want to be there to support them as best I can."