Bonus Dad! Blake Shelton’s Best Quotes About Parenting and His Relationship With Gwen Stefani’s 3 Sons

Family Over Work

Blake admitted that he decided to step away from The Voice in 2023 after 23 seasons as a coach because he wanted to prioritize his family.

“You don’t know what your regrets are going to be until you look back one day,” he revealed. “I feel like my regrets would be, if I stayed on this path, that I am missing out on some more important things in life. And for now, that’s our kids.”

He also added, “I’ve accomplished more than anything I would ever imagine and made plenty of money, but you can’t buy time back. [Family] is what I want to invest in now.”

Home From the Road

After stepping away from The Voice, Blake also began limiting the amount of tour dates he put on his schedule each year so he could be with the kids more.

“I don’t do a lot of these,” he explained in March 2023. “I think we’re doing 18 of these shows this year. I try to limit as much as I can because the whole reason I’m even stepping away from The Voice is so I can just be there more and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Blake and His Mini-Me

Blake reacted to Apollo choosing to dress like him at Gwen’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony in 2023.

“When he came down that morning, I was so happy and excited,” Blake gushed. “He wears, like, athletic sweatpants or shorts all the time, so when he puts on the jeans and boots it’s like, you know, it just warms my heart. I mean, it really does … to see him have a little country flair to what he wears.”

Stepparenting 101

Of being a stepdad to Gwen’s three boys, Blake explained, “I’ve had stepparents. I think it’s, in some ways, harder, more difficult. I try to be careful about when to step back and be smart about when to step back and just talk. But no matter what, always be there if I’m needed.”

Lessons Learned

“They’ve taught me something about myself that I never knew: I’m more than just a country singer or a goofy guy,” Blake shared in December 2022. “I’m someone they actually lean on and that’s not a responsibility that I ever had and not something that I ever considered even being into. It’s a different kind of self-worth. Maybe it’s the opposite of self-worth because you put yourself way down on the rung and they move up ahead of you.”

All Work and Some Play

The country singer said that he’s “very serious” about his responsibilities as a bonus dad. However, he admitted that he also has a “blast” in the role.

“I don’t take it so serious that I’m not enjoying this time, because I really am, especially now that we’re five years into this thing,” he gushed in 2021. “I can’t imagine my life without these kids now.”

Bonus Dad Responsibilities

After Gwen credited Blake with helping her “raise” her boys, he admitted it was “scary” for him to realize how important his role is in the kids’ lives.

“It’s one thing for me to be with the kids all the time and be their buddy,” he shared. “But then you do have to consider after awhile that they’re starting to listen to things that you say and there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that, which is new to me.”

A Special Moment

Blake proposed to Gwen in 2020 and said that it was incredibly important to him that the kids were there for the special moment.

“The only thing I had planned was that I knew I wanted to do it in Oklahoma while all her kids were there,” he revealed. “We have a group that we get together on [most holidays] with those two parts of our extended family and it’s been like that for years. I wanted everybody to be there in the moment. I didn’t want to take her away or do something private away from the kids. I felt like it was important for the kids to be a part of that moment, so that’s what I did.

A Parent’s Love

“I didn’t know what I was signing up for [when I started dating Gwen],” the Barmageddon host said in 2022. “But I was all about signing up for it. And every day I’ve fallen in love with the boys as much as I do with Gwen.”