Leaving Family to Film, Vincent Verhaag is Proud of El Barack Being a Protective Figure

JAKARTA - Actor Vincent Verhaag must be willing to leave his family temporarily for the sake of filming in several cities. In the midst of his busy schedule, Vincent put full trust in his step-son, El Barack, to take care of his mother and siblings.

Vincent explained that the shooting schedule did not take a full month.

"Oh no, not even a month. So there are schedules. In the first one it was in Solo, Semarang was four days. Then back. Then leave again in the middle of the month to Jogja. So there are still pauses to go home to meet my wife and meet my children," said Vincent in the South Jakarta area, not long ago.

Because he couldn't go on a recent family vacation, Vincent left a special message to El Barack.

"I was like 'El, papa is not here, papa can only trust you. Because you are the only boy, the only guy who is really strong'," said Vincent, repeating his conversation.

The task given by Vincent to Jessica Iskandar's eldest son is quite detailed. After returning from vacation, Vincent was amazed by El's honest answer when he was picked up at the airport.

"You have to take care of mom, take care of Don's brother, and Hagia's brother. But if mom needs help with the bag, or carries Hagia, or takes mom's bag, or reminds mom about the things around, that's your job, El," he added.

"I asked 'El, how's the holiday?' 'Oh, I'm so tired, Pa'. 'Tired why?' 'A lot of responsibilities'," said Vincent, imitating his son's chatter.

The responsibility that El meant was actually carried out like an adult man.

"I asked 'Like what?' 'Yes, mom's bag, mom's phone, oma's phone, and Don's toys. Just imagine there is oma, there is mom, there is Don, and there is myself, so I take care of all that, Pa'. 'Wow, yes, that's what a responsible man is called'," continued Vincent proudly.

Vincent admitted that he did apply a structured parenting pattern to discipline El.

"We have people who may have heard of the 7-7-7 scheme. 0 to 7 years we give love, 7 to +7 we give responsibility, 7 + another 7 is more about us becoming friends," he explained.

The rules have yielded positive results on El's independence and routines at home.

"So from maybe 7, 8 years old, I've made it possible to say that I've educated him to be disciplined. By tidying up toys, beds, homework. So he has to do his homework without having to be reminded by his parents," he explained.

El's family-like attitude was also evident when he was asked about the gift if he got good grades at school.

"So he never wanted 'Pa, I want to buy Lego'. No. He was more like 'Pa, can I go on vacation? Later we'll invite Mama, Don, Hagia, Oma'," explained Vincent.

According to Vincent, this proves that El is an amazing family loving figure. "So he's more than I just said, I can read him, he also comes as a family boy. Becoming a family man, which is very good," concluded Vincent.