Kylie Kelce Says Her Family Thrives In The Chaos: “You Have To Embrace It”

Kylie Kelce is no stranger to youth sports. An avid field hockey player in high school and college (and now field hockey coach), Kylie has seen her fair share of wild sports parent moments, vowing to do it differently if her daughters — Wyatt (4), Elliotte (2), and Bennett (11 months) — go that same route. She plans to keep a calm head alongside her husband — retired NFL star Jason Kelce.

Kylie chatted with Scary Mommy over Zoom to talk about the madness of youth sports, her summer plans with the kids, plus what the fall might look like for her family now that Jason officially announced his retirement from the NFL.

Scary Mommy: So, how is your morning going so far?

Kylie Kelce: A little hectic this morning! I was late. It's like fighting for your life, trying to get out of the house with three kids.

SM: Are you guys in full summer mode? Are the kids done with school?

KK: Today is actually their last day of school. That was part of the delay this morning, trying to coax them out of bed with the idea that they will not see their friends until the fall outside of play dates. We're about to be in full summer.

SM: How are you feeling about that?

KK: Summer sounds delightful. Although our summer right now, our summer schedule is a little chaotic, so we'll see how relaxing summer is this year.

SM: Are you more of a laid back summer mom or structured summer mom?

KK: Oh gosh. I would love to be a structured summer mom, but I barely can give myself structure, so it is a free for all. We try to mix it up with activities, but ultimately we try to get down to the beach as much as possible because that's sort of the happy place.

SM: Are the kids going to do any sports or anything this summer?

KK: They might trickle along to some field hockey practices, but that's about it.

SM: I'm sure you saw your fair share of wild parent moments while playing field hockey.

KK: Oh yes...

SM: How do you think you will be as a sports mom if your girls go that route?

KK: I hope that I am the laid back parent. I'm sure that a yell will happen in here and there, but being a coach, I very much can appreciate staying in your lane. So I will let the coaches do their coaching and I will just be on the sideline hopefully with positive encouragement because I've just been on the receiving end of some yells before that I would not like to dish out.

SM: You do a ton of work with the Eagles Autism Foundation. With Neurodiversity Pride Day coming up, can you tell us a little bit about what being part of the organization has meant to you?

KK: So the Eagles Autism Foundation, we were just lucky enough that the team owner, Jeffrey Lurie, felt passionate because he had a personal connection. His brother is actually on the spectrum and he took that passion and ran with it.

He made it a priority of the team and we were just lucky enough to be here to witness the greatness that is EAF. So my passion for autism has been able to be channeled into that, and then that's what led to this outstanding partnership with HP and Print Pals.

SM: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. We were just on long plane rides and I was like, that would've been amazing for the plane.

SM: Going back to youth sports, you said that you hope to be a calm, laid-back parent. Do you have any advice for parents who maybe have a hard time with that?

KK: Ultimately, let the coach be the coach. If you can let your kids be coached by other people, that's an outstanding quality. Some of my best athletes that have come through have not necessarily been the most talented, but they've been the most coachable and taken constructive criticism and applied it.

Also at a young age, like our girls, I know we're definitely going to sort of diversify what they're doing. I think that there is a culture now that sort of sets people into one sport and says, you must now focus on that and only that, and I think when your kids are doing a bunch of stuff, it makes it easier for you to lay back and say, ‘They're trying it. They're seeing what they like, they're seeing what they love.’

And you can sit back in that so that you're not watching, let's say six baseball games a week and then thinking that you could coach an MLB team.

SM: My daughter's in youth soccer, and it's like, five and under and it's already intense.

KK: Everyone has played soccer, so everyone thinks that they can to some degree coach it. And that's where I luck out with field hockey because population's a little tighter.

SM: Speaking of sports, now that Jason has officially announced his retirement, I'm assuming your fall might look a little different. How are you feeling about all that?

KK: It's funny. Everyone keeps asking if he's been home a lot, but he's busier in retirement than he was playing football.

He used to really take his downtime as downtime so that his body could rest and recover and now it's just go, go, go. So the fall could potentially be more chaotic than it was when he was playing, but I will still be coaching field hockey, so it will be in our house a normal chaotic fall.

SM: That's great. I feel like maybe that's where you do best.

KK: We thrive in chaos. You have to embrace it, otherwise things go downhill quickly.

SM: I totally understand that, and especially having three young children, I feel like the quiet and the steady would feel weird for you.

KK: Yes, very quiet is not where we sit. It would be uncomfy for sure.

This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.