He’s well on his way to a successful movie career, and Jaden Smith feels that he’s ready to be out on his own.

In a recent interview, proud papa Will Smith shared that his son asked to be legally emancipated from his parents as a 15th birthday gift.

Jaden Smith explained, “He says, ‘Dad, I want to be emancipated.’ I know if we do this, he can be an emancipated minor, because he really wants to have his own place, like ‘Ooh.’”

“That’s the backlash. On the other side, if kids just want to have command of their lives, I understand.”

As for his approach to parenting with wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Will noted, “We generally don’t believe in punishment. From the time Jaden was five or six, we would sit him down, and all he has to do is be able to explain why what he did was the right thing for his life. I think it’s a much more difficult question to ask someone —’Why was that right?’ — than to try to show them why it was wrong.”

“Nobody wants to be wrong, all parts of yourself fight like crazy to not be wrong. So I’ll say to Jaden, ‘Why was that the right thing to do for your life?’ and if he can explain why kicking his sister in the chest was the right thing to do, we can see to it that he understands that it wasn’t so smart.”