John Brown Took Sledgehammer to Amon-Ra St. Brown's Game Console

John Brown is not a fan of video games.

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) and Packers wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown (19) exchange jerseys / David Reginek-USA TODAY Sports

John Brown, the father of Detroit Lions star wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown, was featured heavily during the Netflix docuseries "Receiver".

It is hard to argue with any of the parenting tactics of the two-time former Mr. Universe. Two of his sons currently play in the National Football League, and a third may have if not for injuries.

Brown revealed he had his sons begin working out early in childhood, and in recent appearance on a podcast hosted by his sons Amon-Ra and Equanimeous, a bold parenting decision was discussed.

Many parents struggle with the distractions video games present to young children. For Brown, the decision to remove any distractions he felt would negatively impact his children was simple.

"All that Game Boy stuff, I didn't like that. Your mom brought that in the house. I didn't like all that. I don't like those video games. In my opinion, you had to suffer because we were taking it away, your mom figured out a way to cut it off," Brown said. "One of you guys videotaped it. I took the sledgehammer and broke it and made you videotape me breaking it. So don't tell me I didn't. I didn't like that. I think that's a sacrifice."

The family also discussed the difficulty of balancing the workload the father presented. Amon-Ra and Equanimeous didn't realize the differences between their lifestyle and others their age until they were older.

"Also, your education. You had to come home, do your homework, then workout with me. It was a lot on your plate. But to you, it was what you did," Brown continued. "You didn't realize that your friends weren't doing that until maybe you went to their house and saw how they were living. It's a sacrifice there." 

When asked what sacrifices he had his kids make, John Brown says he took a sledgehammer to his sons' video game console and had one of them video it. pic.twitter.com/vKFEcrFKfW

— St. Brown Podcast (@StBrownPodcast) July 17, 2024

Workout philosphy

Brown indicated that he has faced pushback for having his children workout at an early age. He shared that he began having his children lift weights at five years old.

“In my house, five years old you start lifting weights in the garage. So five, six, seven, we’re all in the garage getting down," Brown explained. "A lot of people would say, because they did come to my garage, ‘Mr. Brown, I don’t think you should be doing that.’ I said, ‘Alright, I understand that. You do what you do, I do what I do.’ We saw how this thing turns out. I see my kids climbing trees, picking up their bicycles, that’s resistance training to me, so it should work out."

The St. Brown's didn't lift heavy weights or do ultra-strenuous lifts, but were able to begin strength training at an early age.

In the end, having two sons being professional athletes is proof that if monitored carefully and closely, children can benefit from working out.

"I was right with that. I was thinking about, don’t lift weights at an early age. We didn’t do squats at five years old, or deadlifts. But in terms of lifting weights at a young age -- it stunts your growth, I don’t know who said that. I’ve never met that guy," said Brown. "I don’t believe that, so don’t believe that. It’s not true. So you should start, I think earlier the better. A stronger you will beat a weaker you, is what I think.”