Kelly Stafford recently shared a positive update after a challenging year navigating her daughters’ emotional ups and downs.
The wife of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford revealed that three of their four girls participated in a cotillion class on Thursday, November 13. Cotillion, rooted in an 18th-century style of dance, is now commonly used as a way to teach preteens social etiquette and good manners.
Kelly, 36, posted a photo on Instagram of Matthew, 37, with their three eldest daughters dressed in elegant outfits, captioning it simply: “Cotillion ❤️.”
The Staffords share four daughters: 8-year-old twins Sawyer and Chandler, 7-year-old Hunter, and 5-year-old Tyler.
Kelly has previously been open on her podcast, The Morning After, about the behavior struggles their family has faced, especially over the past several months.
Back in March, she admitted she had called off the twins’ eighth-birthday celebration due to ongoing issues at home.
“For months now we’ve been dealing with some serious attitude,” she explained. “I’m usually the strict parent, the one who enforces everything, but even Matthew has had to shift because nothing we were doing was making a difference.”
Kelly said they ultimately told the twins they wouldn’t be having a party because their behavior didn’t warrant a celebration. Though she later changed her mind and shared photos from their Paris-themed event, she noted that the decision had felt right at the time.
In August, Kelly opened up about a difficult phase with her youngest daughter, Tyler, who didn’t attend cotillion because of her age.
“One of my girls has been especially tough,” she said emotionally. “Matthew and I barely recognize her behavior lately. Nothing we’ve tried has helped, and it’s draining. I’ve told her, ‘It’s not fair to your sisters that all my energy goes to managing your behavior. If you need something from me, tell me.’”
Ahead of the etiquette classes, Kelly also discussed a major change coming for the girls. She shared in September that they are planning to enroll them in a well-regarded Christian school next year.
“I’m genuinely excited,” she said on the podcast. “The world feels unpredictable right now, and giving them a strong Christian foundation—something steady to lean on—is really important to me.”
She added that a Christian school environment would help her daughters grow up more similarly to how she and her sister Jenny were raised.
