Shawn Johnson is giving fans a glimpse into her and Andrew East’s eldest son Jett’s passion with dirt biking — even if it’s aging her far quicker than she’d like.
“I just lost 3 years of my life watching Jett ride a real track for the first time. Thank you to @fastfarmsmx for the INSANE amount of guidance and grace you gave us! We were a literal circus out there doing everything wrong we possible could hahaha and still left with Jett saying, ‘I want to do that forever and ever,’” Johnson, 34, wrote via her Instagram Story on Sunday, May 3.
She continued, “Also, to every single parent and person out there that helped us … Thank you! The community was unmatched! We have no idea what we are doing haha just trying to help this little man live out a dream.”
Alongside the message, Johnson shared an image of Jett standing in the back of a pick up truck while looking at a miniature dirt bike. In a separate Instagram Story, Johnson uploaded a video of the track.
“First got at it. What you didn’t see … 1: First 30 seconds … We accidentally sent Jett out on the track with the big bikes. Not kids. EVERYONE panicked. 2: Second attempt … in the right group … Jett goes over his handle bars and gets pinned by bike,” she wrote.
She continued, “3: Next attempt … Andrew is now following on an E bike. Jett gets going the WRONG direction on a LIVE track. Andrew goes after him. Fast. Andrew falls. Jett falls. Parents everywhere panicking trying to help. 4: Jett and Andrew both get struck in the mud. Need help to get out. Lawwwwwwwdddd.”
Johnson noted in a separate video that her and East’s son rode a bike without training wheels when he was 1 year old and has had an electric bike that he was “fluent” at riding. She explained that Jett has since had a few birthday parties at various BMX tracks. (Johnson and East are also parents to daughter Drew and son Bear, whom they welcomed in 2019 and 2023, respectively.)
“Now, you guys are like, ‘This is too much. It’s too soon.’ Guys, if athletics has taught us anything, it’s how to gauge when your kid is ready — or when a kid is ready — for the next step. He’s surpassing the milestones and bars that we are putting and implementing for him,” she said, defending her decision to allow her son to pursue motocross sports.
Johnson explained that she had a passion for riding when she was a child, noting that Jett’s timing is not “abnormal” for a child to begin racing.
“Today, on the other hand, was just a little bit of a crazy start because we just got thrown in. And that’s how you do it. Trial by fire, pretty much,” she said, adding that Jett has “all the precautionary stuff” and is “very good” at riding. “He’s just never been on a track before.”
Johnson gushed that Jett did a “phenomenal job” racing, but noted that he gave “his mom a heart attack.” As Johnson’s daughter entered the video, the Olympian asked whether she would be interested in racing like her brother. “No,” Drew replied.
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“Let me just say, something that Andrew and I both value as parents is they write a lot of rule books about when your kid is this age, then they can start doing X, Y and Z. Because of our athletic background, we don’t believe in that. We believe that the kid drives it. If the kid is ready, the kid is ready. Some of them move slower, some of them move faster,” she explained. “So with Jett, it’s truly been, he’s been setting the bar. He gets fluent in something, we move onto the next thing.”
Johnson shared that it “all makes [her] nervous” with Jett.
“It doesn’t make sense, his age with the dirt bike and everything, but yet he’s fluent at it and he’s good at it,” she said. “And I really think it was a little treasure put in his little body.”
