Peter Andre has revealed who is the “stricter” parent out of him and his ex-wife Katie Price.
The 47-year-old devoted dad, who shares children Junior, 15, and Princess, 13, with former Page 3 starlet Katie, kindly spoke to Daily Star in a bid to help our readers keep their children safe online.
It comes as Peter is joining forces with cybersecurity specialists Panda Security on a campaign to keep kids safe online this winter, as lockdown measures result in more time being spent indoors and on social media.
The former I’m A Celeb star, who is best known for his singles Mysterious Girl and Flava in the 90s, opened up on what his rules are for his children and how he thinks parents can protect their young on the web.
Peter said that his children are allowed to have social media sites such as Instagram when they are 13 but they are “not” to go public until they are 14.
Peter Andre has said he is the ‘stricter’ parent (Image: WireImage)
He said: “They can have Instagram when they are 13 but they can not go public until they are 14.
“Junior has stuck to it. Princess not so much but what I did with Princess was compromise so I told her to turn her comments off.”
The star went on to explain the importance he believes this could have on your child’s social media use.
He explained: “One of the big problems we’ve got is it is what you are reading.
“See if you think about the old days whatever you read you believed, right. So, when you have bullies in school and someone says something to you, you can see in their eyes whether they were angry or trying to fit in with everyone else and bully you to do it. With that, you can confront them and say, ‘well come on then’ but when it’s online and it’s in black and white it resonates with you and you start thinking, ‘maybe I am like that’.”
Peter continued: “Ideally my kids would listen to everything I say. But as parents we have to come to compromises because this is the way of the future. It’s online.
Peter shares two children with Katie, Princess and Junior (Image: Peter Andre Instagram)
“So, we can argue it all we like but they’re going to spend a lot of time online so what we need to do is find ways, and I think something like this campaign, which is what I love, is that we can use to sort of subtly build a little fortress around them to protect them without them knowing.”
The star went on to explain how he does this by using the example of how much he lets Princess and Junior spend online and how he communicates this with them in a manner which is seen as a compromise.
Peter said: “For example, if I say, ‘oh, I’m going to watch how many hours you’re online then I’m going to block you after four hours’ instead of every hour going ‘you’re coming off’ because all you’re doing is causing a sort of tension.
“So, if you can do it subtly they will eventually discover you did it to protect them and you did it while not being in their face about it.”
Junior is 15 and Princess is 13 (Image: Splash News)
Asked how easy it is for his children to follow rules when co-parenting with his ex-wife Katie Price, whom Peter shares two children with, the star said he is the “strict parent”.
Peter said: “I’ve always kind of been the stricter parent.
“The only reason that is, is because my dad and mum were very strict. But they were so strict to the point that I couldn’t do anything. I’ve taken the best bits that I realised when I was older.
“Classic example, we always sit together and have dinner. We don’t have the TV on, we sit and we talk. We talk about what happened at school and during our days, now, they don’t want to talk about school but once we have the conversation they go on and on and on.”
Peter also advised on how he protects his children from posting things online which they may later regret.
He said: “The other thing I always say to them is, ‘whatever you put online, dad will see it’. At some point I’m going to see it. So, you’ve got to think, ‘is dad going to like this?’ if you think the answer is no, try not to do it.
“Obviously, it’s not always as easy as that but as a parent you just try your best to do your best.
“Junior the other day funnily enough asked me if he thought he should do something and I said, ‘I’d prefer if you didn’t’ and guess what, he didn’t do it because I said to him, you’re old enough to know but if you’re asking me my opinion then that’s it and he listened.
“I didn’t say, ‘no you’re not doing this’ because as a parent you’ve got to learn to pick your battles sometimes.”.
For more information about Panda Dome Family, please visit: https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/homeusers/dome-family/
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
