Peter Andre’s wife Emily sparks parenting debate as she reveals VERY strict rule for daughter Millie, 11

PETER Andre’s doctor wife Emily MacDonagh has sparked debate with her very strict parenting rule for 11-year-old daughter Millie.

, 36, who shares four children with the pop star, 52, said she has limited the amount of hours her eldest uses her mobile phone.

Emily Andre has sparked debate with her very strict parenting ruleCredit: Splash Peter Andre’s wife Emily sparks parenting debate as she reveals VERY strict rule for daughter Millie, 11 – saying ‘I’m actually punishing myself’,Credit: Instagram

The star said she restricts Millie to just an hour at weekends on her device now that she’s moved to secondary school.

But Emily admitted her strict rule also comes with its disadvantages.

Emily said: “I’m quite strict. So she has a phone – which I only gave in to giving her a phone because she got to year 6 and I think she was the only person in the class who didn’t have one, there was her and one another girl – but she’s not actually allowed to use it.

“So she can use it on a Saturday for an hour and a Sunday for an hour.

“So I can’t even track her because she doesn’t have a phone on her, ever. She doesn’t take it to school.

“I’m punishing myself in a sense.”

Like many parents who are raising children in a world where technology is taking over, Emily shared her fears especially over cyberbullying, which refers to using digital technology to harass, threaten, or embarrass someone.

Emily added on the Made by Mammas podcast: “I think the internet’s a dangerous place. I didn’t have a phone and I didn’t need a phone.

“There was no cyberbullying. The evidence is really clear that social media use is harmful for mental health, particularly teenagers.

“That’s why I’ve taken quite a hard line. There is a balance because I think kids can be picked on for being different so that’s why I gave in.

“Even though she doesn’t use it, she can just say ‘Oh, I’ve got one’, and that’s enough for her.

“The longer I can kick the can down the line – she doesn’t have WhatsApp for example, she doesn’t have Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, nothing – every year that goes by I can delay that is a win for me.”

She added: “It’s also not good for adults and I’ve seen that in my job for sure.

“I didn’t get social media until I was I think 30, or 29, I delayed it so long. And by that point I was kind of strong enough to handle if I did see something negative.

“Even as an adult, who I feel quite comfortable in my skin, still occasionally I’ll see something and think ‘Ooh’.

“Or I’ll think ‘that person looks that way, they’ve got amazing skin, or they’ve got this or that’. I’m 36 and feeling that so how’s that for a child.

“At work I did see it sometimes, people with body image difficulties. Or mums feeling ‘Why are people having that experience of pregnancy’, or ‘They’re springing back’, or ‘I couldn’t breastfeed’, or ‘I didn’t have that bond immediately with the baby’.

Peter and Emily Andre post sweet family snaps amid Katie Price clashCredit: Instagram

“All the things you see of the ideal of being a mum that we see on social media that’s not the case.”