PETER Andre has revealed a strict house rule for his children Princess and Junior – saying they “kicked off for two days”; about it.
The singer-songwriter, 52, spoke exclusively to at the Parliamentary screening of , which warns of dangers of teen smartphone use.
During the Wednesday interview, he opened up about how he keeps his kids safe on in an age where views and likes are at the forefront.
The TV personality, who’s dad to , 20, , 18, Amelia, 11, Theo, eight, and 15-month-old Arabella, said he’s banned his kids from using their mobile phones at the dinner table.
He admitted this proved challenging, especially with Junior and Princess boasting a combined 1.3million followers.
He told us: “It’s really interesting about my oldest two having been quite popular on social media. And I remember that when social media first started, we had no clue.
“It just looked like a bit of fun. It was again, that kind of, that nice little imagery of this really fun thing, being on your phone and you could play games and you could do all this
“And it lures you in. And now, you know, both my kids’ jobs, it’s about your interactions. It’s about your followers. It’s about brands.”;
Peter explained that he’s implemented certain boundaries in his home to ensure his children can enjoy family time screen-free.
“They want to talk to you about seeing how much interaction you have. So we’re in this real pickle now. And of course we didn’t know that at the time,”; the singer continued.
“And I say to my daughter, we have a rule at home anyway,
“When we sit at the table for dinner, there’s no phones, there’s no TVs.
“At first they rolled their eyes, they kicked off. That lasted all of two days. They never said anything since.
“So I think there are things we can do, even little things. that’ll just, once you put it in place, they’ll follow it. You know, you put a speed limit, everyone kicks off about it, but eventually they do it.”;
Lord John Nash and Joe Powell MP hosted the screening of award-winning composer, pianist and director Fabio’s musical masterpiece, which stars Peter.
The event aimed to raise awareness of the dangers of teenage smartphone use, by illustrating the devastating impact of bullying and youth suicide.
In the film, Peter portrays Jack, the devastated father of a teenage boy, Josh, who takes his own life after being bullied at school.
The harrowing opening scenes see his son in the family bathroom, with blood covering his face and body.
Peter arrives home and is immediately called upstairs where he sees the heartbreaking incident unfold, with his wife Tash cuddling their son in her arms.
He grabs hold of his child and starts sobbing before being seen in another room with tears in his eyes.
Later scenes indicate Josh passed away.
Following the presentation, which also saw actress and Deputy Leader, , in attendance, Peter discussed how he struggles to keep up with the changing world of social media.
He said: “I do feel very out of depth on how to protect these kids from their phones because I know how trapped I am in the usage of phones and how I always used to use the example, you can’t sit there having a cigarette telling your kid never to smoke. And I remember one of my friends used to say, ‘Dad said if he ever catches me with a cigarette, he’ll kill me.’ And his dad was a chain smoker! And I thought, ‘But how can you not?'”;
The pop star admitted change comes from individuals making a collective decision and a conscious effort to reduce the use of social media.
But he insisted bigger change must come in .
Peter continued: “You’re seeing it. And then I find myself in that situation. I’m expecting my kids to be off social media and to be, and I’m doing it. So I’m now trying to make a conscious effort.
“And I think that it’s about this balance. It’s really difficult as a parent to do it. And I think you can’t do it on your own. We need the help.”;
The actor, who is married to GP , added: “My wife’s a strong, strong part of saying to me, hun, why don’t we just put our phones down? And I’m like, you’re absolutely right. So that’s why we need help. That’s why we can’t just say, oh, just, you know, just ask, just tell your kids.
“You can’t have a phone or just tell your kids, it’s not that easy. We need backup. We need the government help. We need the schools‘ help.
“We need everybody’s help collectively so that the kids go, well, this must be bad because no one’s letting us use it. Do you know what I mean?”;
Fabio is now hopeful that an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be made, banning social media before the age of 16.
He said: “I’m really confident we’re gonna see change. It’s amazing to have the MP Joe Powell here from Labour and Lord Nash from the Conservatives. It’s all sides coming together.
“So there’s something happening and there’s a movement bubbling in this country. People wanna see change.”;
Fabio added: “As a composer in the 21st century, I think it’s really important to address social issues in my work, because that’s what composers in the past used to do.
“So I really wanted to tackle the issue of smartphones and how it affects the younger generation, because I think we’re dealing with a first generation who’s grown up having to navigate how they use social media, how they use their smartphones.
“And we don’t really know the full effects of what’s happening right now on the younger generation. So I thought it was really important to address this in the film.”;
Fabio has released a series of short films highlighting key social issues.
He’s collaborated with a number of famous faces, with featuring ‘ .
Actor Russell Tovey also stars in Something Left to Love, which raises awareness of mental health.
- Watch Fabio D’Andrea’s Another Way here.
