Nick Lachey says the trick to parenting three kids with his wife, Vanessa, is to show up as a united team.
“Dad’s probably a little more stern when it comes to discipline, but Mom is as well when she has to be. I think we do flip-flop on that regard,” Lachey told People in an interview published Thursday. “It’s important to be united. You never want your kids to be mad at one parent and then find reprieve with the other. You’ve got to be on the same page as parents and be consistent.”
Lachey, who also cohosts “Love is Blind” with his wife, says kids need consistency.
But it’s not always easy to see eye to eye, whether at work or while raising their kids, he said.
“When people talk to us and we’re hosting these shows, you’ve got to meet in the middle. It’s all a compromise,” Lachey said.
“I think when you have a yin and yang to that, and each is willing to give and take and give and take and give and take, and you do that at dance, it works,” he added. “It’s when one side is constantly compromising and the other never seems to that you get into trouble. And, thankfully we don’t have that problem too often.”
A representative for Lachey did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
In May, the 98 Degrees boy band member said he and his wife have a “golden rule” that helps keep their marriage strong.
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“I think the best thing you can do is not bring your work home with you,” Lachey said. “Which is tricky when you work with your spouse, you know, and I think we do a really good job of doing that for the most part.”
He’s far from the only celebrity dad to share his tips on raising kids.
In June, Bruce Springsteen said the biggest parenting lesson he learned is that work should not always come before family.
“I used to think, ‘Well, wait a minute, I got a song to write.’ I’m thinking these great thoughts. Come on, you’re going to get in the way of my great thoughts, you know?” Springsteen said.
“And I learned that if you’ve got a good song, it’s going to be there tomorrow,” he added. “But the kids, they’re going to be gone.”
In July, Ed Sheeran said his top parenting hack is to take the morning shift and make breakfast for his kids.
“Always be the one that gets up first, and let your partner have a lie-in. Do the breakfast because that’s the time of the day that your kids are the least angry, because they’re rested,” Sheeran said.