It's not all fun and games around Amy Poehler's house. No, Poehler admits she's a "tough" mom. "Not too tough, but tough enough," Poehler, who is the mother of two boys with ex-husband Will Arnett, told Entertainment Tonight. "I might be a little old school."
Poehler says she likes to make sure her two sons, 8-year-old Archie and 6-year-old Abel, know that she's in charge. "I'm not very indulgent," Poehler admitted. "I think children are given a lot of leeway and a lot of license to feel a lot of feelings and say what they want. That doesn't really happen in my home so much."
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In short, Poehler's parenting motto is "Everybody, I'm the boss," which honestly, we could get behind. I mean, looking at how well she's done for herself, who wouldn't follow Poehler's lead?
This isn't the first time Poehler has offered parenting tips, specifically for those raising little boys. When the star of The House, which has Poehler and Will Ferrell playing parents who open a casino in their home to help pay for their daughter's college tuition, was on Ellen in 2012 she said she was "pretty strict with them. I'm big on manners and please and thank you." She also admitted that "sometimes you just need to straight up yell at them and put them in their room."
That's a good plan right now since her kids are little, but Poehler imagines as her boys get older she'll want to keep them in their rooms for other reasons. She told Refinery29 UK that she could totally understand the desire to want to keep your kids close as they grow up.
"I really related to that feeling of wanting your kid always by your side and squishing them in a sandwich," she said of her character in The House. "There’s this thing when you’re a young parent and you feel like you’ve got a lot of living left to do and suddenly your kid is going away and you’re like, 'Hmm, what should the second half of my life be like?' I can imagine that happens to a lot of people. I think I’d be very similar – just trying to chain them up and hold them down and make sure they don’t leave."
The House hits theaters June 30.