Parenting used to be so simple. When your kids are little, it’s clear cut how to protect them: don’t let them play with electrical sockets, test their bathwater before putting them in, pick them up if they fall. But when they get older, you can’t just kiss their boo-boos and make it all better — sometimes, helping them grow up means letting them get hurt. And nothing is harder to do as a mom. Christina Aguilera opened up about this complicated parenting moment she’s in with her two kids, and all moms go through it at some point.
In a cover interview with Glamourcelebrating the 25th anniversary of her hit song “Genie in a Bottle,” Aguilera opened up about the protective instinct she has with her kids Summer Rain, who turns 10 this month, with fiancé Matt Rutler, and Max, 16, with ex Jordan Bratman. “Your kids trigger things in you that you don’t want them to go through,” she told the outlet. “And it’s almost like you’re reliving this whole thing again.”
She revealed that she is in a “weird moment” in motherhood, where she finds herself “lecturing” and “overtalking” to her children. “I’ve seen so much so young,” Aguilera explained. “You just want the best for your kids.” She went on, “I love my son and my daughter so much, and you do want to shield and protect them from the world. But they have to learn their own lessons.”
Aguilera is the first to admit that her tough childhood with an allegedly abusive Army dad helped her get where she is today. She told Glamour, “I don’t know if I would be the singer or performer I am, or have the success I do, had I not been through my childhood. It gave me a real purpose of, I’m going to fight my way through these feelings. I’m going to fight my way past someone that has wronged me.”
And even though she doesn’t want her kids to have the same experiences she did, Aguilera still knows the value of letting them figure things out for themselves.
In the emotional interview, the reporter described Aguilera as “wistful” thinking about when her children were younger. She said she’ll look at old pictures of her kids and think, “I’ll never see that person again.” (If you need a sob break, I totally understand!)
“They’re going to make their own choices and mistakes that define how they want to be. It’s such a layered, interesting thing to be a parent and watch these people, these humans, grow up,” she added.
Aguilera is no stranger to tough conversations with her kids. In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, the “Fighter” singer opened up about teaching her kids about sexual health and wellness. “At this point in my life also as a mother, it’s really important for me that I open up this conversation to my daughter and make sure that she feels empowered early on in her life to feel good about asking me any questions,” she said.
“It’s very important that I’m honest with my kids, but I simplify it in a way that they’ll be able to understand and digest. I never want to impose things to be so scary that it’s going to impose anxiety or fear, even scary topics,” the Grammy winner continued. “I really try to make sure it’s done very matter-of-factly and to always know that their body is their playground. That is for them to decide how it should be used, how it should be treated, how it should be respected ultimately.”
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