Shakira: ‘I’m a bit of a tiger mum’ (video)
In an exclusive interview, Shakira shakes off her global pop star image and reveals what she’s really like as a mum and what her sons get up to
Video: Watch Shakira reveal how her son Milan goes to sleep with a football
We always love it on MadeForMums when celeb parents reveal they’re just like the rest of us – trying their best to work out how on earth to bring up their kids.
Shakira may be a global pop star, have recently sung for the Pope, and be trying to change the world with her unflinching charity work, but she laughingly admits that “being a parent is the most difficult job I’ve ever had”.
“I’ve performed in front of difficult audiences. I’ve met world leaders. But nothing has made me so self-conscious as being a mum. Everyday I wonder if I’m doing the right thing,” the mum-of-two confessed recently at the Fisher-Price Early Development Forum in New York.
Shakira was refreshingly honest while appearing as part of an international panel of experts and mums. Discussing Fisher-Price’s new report on parenting attitudes around the world, she admitted she was “one of those tiger mums.”
Afterwards, we got Shakira to tell us more about her tiger mum revelation and to share what ‘Shakira the mum’ is really like, when she’s bringing up her sons, 2-year-old Milan and 8-month-old Sasha.
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“I’m a bit of a tiger mum…”
Shakira readily admits, “I’m a bit of a tiger mum. I have a little teacher inside of me.I really enjoy reading to my kids and they like learning. I like to find out the best way to stimulate my children.”
But she also confesses she’s a huggy mum, and will keep cuddling her boys until they say stop. “I’m very touchy-touchy, hug them and kiss them… to death. Very intense! I think they’re going to leave my house at 18 and say ‘Bye mum. I’m outta here.’”
Milan sleeps with a football
Given that her partner, Gerard Piqué, is one of Barcelona’s top football players, it’s not surprising that her sons are showing a certain amount of devotion to the game.
“Right now, Milan is OBSESSED with football,” she giggles. “He’s the biggest Barca fan on the planet. He sleeps with the Barca jersey on, he sleeps with the ball, he doesn’t miss one match. He knows every single team, including England teams. He wears the t-shirt of all the teams.”
Worrying about being a good enough mum
Would you expect Shakira to be an underconfident mum? No, were surprised too when she explained she constantly worries about doing a good enough job. “I ask myself every morning when I wake up, am I making my kids feel loved? Everything I do for them I do out of love, but I’m not sure it always comes across that way to their little minds.
“I always learn from other mums and I learn from other research, but it’s not easy. I want happiness for my kids, I want them to be responsible, I want them to be socially conscious. I want so many things for them, but happiness is my number one priority.”
Like all the other global mums from Fisher-Price’s survey, we’re with you on that one.
Pic credit: Shakira/Instagram
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