Cate Blanchett is a strict mum

The Hanna actress Cate Blanchett has revealed that she is strict with her kids because she believes it is more important to be a mother rather than a friend to her three sons.

The actress and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton, believe being strict with sons Dashiell, 9, Roman, 7, and Ignatius, 3, and teaching them boundaries is more important than being their friend.

"I don't enjoy being the bad cop but sometimes I have to be," Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

"My husband and I worry about our generation trying to be friends with their children rather than parents of their children. If you're going to try and make your children like you, you're in dangerous waters I think," she added.

However, although the 41-year-old star can be strict with her children she understands how important it is to listen to them and hopes they will feel able to talk to her as they grow older.

She explained in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I think I'm pretty loving, but what I do know is that you have to let them talk and you have to listen. I hope that when they're 15, they're still talking as freely to us as now."