Vernon Kay has given an insight into his unusual parenting tactic with his wife Tess Daly.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter revealed that while one parent will take the “good cop” role and the other “bad cop”, Kay said that they will alternate their roles to keep their daughters guessing.
He told The Mirror: “We play good cop, bad cop, but alternate the roles. You have to keep ’em guessing. They’ll always be my little girls.”
Kay added that he and Daly, who co-hosts Strictly Come Dancing with Claudia Winkleman, do not put pressure on their children to move towards a “certain direction” concerning their education.
“It’s totally up to them,” he said. “As a parent, you can only hold their hand and say, ‘This is right or wrong’ for so long. There’s got to be a point where you take them off the lead and let them discover life.”
The couple, who wed in 2003, share Phoebe, 20, and Amber, 16.
Daly was recognised alongside her Strictly co-host Winkleman in the King’s Birthday Honours for her services to broadcasting.
In a tribute shared online, Kay praised Winkleman and the Strictly team for “consistently producing the best show every year”.
Posting a series of photographs on Instagram, Kay said: “Well what can we say!!! Congratulations @tessdaly on your MBE.
“All the hard work and huge effort you put into everything you do has been recognised by the King.
“Being on Strictly from the start when our babies weren’t even born just proves how well you’ve done. Now they’re almost 21 and 16 and we’ve all enjoyed this journey together!!
Daly rose to fame after hosting The Big Breakfast’s Find Me A Model competition on Channel 4, which aired in 1999.
To mark her MBE achievement, Daly shared a celebratory photo on Instagram, in which she and the late Bruce Forsyth held their iconic “keep dancing” pose. She wrote: “If I could, I would dedicate it to all the wonderful people I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 26 years.”
“From back in 2004 when it all began with the wonderful Sir Bruce Forsyth til now – 21 years later,” she wrote. “Huge congrats to my brilliant girl @claudiawinkle on receiving her award too – who would’ve thought we’d be celebrating this together 20 years after we first met?”
