My son is interested in music. I’m not encouraging it because a careerin entertainment is not the easiest profession. Yes, it can beincredibly rewarding. It has been generous to me, and I feel blessed.But, it’s not always kind to people. You don’t want your kids to getbeat up in life.

Source: Philippine Inquirer

Honestly, I didn’t realize how much time was going by. I was having agreat time and then my kids started saying, ‘Hey mom, you going back towork soon?’ I said, ‘Yeah, isn’t it great? I’m here, I’m around. Isn’t itnice having me around?’ They said, ‘Yeah, but we really like visitingyou at work too.’ So anyway, I think they’re kind of happy that I’mback working.

I was shocked at the prejudice, voiced in some quarters, over my decision to adopt a mixed-race baby. It’s really surprising that people still put so much emphasis on it. None of us are pure anything. We’re all a mixture. Claudia is a beautiful child, and some of the most beautiful people I’ve seen in the world have been of mixed race.

As mother of both an adopted child and my own birth-child, there is absolutely no difference in the huge amount of love I feel for both my children. I always knew I wanted to adopt a child and also have one of my own. There is no difference at all.

When I look at doing something and have to be away from the kids,if it’s at a time when they can’t come with me, like during the schoolyear, then I need to be able to come back and forth. I need to not beaway from my kids more than a week or two – that’s my limit.

I think it’s helped us as a family to be less distracted. Wewanted more land, and we wanted animals. We were looking for adifferent kind of lifestyle.

I think if you can raise kids to embody those two qualities, then they will have a rich and successful life.

Michelle Pfeiffer

At one point, theinterviewer recalls a "great lesson" Michelle taught her years ago whenthe actress corrected her for calling Claudia her "adopted daughter"when she is just her daughter. Michelle acknowledges that she never didit again and applauds her for that.

Here are the highlights:

On raising teens: I know, can you believe it? To tell you the truth, I feel likeit’s more difficult to be working now that they’re older, even though Ihad actually thought it would be the other way around. When they’re babies, you just sort of throwthem in the car seat and they go where you go. I mean, I literally usedto bring Claudia everywhere. In restaurants, I used to just plop herdown on the table in her car seat — she was like a centerpiece! But nowthat they’re older, they have their routines and their schedules, andtheir interests and their friends. And I don’t really want to disruptthat, because I want them to have a sense of continuity and normalcy.

How they feel about her returning to work: They’re very encouraging, because they know it makes mehappy. And also, since I haven’t been working so much, it’s not as ifthey’ve spent the past years saying to me, ‘You’re always gone.’ Andnow that they really understand more about what I do, I think they’remore curious than ever. Because frankly, in the past, they could nothave been less interested. Most people in the world have seen more ofme on-screen than my kids have.

On Claudia: Boy, there’s nothing typical about my girl. She’s a force to bereckoned with, and an amazing human being. I wanted her to be a reallyindependent, outspoken young woman, and I sure got that! She’s alsovery creative and inquisitive. And what’s exciting about this age isthat she’s really coming into her own. She’s everything I’d hoped shewould be.

On becoming a mom: Well, one thing that’s great about having kids, especially given mycareer, is that it forces you out of your narcissism. I mean, I’m in acareer where my product is me. So it was nice to have something,someone, come along and take the focus off me. I really needed to givemyself some distractions from myself.

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On meeting David as she was adopting Claudia: The adoption process was already in motion when he and I met. So whenshe came, he and I had only been together for about two months. So wehad this child with us right away, and most people don’t have that. ButI really got to see him in a situation that certainly would separatethe boys from the men. Obviously, he really rose to the occasion. And,you know, we were both adults. It’s not like we were kids anymore, andwe were both at the age where we were ready to start a family. So weboth got to see each other as parents before we progressed in ourrelationship together, and in a strange way, it took the pressure offus, as a couple. We had something else to focus on. It was sort ofperfectly timed. I mean, it’s a real testament to the kind of person heis, but also to the fact that sometimes the traditional way of doingthings isn’t always the best way.

On Claudia and John’s relationship: Yes, they do [get along]. They’ve been close their whole lives, and they’re closein age. But don’t get me wrong: They have their moments of siblingconflict.

On gender differences: I remember, before I had them, I didn’t really believe muchin gender differences, or that little boys were inherently all thatdifferent from little girls. But I certainly believe it now, becausewhen they were little, they couldn’t have been more different — John wasinto trucks and Claudia was into kitty cats, and he was eating bugs andshe wasn’t. But I just feel like I’ve been so blessed to have these twochildren.

On discipline: I’m probably the bad cop in the house, yeah. Because Dad is theone to say, ‘Oh, OK.’ I don’t want to be the bad guy, but I amdefinitely more of the disciplinarian, the strict one, by default.

On taking after her parents: It’s funny, because the older my kids get, the more I refer back towhat my parents did. I started out thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not going to do itthe way my parents did,’ and then as I got into parenting, Irealized — Hey, maybe they did know a little something.

On her hopes for her kids: I want them to be fighters; I want them to be survivors; I wantthem to have something they believe in, and to stay true to themselves.My grandmother raised five children during the Depression by herself.At 50, she threw her sewing machine into the back of a pickup truck anddrove from North Dakota to California. She was a real survivor, sothat’s my stock. That’s how I want my kids to be too.

What she’d change about motherhood: Oh, I’d love to get more sleep. After Claudia was born, I thought thatonce she started sleeping through the night I’d be able to catch up,but then John came along. I kept thinking that eventually the day wouldcome when I wouldn’t feel exhausted, but now I’ve come to the sadrealization that it’s not gonna happen.

On relocating the family from L.A. to northern California: Well, I think all of us miss what was familiar about living in L.A.,and, obviously, we miss our friendships. And I have a lot of familythere, so I miss them. So some of the adjustment has been hard. Butoverall, I’m really happy we made the move, and I think that it wasdefinitely the best decision for our family…Probably the biggest difference is that we don’t feel as though we haveto go to this screening or that benefit or whatever. We can spend moretime together as a family because there just aren’t as manydistractions. I really feel a huge release being up here.

On baking with John: Actually, I do bake. In fact, John and I made a cake not too longago — it was a banana cake with butter-cream frosting. It wasdisgustingly delicious. And worth every calorie!

Source: Good Housekeeping