Christina Aguilera finds it hard to juggle her career with life as a mother.
Christina Aguilera
The 'Beautiful' hitmaker has son Max, 11, with ex-husband Jordan Bratman, and daughter Summer, five, with fiancé Matthew Rutler, and has said that whilst she loves being on stage, she finds touring "crazy" now because she still wants to "get quality time in" with her brood by reading them a bedtime story.
She said: "The stage is my home. It's always been my home. But going on tour now is crazy.I hadn't toured in 10 years. I was, like, 'How do people do this with kids?' They need their bedtimes, they need their structure. Kids thrive under a routine. Getting off stage and then going home and reading a bedtime story because you want to get that quality time in - it's a lot. It's definitely a lot."
Christina, 38, will never "complain" though, as she loves her career, and also loves being a mother.
She added: "But who am I to complain? I'm doing what I love to be doing again, in the driver's seat again, in control of my creativity - that is ultimately freedom."
The 'Genie in a Bottle' star took her children on the first leg of her European tour this year when they had two months off of school over the summer, before they all went to Japan for a family holiday.
And although their upbringing has its privileges, Christina wants to make sure her children understand that others aren't as lucky.
Speaking to The Sunday Times' Style magazine, she said: "My kids are not going to be having the same struggles that I had growing up, and heaven forbid too, but they are being raised in an environment that I didn't grow up in. With that comes a fear of making sure they do appreciate what they have.
"I tell them about kids who don't have any toys, kids who are being raised in shelters, who escaped the way I did - when it's age appropriate, obviously. And when they donate, we visit the places themselves, to see what goes on beyond dropping it off."
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