Vanessa Lachey on Navigating Social Media as Mom of 3 and Why Her Kids Don't Watch “Love Is Blind” (Exclusive)
The actress shares her sons Camden, 11, and Phoenix, 7, as well as daughter Brooklyn, 9, with husband Nick Lachey
Vanessa Lachey's kids might be growing up in the digital age, but they won't be on social media anytime soon.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the NCIS: Hawaii star, 43, shared that she doesn't let her three kids — sons Camden, 11, and Phoenix, 7, as well as daughter Brooklyn, 9 — on social media and she doesn't know when she'll change her mind on the topic.
"I actually signed a pact when I was on the mainland with the school that we wouldn't let our kids have phones until they were in sixth grade," Vanessa tells PEOPLE. The family of five has since moved to Hawaii, where the actress films NCIS. "I've since left that school, but I still believe in that."
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Related: Vanessa Lachey Shares Scenes from Phoenix and Brooklyn's Joint Birthday Party: 'Disney in Hawai'i'
Noting that the mainland school's rule expired when students graduate sixth grade and son Camden will enter sixth grade next fall, Vanessa says she's started to think about whether she'll change her mind.
But because of her family's lifestyle, Vanessa says she doesn't believe her kids need a phone yet. "I just don't think they need it at this point," the proud mom explains. "They go from our house to school, and look, everyone's different. If you have a kid that needs it for communication, I get it. And I also do not judge."
She adds that it also might be different for her family since she and husband Nick Lachey are in Hollywood.
"But also there's just me being in Hawaii and really seeing life here and seeing them thrive without all of that," Vanessa says. "I mean, my son, shoes are optional at his school, and it's because the kids are grounded. They go to school and their feet are in the grass and the classrooms, some of them are outside."
As for whether Nick and Vanessa's kids watch them on television, the mom of three says that they don't normally let them see their parents on screen.
"No, they don't watch our shows. They do watch NCIS: Hawaii because they know so much about [it]. And I actually come home, if I'm cut, I'll come home with the wound so they can touch it," Vanessa says. "They pulled off the scar so they can see, 'This is fake, Mommy's fake. This isn't blood, this is fake. It's a movie.'"
"So for that, I'm grateful that they can watch it, but I don't think that they've ever seen anything else we've done."
While her kids have seen some of their dad's performances on The Masked Singer, Vanessa says they have yet to watch any of Love Is Blind, the reality show she and Nick co-host on Netflix.
"Other kids at the school talk about it," she says of the hit reality TV series, "so that is probably another layer that Nick and I have in our parenting that maybe other families don't. But I think that just keeping them grounded and reminding them that we are Mom and Dad first is all we can continue to do."
"And they just see us as Mom and Dad. And I've asked them, 'Does it bother you?' And they're like, 'No, because you're my mom,' and I love that."
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Read the original article on People.