Mumbai, Apr 29 (IANS): Actress Shefali Shah, who earned a lot of acclaim for her work in ‘Three of Us’, has shared her parenting secrets as she opened up about the reading habits of her two kids.

Shefali said while her children were not avid readers when they were young, over the years they have developed a taste for reading books. She also said that their reading habits are very different from hers.

Shefali, who launched the Dish TV Smart+ services in Delhi on Monday, said, “There is a very nice thing I read somewhere - ‘The most important thing you give your children is roots and wings’.

"Now, to accept that my children have grown up and are going to make their own decisions is a little difficult for parents. But it is a fact. 'Mene bachpan mein unhne sikhaya, padhaya'. However, what they will do will depend on them as they grow up. And whether they listen to me or not, they will accept what they want."

She added, “I kept telling my children - ‘You must read, you will love it’. Both the children were not into reading, which was very sad for me. But then, as they grew up, suddenly they started reading. And not the stuff that I read. I read everything. But they started reading a lot of stuff which tells them life hacks. You know, my older one wants to be a businessman. My younger one wants to do something else.

"So, they started reading on their own. Honestly, children do what they have to do. You can control them until a certain age. After that, they will do everything.”

She also spoke about the challenges of repeating roles, saying it's not difficult for her.

“I am an actor because I want to play different roles. If I wanted to play only one role, Shefali is not a bad role to follow. So it's not difficult for me. In fact, that is what excites me. ‘Oh, this is completely different. I have done this. Let's do this'. So, this question is not difficult for me. It's exciting for me."