Cheryl Hines Plays ‘Good Cop`

After discovering the idea of good cop versus bad cop, children are often savvy enough to play one parent against the other. For 5-year-old Catherine Rose, her job has been simplified — there is no bad cop! “I’m pretty much the good cop,” says Cheryl Hines, before admitting that her husband Paul Young shares the same role. Laughing that her little girl is “clearly very spoiled,” the actress explains she is looking to keep Catherine happy, which means wiping away her tears when she cries. “I coddle! Are you kidding me? I cry with her!” she tells Cookie magazine. “I’m the worst. I’m not the strictest mom in the world, but you only live once, right?”

Although Cheryl may be keen on keeping Catherine content, when it comes to bedtime, the 43-year-old mom is determined to keep her little girl on a schedule. With nights spent laying down as a family of three reading books together before their daughter falls asleep, the In the Motherhood actress often finds her bedtime routines being questioned! “I come home and it’s like 10 o’clock and Paul and Catherine are watching TV on the couch together,” she shares. “It’s not the end of the world, but I think we probably disagree on that a little bit.” Apparently Paul isn’t the only one causing a stir in the great bedtime debate — Catherine is always up for the challenge as well!

“It’s funny when she tries to manipulate me. When it’s time to go to bed, she’ll bargain with me. She’ll tell me she will go to bed if I let her watch her favorite movie. Things like that, where it’s like, ‘Well, that’s not really a negotiation.’”

After welcoming Catherine when she was 39-years-old, Cheryl has no regrets about entering into the realm of parenthood as a “late mom-bloomer,” explaining that she was able to do it all before dedicating herself to her child. Hopefully, her long list of accomplishments included a great deal of sleep! “[Catherine] sleeps with us a lot,” she says. “I worry that I’m cutting off her circulation or that somehow I’ve gotten her tangled in the blanket.”