If you’re an OG Real Housewives of Atlanta fan, you may find it hard to believe that Phaedra Parks is now the mom of a teenager. The former RHOA cast member’s son Ayden is 13, and momma bear is dishing out life advice.
“These kids are so different from us. They’re moving at an incredible speed because of social media,” she told PEOPLE. “But I try to explain them, ‘You have your whole life to do all of these things, but you only have a small window to be a child and be carefree.'” Parks is also a mom to 10-year-old Dylan and she had both of her sons with ex-husband Apollo Nida.
“So that’s what I try to make sure that they know — this is the time of your life because I’m paying for everything,” she continued. “I’m footing the bill, and you’re living very luxuriously. So you need to enjoy that moment, if that makes sense.”
Ayden is headed to high school next year, and those can be challenging times for both teens and parents. However, the Married to Medicine star is confident in her parenting skills and believes her kids will be just fine.
“I’ve raised two very good boys,” she said. “I’m a very traditional Black mother, so I’m a strong disciplinary — I don’t take any junk. What I say is what I say and I mean what I say when I say it. So I’m very old school with my parenting.”
Parks, 50, continued, “I believe raise a child in the way it should go and it will not depart. Even when you depart from them, they still know those good principles that you taught them. So I don’t really worry about them,” she explained. “I know that [I’ve] been raising a good, strong family and they know I’m watching them even when I’m in California, honey. I got eyes in Georgia.”
On the topic of dating, Phaedra is currently dating but says she isn’t pressed to find someone as she’s content being single. Post-divorce, she has dated Medina Islam, Tone Kapone, and a doctor in Atlanta.
“The thing is, I’m single and satisfied. I’m not one of those women who thinks that their life depends on a man. Yeah, I’m really that girl.”
The attorney divorced Apollo Nida in 2017. He was sentenced to eight years for fraud and identity theft in 2014.