Banderas reckons he's a soft touch

When it comes to disciplining children, actor Antonio Banderas reckons he takes a kinder approach with his five-year-old daughter than his parents ever did with him.

Banderas – the star of Spy Kids 2 – tells America’s People magazine: “I’m very much into talking and listening.

“My parents were very strict with me. But it was necessary because I was a wild boy.”

He says he didn’t really take their advice though especially when it came to his career.

The 42-year-old Spaniard says: “They would scream, ‘You’ll work in a bank or join the military, marry a local girl and lead a normal life!”’

Even now they are not convinced about the acting profession, according to Banderas.

He tells the magazine: “They are still saying, ‘If you would have listened to us and gone into the military, you’d be a captain by now’.”

Banderas has a daughter named Stella with his wife, the actress Melanie Griffith.