Kelly Clarkson Makes Candid Confession About Parenting Daughter River

Sometimes parenthood leaves Kelly Clarkson catching her breath.

After all, every parent at some point feels like they’re figuring it out as they go along—a fact the “Stronger” singer has started to try and impart onto her 11-year-old daughter River Rose Blackstock.

“I look at my daughter constantly,” Kelly began while talking to guest Mariska Hargitay during the Oct. 15 episode of the Kelly Clarkson Show, “and I’m just like, ‘Look, I’m trying my best. I know you’re gonna end up in therapy one day. I don’t know what for, but I’m trying my best to limit it. Just like, help out.’”

The American Idol alum—who is also mom to 9-year-old son Remington Alexander Blackstock with her late ex-husband Brandon Blackstock—also reflected in the way she thinks a person’s perspective on their parents shifts as they age.

“It is interesting, too—as we get older you understand even like if they might have been not great decisions for you,” the 43-year-old said, “you understand them in a different light, and you become a parent. You have a little but more empathy than you might have had in your 20s.”