Actress Kajol, who is supporting a campaign aiming to eradicate diarrhoea by promoting hand-washing habits among children, says she is a strict mother and ensures that her kids lead a disciplined life.

"I think I am very hands-on mother. I am very strict and my daughter keeps telling me you are too hard on me, and I keep telling her I have to be hard because if I am not hard, you will not learn the lessons that I want you to learn.

I think it is really important to be that way. It is essential to teach good habits," Kajol, 39, told PTI in an exclusive interview here. Kajol married actor Ajay Devgn in 1999 and the couple are parents to two kids Nysa and Yug. Speaking about her children, she said, "they are bubbly and talkative.

They are very confident children, so far they are good. As far as my personality is concerned my daughter is temperamentally a lot like my husband but in some ways she is also like me." "My son is too young so it is difficult to say whose qualities he has more mine or my husband," she added.

As a kid, Kajol said she was a brat. "I was a complete brat but was an angel with my mother. I used to be perfectly behaved and my mother used to be like...Really are you badly behaved with other people? I was like no, not at all. But the minute she used to leave the room I was a brat." Currently, she is supporting the cause of hand washing with Lifebuoy's 'Help A Child Reach 5'. This campaign was adopted in Thesgora, a village in Madhya Pradesh to inculcate hand washing habits.


The incidence of diarrhoea in the village, which had one of the highest rates of the disease, has come down from 36 to 5 per cent. "We have been promoting this since a year. Most of the children under the age of five were dying due to diarrhoea and pneumonia...It is heartrending as its curable," she said.

"If through this programme I can save the life of atleast one child I think it would be fabulous. I am proud to support it. The aim is to promote hygiene as it helps in preventing other diseases," she added. She reveals they do plan to adopt other villages and want to take this forward in India and 8 other countries.

"It is sad that children are dying due to diarrhoea and pneumonia. It is all about bringing hygiene. I definitely want to join causes that are related to children, I want to stand up for it as I believe in it passionately," Kajol said.