Amy Poehler talks about giving advice to her teenage sons

Amy Poehler shared a rare update on her two sons, Archie, 15, and Abel, 13.

On the June 10 episode of Dax Shepard's podcast, Armchair expert, the 50-year-old actress explained that it's not always easy to give advice to the children she shares with her ex Will Arnett. “Sometimes I see them tune out when I’m talking,” she said.

When it comes to her sons facing a problem, she asked, “Why can't we stop at the empathy part and not have to give the repair part?”

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The actress then revealed that the only way her children could openly express their issues with their mother was to do just that. “So I have teenagers now and I'm learning that the way to get them to talk is to not do the second part, to do the part of what happened to me too,” she shared.

“It's hard to fall asleep, period. The end,” Poehler told Shepard, who previously described her 11-year-old daughter's struggle with insomnia.

“As well-intentioned, as sensitive and thoughtful and connected as part two, I think it gives kids a sense of expectation – they want to do it for you,” he said. Parks and Recreation » added the star, noting: “I find it just for me, when I start to [give advice]that's where I lose them.

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In 2022, Poehler also opened up to PEOPLE, describing the reverse psychology she used on her sons when they were preteens. “I live in a pre-teen town right now, so you have to do a lot of reverse psychology,” she said.

“You can't walk up to anything and say something is funny or good. That's not going to happen. You're going to be immediately rejected,” Poehler tells PEOPLE.

She added: “So you have to reverse psychology words. You have to put things in and go, 'Huh, what is this stupid thing?' “Okay, I guess Airplane is funny, whatever.” I have to keep it light because they won't like what we like.”