John Travolta not a strict dad

John Travolta is a pushover parent.

The 62-year-old actor admits he isn’t a strict dad and Ella, 16, and five-year-old Benjamin always turn to him when their mother Kelly Preston has denied one of their requests.

Kelly said: "Daddy says yes to everything. He is that dad."

Her 62-year-old spouse retorted: "You have to! [I’m] worse with Ben [than Ella]."

Kelly, 53, added: "They come to me first. [Ben] comes to me and says, ‘Can I have ice cream?’ at midnight and I say, ‘No, no, you have to go to bed’ — and, mind you, it’s midnight and he’s 5.

"And Dad’s like, ‘Sure! Do you want hot fudge on that?’ "

And John even agrees when the youngster asks to stay up all night – because he knows it won’t happen.

He admitted to People magazine: "He says, ‘I want to stay up all night,’ and I say OK because I know by 2am. he’ll be asleep.’ "

But Kelly is the one who has to deal with the consequences.

She said: "Then the meltdown happens and I have to carry him off when he’s saying, ‘I’m too tired, Mama.’ "

The couple – whose oldest son Jett tragically died in 2009 at the age of 16 after suffering a seizure – can next be seen together in ‘The Life and Death of John Gotti’, with John portraying the crime boss and Kelly his on-screen spouse.

Ella was originally set to play their daughter, but she changed her mind; a decision both her parents understood.

John said: "She decided not to, she’s gonna wait to do something different.

"She’s so smart, she’s so confident. She will do it when she feels it’s the right time.

"She did ‘Old Dogs’ with us and she was great, but now she wants to come back the way she wants to come back."

And the couple couldn’t be prouder of the young actress.

Asked if they are happy Ella chose to follow in their footsteps, John said: "Oh yeah."