Tia Mowry-Hardrict wants to be her kids’ best friend — but as any parent knows, that can sometimes backfire.

“I am fun, I’m funny, I am like your best friend. I love being with my kids, I love making my kids laugh,” the actress and Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix vlogger, 41, tells PEOPLE of her best quality as a mom in an exclusive interview for Celeb Parents Get Real.

But the mother of two (she and her husband of 11 years, Cory Hardrict, share daughter Cairo Tiahna, 15 months, and son Cree Taylor, 8) also admits with a laugh, “That would probably be my worst quality, as well!”

“I have to learn how to draw that line and be like, ‘Tia, maybe this is why, sometimes, your kids run all over you,’ ” continues Mowry-Hardrict. “Because they think you’re their friend!”

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But that type of connection and trust with her kids is important to the former Sister, Sister star. “I want them to be my friend,” she says. “You tell your best friend everything. And I want to be that for my children, but sometimes I have to realize that maybe that’s not a realistic goal.”

“You’re [always] gonna be Mom,” Mowry-Hardrict adds. “I always love to have a good time with my kids. They always look to me to have fun but sometimes that gets in the way when it comes to discipline and structure, ’cause that’s also important when you’re raising a child.”

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Not that Mowry-Hardrict is planning to change her personality! The most important lesson her parents taught her and her twin sister Tamera Mowry-Housley, she tells PEOPLE, is to “stay true to who you are.”

“Authenticity is the most important thing, and to never change for anyone,” she adds. “It’s something that I value today and it’s something that I want to teach my children.”

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