Anne Hathaway Reveals Her Most 'Powerful' Parenting Trick with Son Jonathan, 4

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Anne Hathaway knows how to get creative when disciplining her children.

While promoting her new film Locked Down during an appearance on Tuesday's The Tonight Show, Hathaway, 38, explained to host Jimmy Fallon that she used Santa Claus to her advantage to encourage son Jonathan Rosebanks, 4½, to share with 1-year-old Jack during a family car ride around the holidays.

"This is the first year he's really believed in Santa Claus," Hathaway, who shares her boys with husband Adam Shulman, said of her elder son. "We were driving in the car, and you know when you're in the car with your kids and suddenly the car gets too hot? Like all of a sudden in a second, and everybody is loud at the same moment. And the baby is crying because he wants the cracker that the 4-year-old has and the 4-year-old will not give him a cracker."

"And then finally, I just have this spark and I go, 'Okay Johnny, but what about Santa?' " the actress recalled, noting that her technique proved immediately effective.

"His hand shot out straight towards me, I had the entire box of crackers suddenly, there was no argument," she explained to Fallon. "Adam and I turned to each other and we went, 'Oh my God, this is so powerful.' "

Despite the occasional disruption within her family of four, Hathaway said she is thoroughly enjoying the ages her boys are at now. "So 4 and 1, the ages are the ages that they are but there's a lot of magic in those ages," she shared.

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RELATED: Anne Hathaway Talks Challenges of Being a Mom amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Hathaway previously opened up about finding the silver linings of parenting amid the COVID-19 pandemic in November, telling Stellar magazine that she's "always hesitant to frame things in the realm of challenges because I think it sets a tone."

"As a mom, I've found tons of opportunities," she explained. "There's obviously a learning curve – you just have to be kind to yourself with that because you do feel like you're doing everything wrong, especially in the early days. But it's more than just a challenge."

When asked of the most important lesson she's learned during the pandemic, the mom of two had a simple yet insightful response: "The way we live and love is what we'll be remembered by," she said.

Although Hathaway is relishing being a mom of two, The Witches star said back in October that she is still unsure about having a third child.

"I don't know," she said of having another child in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "The world is really scary. Some minutes, I'm like, 'Yes, absolutely,' and some minutes the world scares me too much and I think I've got two healthy ones and that feels really great. So I don't really know yet."

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