Katharine McPhee and David Foster revealed that their age gap causes disagreements over disciplining their son

• Katharine McPhee and David Foster spoke about parenting their two-year-old son with People.
• The couple said their 34-year age gap has led to disagreements over discipline.

David Foster and Katharine McPhee don't always see eye-to-eye over parenting their son, Rennie, 2.

The couple shared details in a conversation with People published on Friday, noting that they're navigating disciplining Rennie despite being from different generations. Foster, 74, and McPhee, 39, married in June 2019 before welcoming their son in February 2021.

"I want to start disciplining [Rennie] and Kat's not really down with that," Foster told the outlet.

McPhee disagreed, telling People she has a different style.

"No, that's not true," McPhee said. "I just want to discipline in my own way. There's the more old-fashioned way of disciplining which involves time-outs and things like that. My take is that you can have more mindful parenting opposed to just assuming that a two or three-year-old can have time alone to reflect on what they've done poorly."

The "American Idol" star added that she wants to avoid shaming her son while he's still young.

"I think the more new way of parenting is understanding that with a child, there's only so much that they can intellectually understand," McPhee told the outlet. "Saying 'That was bad, that was really, really bad,' gets into a shaming thing. I think disciplining is something that happens over time."

McPhee also noted that Foster, who has five adult children, is more "results-based."

"He's like, 'He can't just walk by and swat people,'" McPhee said of Foster's reaction to their son. "Of course not. But he's two and a half and he's learning those things."

"It's just a different approach. I think his era of parenting is different than mine," she told People.

Foster and McPhee met when she competed on "American Idol" in 2006, but they didn't start a relationship until they separated from their previous partners. Dating rumors surrounded the pair throughout 2017, but they made their relationship red-carpet official in May 2018 at the Met Gala. The couple got engaged that July.

In February 2022, Foster told People that he knew his and McPhee's age gap was a point of conversation but didn't care.

"People always make the reference Kat and I with the age difference, but I've always said there's so many things that can bring a marriage down, and age difference is just one of them," Foster told the outlet. "There's so many things that can go wrong. We think we have it pretty together."

In the same interview, Foster said, "It's just great being a dad" again.