As Take That start their Greatest Hits tour, bringing them to St Marys Stadium, Southampton on May 25, Gary Barlow opens up about family life.

He was only a teenager himself when he first found fame with Take That. And now, as the most successful boy band in UK chart history embark on their 30th anniversary tour, lead singer Gary Barlow has teenage children of his own.

The singer-songwriter, who'll be performing across the UK with bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald for the Take That's Greatest Hits tour, has three children, Daniel, 18, Emily, 16, and Daisy, 10, with his wife Dawn. The couple also had a stillborn daughter, Poppy, in 2012.

Barlow admits Dawn has taken care of most of the day-to-day parenting, as he's been away on tour so much since the kids were born, and acknowledges there are highs and lows to everything. But he says being a father is "brilliant", and valuing friendship, having a supportive network and trying to keep balanced are all things he hopes to pass on to his kids.

"I always feel they're growing up too fast, it's weird," he says of his teenagers.

"It's all going to sound like someone's said it a million times as parents, but it feels like a race, they're doing this and they're doing that, and all of a sudden you turn around and they've grown up!

"But at the same time, it brings a new era of 'our 18-year-old' - we were out for lunch with them the other day, we were laughing our heads off. They're so funny and smart and quick, so you then start another relationship with them, an adult relationship, and it's just brilliant, it really is brilliant - all the stages are great."

"We found the teen years harder than the baby years. I think some have it easier than others. It's the fact that when you say stuff to them, they'll remember it forever and they're probably going to use it as a weapon at some point in the future, so you've really got to watch what you're saying.

"But I have good days and bad days – some days I'm a terrible parent, other days I'm good. But I owe it all, their upbringing, to my wife, because I've been on tour for most it, travelling around and making records, and she's been the one who's gone to all the parent evenings and done all the stuff, so it's all because of her."

Gary adds that his parents have been great role models

"My parents are the perfect example; they're responsible for everything, they've encouraged me so much" he says.

"There was even a point where I was thinking of going to music college, but I then had to tell my mum I'm not doing that because I want to be a pop star. So, if one of my kids said that, it would be like, 'What can I say?'

"For whatever they want to do, you've got to just support them and believe in them. Even if you think they're getting it completely wrong, you've just got to be there for them. [Ours are] good kids as well, and when I see their friends, they're all good kids. They just need a bit of support, and me to tell them I'm behind them. I don't know the answers to all this - we're all guessing at it!"

Gary adds that he has been lucky in the people he has around him.

"I've always been lucky in that I've got an amazing wife, a great family, a great group of friends – and when you have all those things, it's probably going to be all right.

"I try to encourage them [my children] to have their friends round and that stuff, but it is a different world now [to when I was growing up], no question. There are good things, but also, as with anything, what comes with good is a bit of bad as well. Everything has a flip-side, so it's just that lesson.

"Social media is dangerous, as we've seen so many times, but also brilliant and inspiring, and it will bring out ambition in you to see other people. It's taking all those factors and making them do the right things."

So does Gary find himself scrolling on Instagram a bit too much?

"I'm pretty balanced on it, to be honest," he says.

"I'll have my periods when it just goes in the drawer at night and I try not to check it, but it's part of our job now, isn't it, checking your phone? No one does nine-to-five now because you're on 24/7. That's the world now, so you've just got to get on with it. And keep it healthy, if that's possible."