(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Helena Bonham Carters kids are lapping up the new parenting skills shes learned since taking classes.

The actress has son Billy, seven, and two-year-old daughter Nell with her partner Tim Burton. She recently admitted she has been having lessons on raising children, as she finds it hard to juggle her acting career and home life.

Taking time to learn some new skills has paid off, with Billy already delighted with the changes in his mother. You give them positive attention and then they start to crave it, she explained.

It absolutely works. Billy is lapping it up. And as a parent, you become happier because youre observing all these good things about your child.

The 44-year-old explained shes realised she needs to help her kids deal with life by teaching them lessons. Shes also become more decisive, which they have adapted to well.

Helena finds it incredibly helpful to be around other mothers and fathers who have found parenting difficult, as she used to think it was only her.

The star loves being around kids, but explained it isnt always easy. She plays evil witch Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter films, and children often run off shrieking when they see her in public. After they have calmed down they usually sneak back to catch another glimpse of her, which Helena loves.

The young kids recognise me, and they are terrified, genuinely terrified, but also drawn toward you, she laughed to the Los Angeles Times. The little girls feel ambivalent too; they kind of love her, and they like dressing up as her and, believe me, its honestly fun to wear the costume. I made her childlike deliberately so kids could relate to her as the ultimate naughty one. And there is fun in being naughty. She is a total version of age three. Theres no parenting class on handling that one. (C) Cover Media