Macaulay Culkin never wants his children to feel alone.

That’s why the Home Alone star has made it his mission to ensure that his and partner Brenda Song‘s sons, Dakota, 4, and Carson, 3, know they are loved whenever possible.

“There’s a word that I use in my household because it’s something that I didn’t really hear enough of when I was a kid,” he shared on the Dec. 16 episode of Mythical Kitchen, “and that’s ‘proud.’

Macaulay—who had a challenging childhood with his father Christopher "Kit" Culkin—went on to explain that he “never got the ‘p’ word” growing up despite his successful acting career. So the 45-year-old said he’ll now frequently use the word with his own children.

“My kid, he does his recital,” Macaulay recalled of a specific instance. “As soon as the curtain opens, he freezes, he cries and he runs off stage. So, I go and scoop him up and the first thing out of my mouth is, ‘Man, I’m so proud of you. You were so brave to go out there like that.’