Mark Wahlberg Talks Fatherhood: I'm Dreading When My Girls Start Dating

The Transformers: Age of Extinction star and father of four admits, "I pray for patience but the kids test me"

Photo: Uri Schanker/Wireimage

It doesn’t matter what time of day it is in the Wahlberg household, it’s always organized chaos.

Mark Wahlberg‘s four children with wife Rhea – Ella, 10, Michael, 8, Brendan, 5, and Grace, 4 – keep Mom and Dad on their toes.

“It’s not easy,” says the star of Transformers: Age of Extinction. “But it’s how we always pictured things.”

After his own troubled upbringing in South Boston, the devout Catholic is determined to raise down-to-earth children as a Hollywood power player. “I pray for patience,” he says. “But the kids test me.”

Of the many lessons learned, keeping the kids humble is top priority.

“I want to give them all the things I never had but make sure they understand it’s not normal and that it takes hard work to get what you want,” says the actor, 43. “You have to provide them with the tools that will make them good people.”

Having an even split with two boys and two girls in the household, Wahlberg is faced with challenges on both sides.

“I’m dreading the teenage years with my daughters; it’s not going to be easy for them to go on a date,” he says with a laugh.

And with the guys, “My boys are obsessed with everything sports,” he admits. “The first thing out of their mouths in the morning when their eyes are barely open is, ‘Dad, did the Clippers win?’ ”

For more on Mark Wahlberg, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

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