All Pro Dad is an organization that started down in Tampa in 1997. And it was just a group of us who felt like we weren't doing as good a job as our fathers did in connecting with kids and being there and being involved in their lives, working and coaching and spending all the time we had to. We just felt badly.
When I travel with my family it's important that we do stuff together. I'm not the sort to send my children off to a kids' club.
I really had no idea when I pitched the series that it would lead to so much fun and so much connecting with kids and moms.
I loved writing for kids, I loved talking to children about what I'd written, I don't want to leave that behind.
There are moments of opportunity for families; moments they need to put technology away. These include: no phones or texting during meals. No phones or texting when parents pick up children at school - a child is looking to make eye contact with a parent!
People want to bring kids to their level, and they want to make it seem like kids have this thing. It's seen as funny to them.
I'm aware of what kids like because I'm constantly in touch with them. Also, they say that a lot of people who write for children can remember their own childhoods vividly and I can remember my childhood very vividly.
I take pride in the fact that a lot of little kids dig what I do.
My dream is to try to reach as many kids and readers who might need an unlikely hero to connect to.
I do see a lot of my kids, but sometimes I feel as though we have snatched moments. I turn up half way through something, or I only see her at bedtime. I'd like there to be more.
We have dinner every single night, Monday through Friday, with our children. We sit down around 6 or 6:30 and it's a family dinner - it's time to check in, just to be around each other.
There's nothing I like better than talking to kids, just sharing the music with them. To relate to them, you need to play songs they're familiar with.
I happen to be very good with younger actors because I have extremely vivid memories of that time of my life, and kids are just funny.
A lot of people have said that I've got a voice that speaks to children. I think I've got a natural naivety to me. I'm childish.
Always be available to your kids. Because if you say, 'Give me five minutes, give me ten minutes,' it'll be 15, it'll be 20. And then when you get there, the shine will have worn off whatever it is they wanted to share with you.
Even when I was a kid, I had a good thing with kids. To this day, if I go to a birthday party with one of my kids, I swear to you, I am so much happier hanging out with my kids and their friends than talking to the grown-ups.
I really like connecting with kids.
I think it's important to try to get on a kid's level when taking their photo.
Some people are good with children. Others are not. It is a gift. You either have it, or you don't. My father didn't.
