For me, the battle is finding the balance between wanting to spend time with my boys and then having enough perspective to still be the disciplinarian and, like, not be in the best friend business.
When I'm on a movie, I'm unavailable every day for a year and a half. You can't do that with a little baby. Somebody might be able to do it, but not me.
Once you hit 40, being in a band - a committee voting constantly on what you're going to be doing next month - it's more of a challenge. And when you have a kid as well.
What greater aspiration and challenge are there for a mother than the hope of raising a great son or daughter?
Being a stepfather is a huge challenge.
I have a 6-year-old, and his thing is to turn on Radio Disney in the car, and I get such an allergic reaction to listening to that music and the context into which it falls. I'm really working on him about that.
But I know I have a son who doesn't listen to anything I say and if he hears the same thing from someone else, sometimes it has a little more impact.
I think the hardest thing about making music now is being a great dad at the same time. There's an insanity that goes with writing - a mad scientist thing that you have to go through - and sacrificing a kid's upbringing to do that is not an option.
The fatherhood thing is easy - when you're there.
When my daughter wanted a toy and I had to check the price of it before buying it - that was one of the worst feelings.
Kids will eat anything, won't they?
One of the problems you have when you read with kids is that once they like something they want you to read it a hundred times.
Every parent knows that for a kid, the car is chloroform.
Cooking for my son is a challenge. I have to feed him right. He can't eat French fries and candy every day.
Children have adopted a consumerist attitude - I dare you to entertain me.
My time is being shared with my fans and the people of the world, while I have got children growing with a lot of days of not seeing their father.
I read to my kid, but I can't stand reading.
Being a father or a mother is not only a great challenge, it is a divine calling. It is an effort requiring consecration.
I am very active on Twitter and one thing that keeps popping up is "How do I balance having a kid and writing?" And I know it should not be as aggravating, but I know no one ever asks a male writer that. Or, any male that.
I know I'm always going to be a musician, for the rest of my life. That's for sure. It's about how you balance between being a musician and being a parent, and making it intertwined.
Healthy love, I always think, is... wanting the person you love to be more of themselves. And I think for a parent that's a challenge, because you have to let a baby spread its wings.
If a parent knows that their kid is suddenly becoming infatuated with ISIS, they face a very difficult choice, which is, you know, do I - what do I do?
My son Cooper has just turned ten and the sarcasm fairy has already started to take up residence inside his body. Not only am I living with my mother - again! - but I've also got her mini-me to contend with.
It's quite a job, so to speak, when you can really be with your child for 21 out of 24 hours.
The biggest challenge in my life is getting all these kids raised. I've helped with nieces, stepchildren and my own son, so the biggest challenge is making sure the kids are raised and finding enough quality time with them.
