Craig Melvin has taken one lesson he's learned from being a TODAY news anchor to his role as dad: Know your audience.
So, when it comes to 9-year-son Delano and 6-year-old daughter Sybil, Craig appreciates his kids' personalities and differences. He's fully embraced the challenge of figuring out who needs what and when.
“My daughter requires what I like to call active engagement,” Craig told Parents. “My son is perfectly fine with just sitting and watching 'Planet Earth' and sharing a word or thought every 15 or 20 minutes or so.”
While Craig enjoys the bonding that comes with coaching Delano’s basketball team, shooting hoops with him and watching sports together, Sybil has been the one to push him to embrace his emotional side.
“I was never one who is prone to a great deal of emotion until fatherhood,” Craig said. “My daughter recently had a dance recital that was two and a half hours for a three-minute performance. My daughter was third to last, and by the time her group got up to perform, I was just as excited about it as she was. The confidence she displayed was outstanding, and I found myself getting teary.”
And since Sybil is not into sports as much as Delano is, Craig has had to find other ways to connect with her. In addition to taking her to gymnastics and dance and Saturday birthday parties, he does a lot of listening.
“We spend a fair amount of time just talking. Or, it would be more accurate to say, I spend a fair amount of time listening — she’s at a stage now where she loves sharing her thoughts,” Craig said.
Craig admitted that one thing he’s had to work on is being more present as a father. He’s no different than many dads who struggle with finding work-life balance. A recent survey of 1,600 fathers by Parents and Verywell Mind reveals that 2 in 3 dads say they’ve been at least moderately stressed over the past 30 days — and 43% of those surveyed said half of their stress level is related to child care.
For Craig, work requires lots of long days and travel, which means time away from his kids and wife Lindsay Czarniak. In those moments, he leans on technology to fill the void.
“There have been times when I’m traveling and didn’t want to miss a sporting event, recital, or performance of some sort — and my wife will loop me via FaceTime,” Craig told Parents. “Cell phones — for all their evils — have helped my parenting in a myriad of ways.”
