The TODAY dads had an early Father’s Day celebration with a heartfelt chat, some craft cocktails … and even some friendly competition in New York City’s Central Park.
After Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Willie Geist and Peter Alexander raced rowboats near Bethesda Fountain, they relaxed at the Central Park Boathouse, exchanged a few dad jokes and talked about fatherhood.
Many of the anchors spoke about how becoming a father impacted their travel schedule for work.
“When the kids were younger, I was traveling a lot more than I do now. And this guy gave me some solid advice a few years ago,” Craig said, gesturing to Carson.
“You have to travel last minute and you miss some stuff, and you start feeling guilty about it. And Carson was like,
‘It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.’ Make the time that you’re there memorable,” Craig said. Together with his wife, Lindsay Czarniak, he is raising son Delano, 11, and daughter Sybil, 8.
When Peter gets a call to travel somewhere on a Friday, all he can think about is wanting to be at home on the weekends with his family: wife Alison Starling, 11-year-old Ava and 10-year-old Emma.
“We’re going to barbecue something, we’re going to put on some Morgan Wallen. I have FOMO. I don’t want to miss out on that,” he said. “So I’m going to fly in the morning and fly back that night.”
Before Willie had kids, he used to extend work travel to visit friends.
“The minute Lucie was born — so 18 years ago — it was like there was this homing beacon placed right in your chest,” he said. “And the minute you were done with the interview or whatever it was, it was like, ‘I got to get to the airport.’” The pull was even stronger once they added son George to the family, he shared.
“Well, we also do it because we can do it,” said Carson, who, along with wife Siri Daly, is raising four kids: son Jackson and daughters Etta, London and Goldie. Carson turned to Al and added, “Your dad was a bus driver. He couldn’t just take off.”
“My dad was just constantly working,” said Al. “I remember a couple of times he would call us in and he says, ‘Listen, Dad’s got a chance to do some overtime. You’re not going to see me tonight.’ And he would sleep at the depot.”
On the other hand, Al said that one of his fondest memories was when his dad would let Al ride the bus for eight hours while he drove. “It was long before Take Your Kids to Work Day,” he joked.
“I used to hold it against my dad for a long time because he worked third shift as a mail clerk,” said Craig. “It’s not until you get older and you have your own children, and you have to work to provide for them that you understand the sacrifice, you know? But back then it was like, ‘Oh, Dad’s not at my Little League game.’”
Each of the TODAY dads plans to spend this Father’s Day in a slightly different way.
Al, who is a father of three to Courtney, Leila and Nick and grandfather to Sky, Courtney’s daughter, plans to spend the day at the grill while upstate with his family.
“It’s funny,” said Al. “Deborah (my wife) keeps saying, ‘Why are you cooking?’ I said, ‘Because this is my happy place. I love to do this.’”
“God was smart. God put one of the four golf majors on Father’s Day weekend,” Carson joked. “So our United States Open will be on. I watched it with my father, and I will force my children to watch it with me. We’ll have a fire burning in the fireplace, there’ll be a cold beer involved. Definitely some barbecuing.”
Willie shares that his Father’s Day plans are “up to the kids. So I don’t know what I’m doing. But I do know that I’m lucky enough to have my father about 30 minutes away. I’ll get to be with my kids and then we can all get in the car and go be with my dad. So that is a blessing.”
For many dads, Father’s Day is a day to “peace out and go play golf, disappear till dinner,” Peter said. “In our house, it’s the opposite. Everybody’s here. We’re all together. I don’t care what the plan is, we can do anything you like, we’re just going to do it together.”
“As I get older, my favorite pastime is doing absolutely nothing,” said Craig. “So I have asked my family to allow me to do absolutely nothing.”
“Or you just play (golf) really early,” joked Carson. “I can be home by 9.”
“Wow. Now I guess we know what you’re doing!” joked Al.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
