Al Roker Shares His Thoughts on Parenting His Grown Children
By Movieguide® Contributor
Al Roker, the weatherman for TODAY, shares about his love and concern for his now adult children. Roker has three children, two of whom he shares with his wife Deborah Roberts; he had his oldest child with his first wife, Alice Bell.
“The best gift is when they’re all together, especially as they get older. It’s harder to have everybody under one roof on Father’s Day. So, whenever they’re together, that’s my Father’s Day,” said Roker.
He shared his feelings with TODAY and explained how the worry for his children has gotten stronger as they’ve grown.
“I think it becomes even more anxiety-ridden, because when they’re smaller, they are under your roof and you can take care of them and try to protect them as best as you can,” explained Roker. “But as they go out and venture out into the world, you have less control over that. But your love and your worry for them doesn’t lessen. It probably only increases.”
He also emphasized the importance of letting them learn from their own mistakes when they are younger.
“If it has something to do with physical harm or danger, then you’ve got to step in; otherwise, that’s the only way they learn, is by failure. And I’m not talking (about) anything that threatens their safety or their mental wellbeing,” Roker says.
“But, on the other hand, they need to, if they didn’t study, fail a test or if they didn’t practice their instrument, they need to be chided by the teacher — that’s part of growing up.”
Roker shared recently that his oldest daughter is pregnant, and he hopes that his grandchildren will call him “Pop pop” which is what his children called him father.
He told TODAY.com, “My dad was Pop-Pop to all of his grandchildren, so I want to keep the tradition going. The little one may have other ideas, but that’s the one I’m pushing.”
