Roy Wood Jr. Says His Current Goal Is ‘Perfection in Parenting.’ Craig Melvin Has Some Advice

Comedian Roy Wood Jr. isn’t looking for any funny business when it comes to raising his kids.

The former “The Daily Show” correspondent was asked by Craig Melvin on the May 5 episode of his “Glass Half Full” video podcast to name something he is chasing in his life.

“Perfection in parenting,” Wood, the father of a son born in 2016, replied.

“Man, we’re all chasing that. But is that realistic? That’s not achievable,” Craig replied.

“I don’t know man, the idea that I’m not present enough. I know I’m not present enough. I’m gone for a reason,” Wood explained, alluding to the travel necessary in his career.

“I make sure my son knows why,” Wood Jr. said. “But the idea of I can lay down and go, ‘Alright, I did a good job today,’ ‘cause I feel like you have work, you have parenting and you have rest and recreation. I feel like you can only pick two of those a day to be good at.”

Craig, who shares son Delano, 12, and daughter Sybil, 9, with wife Lindsay Czarniak, said it’s important not to get caught up in how much time he may spend with his kids, but focus on the richness of the experiences he has with them.

“That’s fair,” Craig replied. “I don’t know… someone said to me years ago — it’s better now because I’ve got more of a set schedule — but when I was crisscrossing the country as a correspondent, yeah, I’d spend three days somewhere and wouldn’t see my son or, later, my daughter, but quality over quantity.

“So if you sort of make peace with the fact that you’re not going to be at every baseball game or basketball game or recital, but when you are around, you’re there and you’re dialed in,” he continued. “Or, and I tell my kids all the time, I’m like, ‘You know, I’m going to miss some stuff, but we’re taking hella vacations,’ which is how I make up for the guilt.”

Wood said he does his best to incorporate that philosophy into how he rears his son.

“I try to do that with my son, man. I try my best,” he said. “The thing I try to communicate more than anything in detail is why I am away and what is happening when I’m away,” the comedian explained. “So we swap videos. ‘Hey, man, I’m in Vancouver today. This is this. This is the sound man. Here’s the job that is occurring today,’ so that you don’t just think I’m away and that you’re not being thought of.”