Craig Melvin’s Reconciliation With His Father Was Driven By His Relationship With His Own Kids
Motivation comes in many forms, and for the Today co-host Craig Melvin, it came in the form of his relationship with his children. Melvin recently shared that his quest to be a better dad to his children, Delano, 8, and Sybil, 5, motivated Melvin to reconcile with his father. He talks bout all of this in his book, Pops.
Melvin’s childhood encompasses his father’s struggle with addiction.
“We want every guy to be a great dad. Well, if you grew up in a house with no father or no father figure or dad, how is it reasonable to expect that you can be a great father? If you can’t see something, it’s very hard to be something,” Melvin shared with Kindred by Parents, as reported by Today.
In order to move forward and reconcile, Melvin had to forgive his father.
“I had to forgive my father for me because what had started to happen is I was angry. I was annoyed all the time with him and with my mother for putting up with him,” he said. “I was annoyed by him directly and indirectly, and our relationship was, it was a cold war.”
"It wasn't the kind of relationship that I wanted my son to see. It was more important to me that my children came to know my parents, their grandfather," Melvin stated. "That was part of my motivation."
He continued, “Years ago, my therapist said, ‘When you have kids, one of the chief goals is just to not screw them up. You don’t want to put all the baggage that you have on your kids,’ ” Melvin recalled. “I had to break that cycle. And part of reconciling with my dad, it helped break the cycle.”
Now, it is a period of growth. “I’m proud of the fact that we brought him back into the fold,” Melvin noted. “He’s making up for lost time in a big way.”
