Harry Connick Jr. gushes about his girls

Harry Connick Jr.’s got a lot on his plate as a musician, actor andhumanitarian, but nothing is more rewarding to him than spending timewith his family, model wife Jill Goodacre, 42, and their three daughters,Georgia Tatom, 11, Sara Kate, 9, and Charlotte, 5 on June 26. Being the only guy andraising a trio of girls has never fazed the 39-year-old.

I don’t really find girls to be any more dramatic or delicate thanboys; I’ve known plenty of little boys who’ve had miserable breakdownsover things…in fact, I was one of them! I’ve raised my girls in asort of genderless fashion. I mean, I’ll take them to get their nailsdone — I actually love doing that — but I also play ball with them.As a result, my girls are tough and athletic and game for everything.

Thehardest part of being a father, he says, is being away from his familysince his multiple professions often take him away from home formonths. But there are a few perks to being an entertainer as he cantake extended breaks too.

In general, my job balances out really well, because I can be home formonths and months. But then, I’ll have to be on the road and I won’tsee my kids for a few weeks at a time, and it’s heartbreaking for me.Now they’re at an age where they seem to be able to handle it, where myleaving doesn’t disrupt the normalcy of their lives. But to tell youthe truth, that also makes me a little sad, because I realize theydon’t need me as much anymore.

When Harry is home, the focus is on his girls, even if he doesn’t intend for it to be.

With my girls, I just like doing everyday things, like walking withthem to school, or helping with homework, or watching the DiscoveryChannel. And my wife and I will have a date night, where we’ll go outto dinner or a movie, or spend some time with friends. But you knowsomething? We wind up talking about our kids the whole time.

The current talk nowadays is his daughters’ present for Jill, which Harry says is his proudest moment as a father.

My wife celebrated a recently, and I told the girls, ‘You needto do something really nice for Mom.’ When my wife came home thatnight, they must have created 40 or 50 pieces of artwork for her. Theymade drawings that were covered in glitter and stickers. On one pieceof paper, they’d traced their hands, and they’d written, ‘When you put your hand on this, it will be like we’re holding hands.’ I was really blown away, and so was my wife.

Source: Good Housekeeping