The beloved TODAY Show weather anchor, Al Roker welcomed his first grandchild, granddaughter, Sky Clara Laga, last year on July 3. When his daughter Courtney Roker and her husband, Wesley Laga, welcomed their first child together, he thanked them for giving him, “such a perfect blessing.” Well, now a year later, Roker is sharing everything that he loves about being a grandfather, even video!
In a recent interview with TODAY.com, Roker shares the main reason why he, and so many other grandparents, love being just grandma and grandpa: “You get all of the excitement of being a parent with very little of the anxiety.”
“Especially when you’re a first-time parent, you are so immersed in making sure your kid’s OK. It is all-consuming,” Roker said of being a parent. “And while from time to time you can appreciate the joy and the faith, you’re just so concerned and worried about this little person that you’re responsible for.”
“By the time you become a grandparent, you already know what it takes to raise a child. And since it’s not your primary responsibility, you can really just bask in the joy of everything they do because you don’t have to worry about all the other stuff.”
The 69-year-old journalist went on to share video, on the TODAY Show, of his one-year-old granddaughter doing “army crawls” with viewers as she is now on the move.
“This past weekend, [July 4 weekend], she started crawling at our house and it’s like, ‘Oh, this is fantastic!'” Roker said of Sky Clara. He continued, “I don’t have to think about the fact that, now I’ve gotta really watch this kid. I mean, I do, but it’s not my 24-hour job.”
Although it isn’t his 24-hour job, “Pop-Pop” does indeed realize that, “I’m gonna have to start baby proofing. He also said that through Sky Clara he is “just reliving the joy of discovery of your child, only it’s once removed. So that now it really is just pure joy.”
We cannot wait to see what new adventures in grandparenting the esteemed journalist shares with us all.
Photo: Al Roker Instagram
