PopTalk - John Leguizamo

"I read tons of books about parenting."

Comic actor John Leguizamo says he's 

more like his Dad as his children get older. 

Excerpts from a recent interview with babble.com.....

Q.  Did you have any expectations of what being a parent would be like? 

"Nothing prepares you. I think people don't prepare you because they want you to suffer like them. (Laughs.) But nothing prepared me for this. I never knew that I could love something outside of myself so much like I love my kids. And the amount of pain and suffering that comes with that.I used to live such a carefree life! And it makes you care about the world in a way that I never did before. Like, protect this world for them and the future. I never felt that before, you know? It's interesting how that love for your kids just bleeds out into so many other things."

"There's no bonding like when you actually have to do things with them." 

Q.What about dads who don't change diapers?

"Not anymore. That was back then. Life isn't like that anymore. You don't 

have that luxury anymore. Guys gotta do shit that women used to do, and it's good. I see a lot of dads feeding those babies at the park, with the bottle. It's tougher for us, it's tougher for the dudes. But in the end, you do get closer to your kids."

"[My wife] was smart enough to know that I needed to bond [with the baby] and the best way to bond is to just be with the kids, and do the diapering, do all that stuff and be with them... It's true. There's no bonding like when you actually have to do things with them."

Q. Do you ever look at your kids - a daughter Allegra Sky,11; and son Ryder Lee, 10 -  and say to your wife, okay, that came from me, that came from you?

"Yeah. You can see that. Nothing you can do. Even if you're aware, and you read, you're still doing shit. My parents were so immigrant and so driven, and I can't help but do that to my kids. [I tell them] "You have to earn everything. I'm not buying you another toy." And I go, oh my god. That's my parents. (Laughs.) "Earn every toy, every Wii, every Nintendo DS - you have to read a book, you have to earn it." They've got to read certain books over the summer, or they don't get the ping pong table. They gotta earn everything."