Carson Daly’s announcement shows dads want work-life balance, too

It’s a struggle many overscheduled parents can identify with: That feeling that something’s gotta give. With three jobs and three kids, Carson Daly’s announcement about the future of his career proves he knows that stretched too thin feeling all too well: After eight years on 97.1 AMP’s radio morning show, the Today show host is leaving radio to make room for something else.

“The reason I’m going to stop doing radio for now is that I just want to have breakfast with my kids,” Daly announced in an Instagram post.

Bittersweet morning. So lucky to have been on radio in my hometown for almost 8 yrs. I’ve decided waking up w my family is what’s most important right now. Thanks for listening! @971ampradio

A post shared by Carson Daly (@carsondaly) on Jul 27, 2017 at 8:44am PDT

The 44-year-old dad called his last shift at 97.1 AMP “bittersweet,” but with Today and The Voice keeping him busy, he needed to make room in his day for those who matter most.

“I’ve decided waking up w my family is what’s most important right now,” he wrote.

Daly’s stepping down serves as a reminder that dads, too, make career sacrifices when it comes to spending time with their kids. Striking the right balance between career and family isn’t easy for anyone.

Some parents, like Daly, miss breakfast, while others miss out on bedtimes or soccer games: One Canadian study suggested almost 49 percent of working fathers would consider a job change if the employer was more family-friendly, and more than half of the dads surveyed (56 percent) would take a 10 percent pay cut to spend 10 percent extra time at home with their kids. (Research from the U.K. found a similar trend, with 38 percent of dads there willing to take a pay cut to achieve a better work-life balance.)

According to Pew Research, about half of American dads say finding the balance between work and family is very or somewhat difficult to do so—and working dads are about as likely as working moms to say they’d rather be at home with their kids.

This all goes to show that fathers everywhere face difficulty when trying to carve out time for their kids.

But, at least in Daly’s case, the decision to scale back on work has already proven to be a good one: On his first day at home for breakfast, Daly took to Twitter to share his enthusiasm for the family meal he missed out on for years.

Operation burnt bacon & overly buttered toast complete. 1st Monday morning without a radio show and breakfast w the kids rocked!

— Carson Daly (@CarsonDaly) July 31, 2017

Work-life balance… It isn’t easy to achieve, but it’s so worthwhile once you feel you have. (For dads, too.)