He recently welcomed a new puppy, Myles, to the family.
Hes even taken on a few cozy hobbies (more on that later).
Q: What are your house rules?
Credit:Craig Melvin
First of all, we are a shoes-on house.
Q: Thats unexpected!
Part of my reason why were a shoes-on house: We have a puppy.
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I have a 10-year-old.
I have a seven-and-a-half-year-old.
Dirt and mud coming in the housethats the least of our worries.
Its a good sign these people are having fun, theyre going out.
Q: Do you have any other house rules?
Most of these are probably unspoken.
We dont have a list of houses rulesyou know what, thats actually not true.
We have said those are the house rules, but we dont really enforce those.
Craig Melvin
Q: Are there any you do enforce?
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We eat together every night.
We sit there and we talk.
We engage in good, old-fashioned conversation, and thats an unspoken rule.
Another ruleand this is a function of the new puppywe all participate in walking the dog.
That was part of the deal, whether its out to the backyard or out for a walk.
Thats a house rule.
Q: Do you have any rules that are just for the kids?
Its funny because sometimes they do change based on whether one child is being mean to the other.
You know, like sometimes its, No shut up.
We dont say shut up.
Thats a rule: We dont say shut up.
During the spring and summer, another house rule is get outside.
Two words that I absolutely loathe: Im bored.
How can you be bored in a house with every board game ever manufactured?
Youve got video games.
Youve got your mothers pinball machine that she had when she was a kid down in the basement.
Youve got every streaming service.
And youre like Im bored.
So yeah, get outsides a good rule.
[Laughs] Guys.
Im starting to sound like my parents.
Im like the old curmudgeon on the porch shaking his fist.
Everyone smiles when they see Myles.
Q: I love that you have rules about spending time with Myles.
In our house, hes the great uniter.
It doesnt matter what anyones going through that particular day.
Everyone smiles when they see MylesMyles Copper Melvin.
Oh, hell no.
No social media until theyre 16.
And Im like, of course they are.
So no, no cellphones at the table.
We limit their screen time.
Q: And that applies to TV, too?
They get to watch, a given week, its maybe an hour on a screen.
Its funny, because theres a distinction that I makeI keep them off phones or the iPads.
But if you want to watch one of the TVs in the house?
If you want to watch Sports Center or whatever, Im fine with that.
Watch what you want here, but its got to be communal.
I have to be able to see what youre watching.
My son always hates my daughters pick.
My daughter always hates my sons pick.
And theyre like, “Oh my god, Dad, its so old.
The graphics, it doesnt even look real.
And Im like, Well, thats what makes it great, guys.
Its a classic tale of good versus evil.
But Dad, its just so bad, and so I make them watch it.
10 minutes in, theyre fine.
Q: Any other rules?
We also go to church every Sunday.
And then we do brunch.
We spend a lot of time with our children.
We make a concerted effort to do it.
Q: It sounds like your family is really close.
We spend a lot of time with our children.
We make a concerted effort to do it.
A lot of its structured time.
But we do a lot of that.
Again, itsnow that Im saying it out loud, I think thats a good thing.
We enjoy our children.
And its funny because sometimes I find myself laughing at one of my sons jokes.
These kids are actually kind of funny, theyre kind of clever.
Q: So everyones following the same set of rules in your house.
Were all playing by the same rules.
That was ‘damn,’ you said ‘damn.’
Or my wife a couple of months ago, she slipped up in the car.
She was driving to school and someone cut her off or something.
And to this day, the kids still bring it up: Mommy, remember?
Remember when you were driving?
Ill do the Olympics in Paris; it will be my fifth games.
I keep a digital picture frame around.
It rotates through my pictures.
But alsoI mean, listen, I was just railing against the evils of the internet and social media.
But FaceTime is a fantastic creation.
So theres that as well.
Q: When you arent traveling, what makes your house feel like home?
Im really big into plants.
[Laughs] We have a lot of plants in the house.
In our kitchen and our dining room together, we probably have 10 plants.
Ive got plants in my office.
Ive got plants in the bedroom.
In the basement, Ive got a wall of plants.
As soon as you walk into the house, theres plants in the foyer.
Now when you come into my house, youll smell the candles that Ive made.
Q: Does scent or fragrance play a role in that feeling of home?
Im obsessed with candles.
My wife, if you interviewed her separately, she would probably say I have a problem.
Several months ago, I started making my own candles.
Im not going through a midlife crisis.
I was like, I love candles.
Hes like, Well, you could make candles.
Im like, No, you cant.
People dont make candles.
In fact, as were having this conversation, Im burning one of my candles now.
I do experiment with different scents and vessels and waxes.
This was one I named after my mother.
And the scent: Its poundcake.
So now when you come into my house, youll smell the candles that Ive made.
It has become wretchedly excessive, as my wife will attest, but I find the candle-making process cathartic.
Q: Speaking of coming into your house, do you host guests very often?
And I’ll tell you what else I enjoy even more: We call them spontaneous hangs.
Youre sitting around Saturday or Sunday, games on, not really doing a whole lot.
And sometimes my son will be like, Hey, can my friend come over?
And Im like, Sure, have him come over, get in the pool.
The next thing you know, his parents are coming down the street.
Oh, its a spontaneous hang.
Those are the best.
I get up so early during the week.
Theyre asking me for a beer at nine o’clock.
Im like, Really?
You want a nine o’clock beer in this house?
Buddy, it was your last one.
Thats a surefire way to not get invited back.
Q: Then whats the secret to making sure you do get invited back?
Those are the folks who always get invited back.
Q: It sounds like you really value your time at home.
That it is this beautiful, pleasant-smelling green space.
I think theres probably a correlation between the two.
