How Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka Make Their Kids a Priority

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are the epitome of adorable Hollywood couples. Their annual Halloween photo with their kids is eagerly anticipated by their fans each year, and their family vacation photos are drool worthy.

Being the parents of 8-year old twins in do small feat, especially when the two of them are so busy. How to they manage to make their kids a priority?

Despite busy schedules, they make time for family vacations

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are regularly on vacation. It helps to be extremely wealthy celebrities, of course. But, they also make sure that vacationing together is on the top of their to-do list. Making time for vacation helps them to unwind and remember what is important to them.

The family has been all over the globe together, making memories. From Puerto Rico to Alaska, their perfect family photos show them having a great time. Most recently their social accounts show them in Nice, France just living the good life. 

Neil Patrick Harris turns down jobs when they might negatively impact his family

When he was asked about how often he planned to host the Academy Awards NPH thought about how it would affect his kids and his husband before making a decision. After the 2015 Oscars, Harris told the Huffington Post that the show took too much time away from his family and he didn’t think he would do it again.

“I don’t know that my family nor my soul could take it,” he explained. “It’s a beast. It was fun to check off the list, but for the amount of time spent and the understandable opinionated response, I don’t know that it’s a delightful balance to do every year or even again.”

While he was busy preparing for the Oscars in LA his husband, David, was home being a single dad. That just didn’t seem fair for their family dynamic. Although the couple does have help from a nanny, they have been clear that she does not live with them. They like to parent their children themselves, getting them up in the morning and putting them to bed has always been important to the dads. So, when they are doing it solo it can be more of a challenge.

Their careers influence their family activities

Burtka, a chef, likes to incorporate the kids into his career by having them help him in the kitchen. In this way, he gets to expose them to the career he loves while also spending quality time. His daughter Harper, he tells the NY Times likes to help him make pancakes while son Gideon is perfecting scrambled eggs.

“There is no consistency to our routine except that we’re together and spending quality time with the kids,” Mr. Burtka, told the Times. The couple tries to make sure that no matter what else is going on in their lives that Sunday is dedicated to spending time all together.

He’s regularly posting to Instagram when he makes food with the kids, or helps them to create one of the recipes in his many cookbooks. The kids have been a real inspiration to him when creating recipes too, since their food preferences come and go.

Harris and Burtka know how to slow down their hectic lives

Last summer, Harris told fans that he was taking a break from projects to focus on his family.

“[I’m] just getting back into the routine of being a dad all the time, not just being a dad who’s there for a few days until I have to leave again,” he told People. “Long distance is difficult. Necessary sometimes, but a challenge.”

When he’s not working he is taking time to bond with his family, making sure to spend individual time with each child. His adorable daddy-daughter dates show up frequently on his social media accounts.

What is the secret to balancing busy careers and parenthood?

The guys say it’s all about being able to have a vision of what balanced looks like. They know when they need to settle down and stay home, and they can see when their kids need some more one on one time.

It helps to have help, too. Harris tells Parade that their life resembles a Tetris game, where all of the pieces have to be manipulated carefully into place.

“I have an unbelievable assistant who handles all of my scheduling! It’s like a Tetris game. I’ve been doing this for a while and sometimes you have spells of busyness and other times you’re clamoring for work…[I try] to embrace it and make smart choices. I guess I’m in a nice position that way. I get to choose things that interest me…”

Which also gives Harris the opportunity to turn down things that would get in the way of his family priorities.