Restaurant Critic Adam Platt Discusses His Biggest Challenges As A Father

"I think the challenge is to connect, always, and to be heard, and to be emotionally consistent."

When Adam Platt shares his thoughts, people tend to listen. He's made a career of it as a successful restaurant critic at New York magazine. But things are different at home, where he often struggles to feel heard in a household of three driven women.

"It's me, this large man, and three diminutive, chatty, wonderful women, and there's all sorts of struggles," Platt told his 16-year-old daughter Jane, speaking of his wife and two daughters. "I wouldn't say the main struggle [but] one of the real struggles is to have people pay attention to me because it's an endless clamor in our household."

Platt sat down with his daughter for HuffPost's parent-child interview series Talk To Me, and Jane eventually put him at ease. "We, as a family, do notice you, as much as it may not seem," she said with a smile.

The two naturally shared some favorite memories involving food and cooking, and Platt described fatherhood as his greatest achievement. "The best part about being a father, of being in a family, is you're just in this cocoon of emotion, in this cocoon of support," he said. "It's a huge responsibility and it's a wonderful pleasure. And it gets richer as your children grow and you see them grow in all these wonderful ways."

Toward the end of their conversation, Platt turned the tables on his daughter and asked how she perceives him as a father. "Am I a tough father? Am I a disciplinary father? Am I a lax father?"

"I think you're very insightful," Jane said. "And I know that throughout my short life, you've always told [my sister] Penelope and I that the best thing to do is just be kind to everybody and that's definitely something that you've demonstrated throughout our lives and within the family."

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