Michael Rapaport was 'looking forward' to sending his son to college but would have been 'more concerned' if he had a daughter

If you want someone to give you the honest truth on parenting, Michael Rapaport is your guy. Not only does he have two teenagers of his own, he plays a dad of two teens on Netflix’s Atypical. Plus, he’s not one to sugarcoat things.

“Parenting is like a never-ending, unsolvable 17,000-piece jigsaw puzzle that keeps getting kicked over by a toddler, a dog, and then another toddler,” Rapaport said during a visit to Build in New York City on Tuesday. “It’s just not a solvable thing.” And while he makes a good point, he won’t be writing a parenting book anytime soon.

“I don’t know how people write books on parenting, ’cause I think it’s such bulls***,” said the actor, who was there to promote the new season of Atypical, which is available to stream now. “So, ‘17 Ways to Be a Great Parent’ … get the f** out of here! These are just ways to sort of rest your head after a long day of failing as a parent or when your kids is screaming and yelling.”

Parenting was hard from the start for Rapaport. One of his two sons from his first marriage, to Nichole Beattie, had colic. Or, as Rapaport described it, “insufferable, nonstop crying.” He continued, “It’s just crying for no f***ing reason and there’s no way to solve it.” It went on for “hours a day,” he recalled.

He joked about wanting to return the baby: “The same way I used to return CDs … like, I wanna bring this back and be like, ‘Yo, this one is scratched. Give me another one ’cause I don’t know what the f*** is going on here.’”

Nothing worked, he recalled. “Finally, I remember, a doctor said there’s no way to make it stop. So why do you have name for it? Why don’t you just say inconsolable, uncontrollable crying?” he reasoned. “Colic? What the f*** does that mean? Nothing. Bulls***.”

It got easier as his kids got older. “They’re good boys,” he said. He was actually looking forward to sending his 18-year-old son off to college a few weeks ago. “The fact that my son started school here in New York, and I spend a good amount of time here and good amount of time in Los Angeles… He was comfortable here. There was a familiarity,” he explained. “So it wasn’t like I dropped him off in, like, you know, Turkey or Spain. Like, it just seemed like he was ready. … I didn’t feel as jittery as I may, like, if my other son goes to an unfamiliar place.”

Gender has something to do with it, too. “But they’re boys, also. If I had a girl, I think it would be a little different, you know? I’d be a little bit more concerned.”

Playing a milder father on Atypical has taught him to “temper” himself around his own children, he admitted. But, he’s still the outspoken, unfiltered Michael Rapaport. “He’s a very good father, warm father,” he said of his character, Doug. In terms of how Doug is dealing with his wife, who cheated on him, he said: “I don’t think there’s a mature way to deal with your wife cheating on you while you’re living in the same house. This character I think dealt with it a lot more mature than I probably would. … I just would have been a little bit more outwardly upset.”

He describes Doug as quiet, which he likes. “And his emotions are under the surface, which, if you know me, that’s not my strong suit in real life.” In fact, you might not recognize him as the sweet,(comparatively) soft-spoken Doug. “That’s one of the things I like about the character; so much of what’s going on with him is what he’s not saying, and with me in real life, so much of what’s going on with me is what I am saying. So that’s fun to play.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

• Michael Rapaport Slams NFL’s New Kneeling Ban: ‘Motherf***ing Bulls***’ (Video)

• Michael Rapaport attacks Kenya Moore’s ‘ashy as f***’ feet on ‘Watch What Happens Live’

• ‘Atypical’ Star Michael Rapaport Stops Man Trying to Open Plane Emergency Exit Door Midflight

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