Though Harold Ramis' repertoire includes such notable descriptions as actor, director, producer and screenwriter, his most cherished role has little to do with famous feats.

"I have always been terribly excited and pleased to be a parent," he says. "I embraced parenthood like no one I know."

Ramis considers himself a lucky man; with three children, he's been embracing parenthood for much of his adult life. His adult daughter, Violet, grew up at her father's side, spending time on location during such projects as Ghostbusters, Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation. Ramis calls his first wife "ambivalent" about raising children, and says most of the parenting was his responsibility.

"The first time around, I went solely on instinct, but I didn't really have an approach," he says. "I would say that I couldn't have been very consistent, but she's a great kid. And for better or worse, she's very much like me."

Years later, Ramis married his second wife, Erica, a woman who shares his passion for parenting. Together, they had two sons, Julian and Daniel. This new foray into parenthood was something that Ramis took time to savor.

"When my first son was born, I literally took six months off of work," he remembers. "And for the first three months, I barely left the house. I just lay in bed with my wife and baby. It was luxurious."

And he hasn't forgotten the sheer awe that a parent can feel when observing a new child. "The thing that amazes me is that you can watch a baby like a TV set for hours at a time. 'Oh my God, he moved!' It's the greatest thing in the world."

Ramis used this time to bond – not only with his new baby, but also with his wife. Together, they enrolled in parenting classes and developed a conscious approach to raising their children. The approach is based on helping the child define his emotional needs through dialogue. From the time his children were babies, Ramis and his wife attached words to their emotions. Now, when his children are acting out in a way he doesn't like, Ramis doesn't demand that they stop. Instead, he asks them questions aimed at drawing out their motivations: Are you angry? Is something going on?

"We'd rather spend 20 minutes figuring out what they're feeling than spending 20 minutes screaming that they wrote on the wall with crayons," Ramis says. "We would rather confront different feelings than sweep them under the rug."

Ramis' sons have spent time with their father on location in New York. While filming Analyze This, the 1999 comedy about a mob boss and his psychiatrist (which was followed by Analyze That in 2002), Ramis always had son Julian in tow.

"I was working with Robert De Niro for the first time, who's kind of a formidable character," he remembers. "The first day, my son Julian and I went up to talk to Bob. I looked at Julian and I looked at De Niro and I thought, 'Is this alright?' I said, 'Bob, is this OK?' and he said, 'Yeah, it's alright.'"

Ramis' sons were essentially born into show business, but their famous father is grounded in his attitude toward family. The Ramis family moved to suburban Chicago in 1996 and Ramis spends at least half of his time as a full-time dad. During the times when he's away from home working on a film, his sons spend plenty of time staying with their dad on location. Ramis admits that – unfortunately – not everyone in Hollywood has priorities in the same order.

"A very powerful entertainment executive once said to me, 'No matter how busy I get, I have dinner at least once a week with my kids,'" Ramis laughs. "In the real world, that's a pathetic statement."

Ramis says his best piece of advice for parents-to-be is to keep their focus on the things that matter most. "Because people live in anticipation of the birth, they tend to over-train on the birth itself as an end of something," he says. "This one wants to have it in the water; this one wants drugs and this one doesn't; it's Lamaze, it's Bradley... Anybody who's been through it knows it's not an end; it's the starting line. After a year, [the birth] is 1/365th of your parenting experience."

And in the big picture, Ramis says, that's not much.

"The real job of parenting is not getting the baby out; it's what you do with the baby after he's out."