Who are the adorable kids in Darius Rucker's 'It Won't Be Like This for Long' video? None other than his own children -- Cary, Dani and Jack -- who inspired the song.

Rucker shares these intimate family photos exclusively with The Boot and talks about how country music was a good move for his entire party-of-five.



"We were gonna write a lullaby that I could sing to my kids," Rucker recalls of the writing session with Ashley Gorley and Chris DuBois that resulted in 'It Won't Be Like This for Long.' "It's just one of those songs that when you're done with it, it's like, 'Wow, I couldn't have said it to my kid any better than that.'"

"Just watching her, it breaks his heart/'Cause he already knows/It wont be like this for long/One day soon that little girl is gonna be/All grown up and gone."

As a dad to two daughters and a son, Rucker says those lyrics hit close to home.

"Having your kid break your heart is a big thing," he tells The Boot. "The last moment that really choked me up with my kids was just today. I was sitting on the bus and said, 'I'm gonna watch the ['It Won't Be Like This for Long'] video,' and in the middle of it, I was bawling. The kids are growing up so fast!"

Rucker is thankful he can be at home to watch them grow up, as the Hootie and the Blowfish frontman says his move from rock to country has proven more harmonious with his role as husband and father.

"I still thank God that music is my profession, but I hate to leave my kids and my wife and go on the road," Rucker laments. "But that's another great thing about being in country, [it's] so family-oriented. On Brad's [Paisley] tour, we worked three or four days a week and were home for three or four days, so that's a pretty good balance."

Rucker says all three kids are old enough to understand what he does for a living. But that certainly doesn't up his cool factor.

"Even though they get it, I'm still just Dad," he says with a laugh.