Garth Brooks is opening up about the time he took off from music to raise his kids.

During his four-hour appearance on 'Today,' Brooks revealed that taking time off enabled him to be there for every aspect of his kids' upbringing.

"It's cool because, I will tell you, I was lucky enough to be at every practice, every rehearsal, every school function. My kids will go, 'Oh my god, he was at EVERY practice,' you know, all that stuff," he says. "I think the way they see it and the way I see it's probably different, but I'm hoping after I'm gone, you know, from this world, hopefully then they'll go, 'Oh, I get it. Dad was at everything.'"

Although Brooks wasn't necessarily creating a lot of new music during that time, he stresses that he didn't give up on the industry completely. But his few performances a year didn't live up to his full-time job of being a dad.

"You're still doing your thing. I mean, the charity functions, foundation functions never stop, so you still show up once or twice a year and get to play," he says. "That was great, but I've got to tell ya, no offense to music whatsoever, nothing compared to being a dad.

"So, it was like leaving Maui to go to Honolulu. I mean, I don't know how to say it," Brooks continues. "It was like, 'I love to play music, but right now, I gotta tell ya, there's nothing better than this.' And those are days you can't get back."

Brooks returned to music in 2013 with the release of his compilation box set ‘Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences.’ He released his new, now-platinum album 'Man Against Machine' last year and kicked off his world tour, which has already sold over a million tickets, in September.

"The greatest gift I've ever received was the time off to raise our kids," he says. "But I've gotta tell you, very second, the [next greatest] gift I've received was the chance to do it all again. We're having a great time."

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