Brilliant Dad Feature Week 119 

This week our brilliant dad feature is Alan. He is co-owner of a sign making business in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is married to his wife Catherine and they have been married for 12 years now. They have added two beautiful girls to their family, Imogen and Abigail. They are 9 and 6 years old and and Alan says they’re full of too much energy.

They began blogging on their family blog – Here Come The Hoopers in January 2016. It followed on from a realisation of a sudden ending. Alan’s father died of a heart attack in the September and he soon found out that he didn’t have many photographs of him. It was also apparent that the few photos he did have were at family events, that could have been any family event. What was the story attached to them? So over that Christmas he suggested that he and Cat and should blog and use their photos and share the stories of their days out.

It also gave them an opportunity to actually focus on doing more things with the kids.

Alan has always been a blogger of some form. For the previous 5 years he has worked on several Disney podcasts and websites. Some of which are still running. With the death of his dad he decided that he needed to give up Disney for his kids! It seems crazy as a statement, but Disney to him was Walt Disney World in Florida. Alan says it’s an amazing place, a magical bubble to escape reality. However it was also a fantasy world that would cost them £10,000 every time they went. By giving up Disney it meant they could create lots of smaller experiences through out the year instead of concentrating it on two weeks once every two years. Alan says Disney will still be part of their lives, but their is so much more to them.

Thank you to Alan for taking part.

1. Have you always wanted to be a dad? 

The first time I actually thought about being a Dad was probably when I was around the age of 12. My brother had just had his first child. My niece was fascinating. I’d not really been around babies before, but quickly got involved with playing and looking after her when ever possible. My parents would bring me along for baby sitting, fall asleep on the sofa and leave me to look after her.

Even at that age I had a bond with her that was amazing. I knew that I wanted a baby when I was older, but also that I wanted to have a daughter.

2. How  did you feel when your children were born ?

Preparation for your child to be born, in my mind starts with being mentally prepared. Long before the pregnancy I was working our numbers and needing to make sure we could afford to bring a child into the world. It was a big concern that as a self employed worker money can fluctuate. Add onto that the recession we had.

Imogen was born like a “Rocket”! after being sent away from the maternity suite twice. The third visit saw her get booked in in the final stages of the countdown. The Midwife was filling in the admission sheet as “POW”, Imogen skidded along the bed. From admission to birth it was 6 minutes. It was surreal, but it was a moment of reality. After everything was sorted out and the midwives left the room. We were in the room with our little girl and no supervisors. What do we do now? We were both tired… All three of us were tired. Do I pick her up? leave her? Instead I just looked and felt over whelmed.

3. What have been the most rewarding experiences been so far? 

The best bit about me having two girls is that we stereotypically have more in common! I’ve never been into football or team sports like that. Which has frustrated my father in law, but goes down perfectly in our house.

My girls are always interested in what I’m up to. If it’s DIY in the house they want to help out. Where possible I try to let them. Abigail at age 5 was helping knock together an Ikea flat pack desk for her room. Imogen is quite arty and loves to draw and create things. So it’s quite therapeutic to create projects with her. Most recently we’ve started to build a YouTube Channel for them. Although on a different element this has become rewarding as it is quantitive, versus emotional gain.

4. What are some of funniest moments to have happened to you as a dad?

One moment that stands out from the rest involved my eldest. I was standing at the toilet a Imogen walks in, looks and points and says your parts looks like a… She mentioned a vegetable. The funniest bit was she was absolutely right it did look like said vegetable. I’ll not say which one she said, but it wasn’t a marrow.

What made this so funny was the innocence of not knowing boundaries. Not knowing that it was a little rude to talk and point about my private parts. But also comparing it to something that was too funny.

5. Have there been any situations with your children that you found difficult to cope with? 

The only situation that I’ve been faced with as a Dad with two girls is… Girl stuff! Girl stuff and.. bits! Anything that is to do with “down there” I quickly pass on to Catherine. “Dad will you have a look at..” NO, I won’t!

Even though we are a very open family with an open door policy, this is the only set of problems I can’t help with now. Obviously as a baby it was fine. I did the nappies and bathing etc. Very much a hands on dad, which I think has created a great bond with them through out. I think that over the next few years we’ll hit a few issues as our eldest becomes older.

6. What are your dreams and hopes for your children? 

This question could cover so many areas, but I’ll start off with what I don;t want them to do. My business that I co own is a family business. We are very successful and are very healthy compared to our local competition. However I don’t want my girls to join the family business! Unless they have to. Ideally I would want them to create their own path in life and become more successful in their endeavours than myself. If they can do that then they won’t be asking for my bank account every Friday.

I’d love for their YouTube Channel to take off and become a nice little nest egg for them. Reality and statistically they probably won’t become YouTube Superstars, but at least we’ll have fun trying.

As long as they enjoy their future journeys then I will be happier for them, knowing that they are happy doing what they want. Life isn’t always about money, but it does help. If they really passionatley wanted to volunteer or help a charity, then I would totally back them too.