Brilliant dad feature week 68
This week our featured brilliant dad is Julian who is an award winning blogger. His blog is called Northern Dad.
He is a freelance copywriter, mainly working in advertising, but he has also done a few bits and pieces for Viz. He is a father of two and for privacy reasons he refers to his kids as Hall & Oates. Darryl Hall is a 13-year-old boy and John Oates is a 7-year-old girl.
Thank you very much to Julian for taking part.
1. Have you always wanted to be a dad?
Yes, I even went out into the world with the sole intention of finding someone who could improve my gene pool.
Rather than selecting a woman through gut-feeling, I would make them do push-ups and then complete a Sudoku puzzle.
2. How did you feel when your children were born?
Extremely lucky. My wife had her appendix removed when she was three months pregnant with our first child. The highest rate of foetal loss after appendectomy is in the first and second trimester. The surgeon only gave our baby a fifty-fifty chance of survival. He’s thirteen now, and like all thirteen-year-olds he’s obsessed with thongs and fireworks. If someone invented a thong that blew up they’d make a mint.
3. What have been your most rewarding experiences so far as a Dad?
My daughter’s primary school has just run an Easter bonnet competition for the kids and they took the bold step of banning all entries that looked like they had been made by a parent. My daughter won, which tells you all you need to know about my bonnet making skills.
4. What are some of funniest moments to have happened to you as a dad?
My daughter regularly mishears things in class. Recently, she had a history lesson about the famous Egyptian boy king who she still refers to as, Tutan Ka-Boom.
5. Have there been any situations with your children that you have found
difficult to cope with?
Like me, my son is a complete fanny at sports. His coordination is way off but thankfully his school football team is useless and he managed to get in the team. So far, they have lost every game they have played. Trying to encourage him to play, knowing full well that he will get subbed early from a team that always loses is hard. Last week he came home after the game looking happy.
“What happened?” I asked. “Did you get subbed?”
“No…well sort of,” he replied.
“How can you be ‘sort of’ subbed?” I asked.
“I asked to come off.”
“Why?” I asked.
“It was the best thing for the team.” Up until that moment I didn’t know you could cry inside.
6. What are your dreams and hopes for your children?
My daughter makes me laugh every day and I hope she grows up and finds someone who gives her as much joy as she gives everyone else.
With regards to my teenage son, I really hope there’s a dramatic fall in the price of thongs and fireworks.
This is me coming second in the Kissing Cousins competition at Butlins. There was a steward’s enquiry afterwards when it was discovered that the winners were in fact brother and sister. I think you can see the shame in her face.
This is me coming second in the Kissing Cousins competition at Butlins. There was a steward’s enquiry afterwards when it was discovered that the winners were in fact brother and sister. I think you can see the shame in her face.
