Father of 4 is Showing the Reality of Parenthood On Instagram

By
Milana N
-

Most people use Instagram to show the beautiful and “glamorous” side of their lives, often faking their reality in the process.

Simon Hooper, better known as Father of Daughters, has a different approach – he created an Instagram page that shows the struggles of everyday life. Hooper has nearly one million followers, who can see what’s it like being a father of four daughters these days.

“It’s not all walks on the beach, going on holiday and music recitals – I wanted to talk about the mundane parts of life, because actually that’s where I think the funny bits lie”, Hooper says.

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There are times that my children are so unresponse to my commands that particularly lethargic sloths would call them slow. It's at these moments (usually when we're trying to nail a mudane activity like getting dressed or going to bed) I find myself concocting a one off game to stir them from their dormant state (like this double horsey ride I do to the sound of black beauty every freaking morning to get the twins somewhere near clothes), only to find i executed it so well that I immediately regret it as I know this will now become ingrained in my repertoire & demanded of me again & again. I just hope I don't I end up like a comedian who had one joke they were famous for & dined out on for a while, but then were forced to repeat said joke from the rest of their miserable lives until the day they were found crying in their dressing room repeating over and over again "I am more than a single punch line!" What have you started but now can't stop for fear destroying the routine? #doitagaindaddy #morethanaonetrickpony #ididittoowell #anythingtogetthemmoving #fatherofdaughters #dadlife #instadad #fod #twinlife #twins

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This 34-year-old dad works as a management consultant and just like most men, he’s trying hard to balance his career with family life.

“Men mainly seem to use Instagram to post pictures of nice cars or holidays; they don’t really engage in the family discussion online and I thought maybe I could.”

Scroll down and take a look at Hooper’s funny Instagram page.

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How do you tell a child that their pet is now an ex pet? They say 'Don't ever work with children or animals', but with half my family in the middle of the Indian Ocean, that's all I've been left to work with! My adult face to face time has been reduced to idle chat with the Amazon delivery guy as he off loads yet more of @mother_of_daughters secret purchases & as a result, I've been making like Dr. Dolittle & unloading my emotional baggage on 2 innocent hamsters & a dog. This obviously had a profound effect on poor Fluffy the hamster as it sent him spiralling into a deep depression, and this morning I found him in his cage, stiffer than a steel girder. Great. For the second time in my parenting career, I'm the dad that killed his daughters pet while she was on holiday. So here's the challenge, I've got 5 days to figure out how to break the news when she returns without breaking daughters heart – how do I do it?! #ripfluffy #idepressedmypet #bearerofdadnews #help #dadlife #instadad #fod #fatherofdaughters

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After 7 days of 'quality time' with Ottie and Delilah in which we've eaten the contents of the fridge, dried out all the felt tips, buried a hamster, worn every piece of clothing & watched so much paw patrol that I'm considering changing my name to Ryder, I've pulled the emergency rip cord, hastily packed a bag (poorly), bundled the kids in the car in PJs & taken my parents up on their offer of additional hands to wrangle children. Only a 4 hour late night car journey with 2 toddlers and a 14 week old puppy stood between me & grandparent help – What could go wrong?! Well, despite hoping they'd pass out in the car without a screen to entertain them, they didn't, So we stopped at the services, head turned as the girls did an impromptu night wear fashion show outside burger king & we all piled into a toilet cubicle to take turns watching eachother wee. Lovely. Then we watched the dog a wee. Brilliant. Guarantee that I've forgot to pack essential items, but I'm tapping out as I'm fried – Grandparents to the rescue! #thankgodforgrandparents #westcountryhereicome #fatherofdaughters #dadlife #instadad #fod

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Conventional wisdom tells us that the passage of time through space happens at a constant rate forwards, but when you have children, that changes. I can only conclude that there's a rip in the space time continuum right above the girls bedroom as time just vanished this evening, leaving me feeling like I'd be screwed hard by a flux capacitor with anger management issues. One moment it's 6.30pm & I'm rounding them up for a bath, then I blinked & it was 8.15pm the world had fallen apart. Bath time – a tsunami nightmare that would have drowned the entire cast of 'honey I shrunk the kids'. Teeth – a stand off that ended in toothpaste in the eyes. Story time – A jackanory balls up that left me questioning my life choices. Bed time – a yoga session for hyperactive chipmunks that ended with Ottie hiding for 15 minutes in silence & me shouting down the street in the dark because I thought she'd gone (only to be found eating a chocolate egg under Anya's desk covered in a blanket). Of course, as I'd focused all my energy on these 2, the elder ones hadnt even had dinner! It may have only been a total of 1hr 45 minutes but I've aged several years on the process. I'm stongly considering calling Doc Brown to take be back to 2015 so I can get a vasectomy. #doctakemebacktogetavasectomy #ihatetuesday #screwedbyyimetravel #fatherofdaughters #dadlife #instadad #fod

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Ah soft play. If you've never been, let me paint a picture for you. Close your eyes & imagine a gigantic fancy hamster cage made from wipe clean surfaces that a rainbow vomited over. Now imagine that cage is in a large room with a thermostat stuck on Sahara desert mode & has the same ventilation as a vacuum chamber. Now imagine what seems like 1000 feral kids ranging in ages from 1 to small adults all thrown in that cage, hydrated only by carbonated drinks and adrenaline, who know they're free from parental supervision for the next hour. Finally add in the stale smell of farts and feet. Congratulations, you're at softplay! @mother_of_daughters suggested we came here while she was out yesterday , but we all know that's code for "I spent 5 hours cleaning up after you lot yesterday & I want you to sod off so there's a chance the house won't look like a squat hit by a dirty bomb when I get home. Fair enough. Soft play it is. #softplay #warehouseoffartsandfeet #fatherofdaughters #dadlife #instadad #fod #

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To celebrate world book day & to forget the pressures of making costumes, last minute random internet purchases & late nights covered in glue & sweat and smell of self loathing for agreeing to a overally complex costume, today I sat on a panel hosted by @wonderbly to discuss the actual purpose of the day – getting our kids interested in reading. I'm not gonna lie, reading with these 2 can be a battle of patience and perseverance. Questions. So many questions. 1 page forward, 2 pages back. Pauses to let them finish the sentences. Interruptions. So why do we bother? The answer – because reading opens your imagination. It broadens your perspectives & can transport you across the universe in the time it takes you to read a word. Because reading prompts questions & provides answers. Because reading let's you spend time with your kids & do stupid voices. So how did world book Day go for you & what's your favourite bedtime story? #ad #bedtimestories #dothe voices #fatherofdaughters #wonderbly #dadlife #instadad #fod

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Yes,ottie & Delilah now live in the Dirty clothes basket. Why? Because from the waist down, their clothes are all ruined & this saves time. Despite a couple of good months of potty training, we've taking some massive leaps backwards recently & we're back to start. In fact we've gone so far back, we're dealing with more soiled underwear than an industrial sized incontinence testing facility and it feels (and smells) like we're failing. In my opinion, There seems to only be 3 options available: , 1). Leave them to live out the rest of their days in the Dirty clothes basket , 2). Double down on our efforts to nail this toilet malarkey or 3).Hope that the fashion houses decide to adopt varying shades of excrement into their spring summer collections so we don't have to get rid of so many dyed articles of clothing. High street retailers, if you're listening, forget pastel – 'shades of Ass' is what your next look book should feature – it's what parents want and need! #shadesofass #dyedclothing #unsavable #1stepforwards2stepsback #pottytraining #failing #fatherofdaughters #dadlife #instadad #fod

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