Simon Hooper is Father to four adorable girls. He writes a blog, in which he shares bits and pieces of his life through a thoughtful, loving, and sometimes sarcastic lens. With Father’s Day coming up, we reached out to Simon to ask him a few questions about his fatherhood journey. He agreed, and much to our delight, responded with answers we promise you’ll Love. And did we mention that Simon is giving away a PacaPod to one lucky follower on Instagram? Details following the interview.
What is your favourite part about being a father to four little girls?
The best part is that I have a great excuse for acting like a child all the time. I love being part of their little lives and being a good example of what a man should be for them. I love being their friend, not just their parent and helping them learn new things - life is all about new experiences so providing them for my kids is one of the most important things I can do.
Tell us, how do Dads really want to spend their Father’s Day?
'Me time' is very precious and I don't get a lot of it. Therefore, I would absolutely love is to wake up, have a full English breakfast and then be left alone for the whole day to just get on with things that I wanted to do without being distracted by either my kids or my wife. I know Father's day implies that it should be spent with your family, but I'm a good dad for 364 days of the year, so why shouldn't I be selfish on Father's day?! I know mum's do it on mother's day, that's for sure!
Aside from being a father, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I love cycling. I guess it was my first love before girls started to creep into my life. It gives you a sense of freedom that I'm addicted too. I also love taking things apart and making them work again. If I had my time over again, I think it would have trained to be an engineer.
What’s the most memorable advice you received from your dad?
My dad is the best male role model I could have asked for. He worked hard while making time for us and hardly ever was stressed or angry. Although he didn't tell me this directly, I learnt this for his example: be kind, be calm and be patient. It’s got me through a lot of potentially stressful situations for the girls.
Do you have any quick tips or tricks for parents who want to document their child’s life through the lens?
The most important thing is be real. There is way too much sugar coating on social media of what family life is really like as we all want to project and image of us succeeding all the time but that's not what life is actually like. Be honest and the results will be many times better.
Any advice for first time dads?
You are more capable that you probably give yourself credit for when it comes to parenting. No one is born knowing how to be a great dad, it's something that you learn over time with you kids. Just put the effort in and you'll get the rewards back ten fold.
What lessons or wisdom do you hope to teach and impart on your daughters that they’ll remember most?
That they are strong, capable and kind - they can achieve anything they want with practice and hard work.
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