From Gamers to Dads: Embracing the Chaos and Joy of Fatherhood in the Digital Era

Ever wonder what it's like to suddenly shift gears from gaming and streaming to diaper changes and midnight feedings? Nerd Storm joins us this week, bringing the raw and often humorous realities of new fatherhood to the table. We embark on a heartfelt journey through the terrain of modern parenting, laughing at the unpredictability of life with kids while embracing the profound instinctual shifts that come with the title 'Dad.' From the transformative moment of birth to the evolution of discipline tactics with each new addition to the family, we're serving up a candid look at the highs and lows that shape us as fathers.

Buckle up for a discussion that's equal parts chaos and charm, as we traverse the world of baby gear, the challenges of stay-at-home parenting, and the unexpected lessons our children teach us. We dive into everything from the life-saving grace of the change table to the communal vigilance at family gatherings. With my own tales of the elusive 'dad look' and adapting to my child's piercing preferences, we explore the emotional rollercoaster that is fatherhood and reflect on the bittersweet passage of time as we watch our kids grow.

Striking the balance between parenting and content creation is an art, and this episode paints a picture of just how it's done. I open up about the renewed passion for creating a legacy through streaming, and how the arrival of little ones can reignite the drive for success. But it's not all work—there's play too. We chat about connecting with our kids over Star Wars Lego and the joy of shared family interests in gaming and pop culture. So, whether you're a dad, a content creator, or someone who appreciates the hilarity of parenting, this episode promises to connect, entertain, and maybe even inspire.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you Stand by stand bar, switching from human mode to dad mode, initializing sequence in three, two, one, the podcast where we navigate the chaotic realms of parenting gaming, content creation, work and hell, just life in general. We're diving into the challenges of raising kids in the digital age, from social media madness to navigating the gaming landscape. We're talking about it all, especially from a dad's perspective, whether it's conquering the latest game, creating content it's more than just a hobby or just trying to keep up with the ever-changing tech landscape. We're right there with you. We want to help you navigate this wild journey of parenthood and modern life, from balancing family time to managing your career and Still squeezing in some gaming and content creation. It's all about fun, some dad wisdom and a whole lot of dad mode. Now your hosts bearded Nova and more so.

Speaker 2: 4:49

So we are joined today on dad mode with nerd storm. He is a twitch streamer, he is a youtuber, he is a tick tocker. Nerd storm, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3: 5:01

I am doing pretty good. I am doing pretty good. Thank you for having me here.

Speaker 2: 5:05

All right, thank you, come on, I know you're a rough back from from work too, so we appreciate you that little quick turn around oh jeez, that's right, it's friday there.

Speaker 3: 5:15

Yeah, yeah, the friday before christmas, so I'm not, I'm not, I'm saturday lunch, I'm screwed friday.

Speaker 2: 5:25

Uh, man, so um, we're gonna kind of get right into it today. You know, one thing that you know, you and I, nerd storm and bearded, and I have kind of talked about, is the fact that you know, obviously, a dad, when we're talking about parenting, you are brand, you're almost a brand new parent, like I think you're your kids like under two years old. Yeah, he'll be two in february, oh yeah all right.

Speaker 2: 5:46

I don't look stupid then good, um, so you're a brand new parent, bearded has five kids. Uh right, yeah, I've, I've got. I'm a lightweight at two. Um, but you know, we, my, my kids are 10 and 12, his kids his oldest, I think what 15?

Speaker 4: 6:02

Yeah, 15. Youngest is, yeah, you know, five months.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Yeah, so he does have a newborn as well. But we want to kind of hear your perspective of what it's like, Um, as as a brand new father Uh, first time going through this. You know, um, you know how's it kind of been like for you over this time?

Speaker 3: 6:23

It's, it's been a crazy ride. Um, I still remember the day that I found out that I was going to be a dad. It was, it was kind of crazy. You know, my wife, you know, just so happens to, you know, go to her, you know, um ob g y in, I guess, just for a regular appointment or something, and you know I drop her off, I go back to the house because it was literally right up the street. So, you know, I drop her off back to the house and you know I'm sitting there playing the game. You know, 10 minutes later she shoots me a text. I'm done, I'm okay, all right, uh, let me just go pick her up. I didn't think it was gonna be that quick. So I go pick her up as soon as she gets in the car and she says I'm pregnant, like what, what? Instantly, like I was actually like really excited because it was one of those things that I kind of always wanted.

Speaker 3: 7:09

But at the time I just wasn't, like you know, prepared for what? Not? But I, I, it's been a wild ride because I, you know, you know, again, just something else of that I I'm just never gonna forget is the moment that he was born, just, you know, seeing him at that, you know my son, at that moment, and it was just a crazy experience, you know, um, because, like, instantly, I just started, you know, crying and I I've I've never really like shed like you, like, you know, happy tears or anything if you, if you will, but it's just one of those, you know. Oh, my goodness, this, you know, this life that I helped bring into this world is here and I have something to you know Fight for. I have something to you know, you know, build for somebody to you know, make sure that I can make them proud.

Speaker 4: 7:53

And you know, so it's, it's been a wild ride, it's a lot of it's a lot of extra pressure, I guess, on yourself as well that you don't accept and and Just go on a little bit back to where you started. You said Um, you always wanted to be a dad, but you just wasn't sure when and I always tell people Uh, without kids, there's never a good time.

Speaker 4: 8:14

There's never, there's, it's never. You, no matter what in your planning, you're gonna go cool. I want to own this house, or I want to do this, I want to pay off this, I want to have the right job, I want to Whatever, it is the goal that they set in their life. The moment they get to that point, it's a new one. It's never the right time, it's, it's, it's, it is. You adapt when you have children, it just happens. Everything just changes. It's yeah, it's not as. Yeah, you know it's. It's daunting at first, I guess, but once, once it's out everything, you just evolve quickly as you're moving through it.

Speaker 2: 8:49

Yeah, I will say that. You know, when we had kids, you know everybody's go life changes. I'm like, no, it's not, it's not. It's like I'm gonna be doing the same things. I was always doing it. It's what, what's the big deal? And then it does, and then, like, everything changes. You know, um and bearded and I talked about this a few weeks ago about how fatherhood has changed us, and you know it, it Definitely doesn't. I think it affects everybody in different ways, but you know some of the more common things and and I'd love to hear you're taking this is you know, um, finding time to do the things that I wanted to do was harder? Um, having going, just going out with my friends whenever I wanted to go out was harder, uh, or going you, just having a date night with a wife was harder, like everything. Yes, yes, a little bit extra something Do everything you're trying to do. I don't know if you've experienced that.

Speaker 3: 9:39

Oh yeah, definitely, Especially, you know, with being a you know content creator. Um, I have to, you know, sit there and talk to my wife. You know, way ahead of time.

Speaker 4: 9:49

Negotiating yes.

Speaker 3: 9:50

Yeah, go change something that you know beforehand I didn't necessarily have to do, I could just, you know, go and do it. But now because I have this whole extra responsibility, yeah, I've got to work around that because, you know, being the father comes first, you know. So, yeah, you definitely I put that stuff first, but it's definitely, you know, um, put a little bit of, you know, a strain on you know, that part of my life, not saying that that's a bad thing at all, but it's just, it's, it's been. You know, it's been a difficult thing to try and like process or whatnot, throughout these, you know, last Two years, if you will. But I've definitely gotten my, you know, foot in the door, so to speak. So, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:31

Yeah, um, you'll find uh beard on your thoughts on this too. Um, you'll find that it it starts off Like you don't know how to do it and you're sort of just kind of figuring it out, but it does get a little easier as you're going along. Um, for me, getting easier meant I was making sacrifice, because I was a little resistant to kind of giving up the things that I used to do. Yeah, I found that as I kind of gave in a little bit and compromised, that thought life got easier.

Speaker 4: 10:57

I don't know about you bearded, yeah no, it was smart, chatting, realizing what really was important, what wasn't that important To me, what, what I could give up, um, what I could put aside and rest.

Speaker 4: 11:08

And at the same time and it's reoccurring to me and I'm sure no, no about it is when they're young children are real young there's a lot more need Because they can't sit up, they can't do this, they can't do a lot of things, as and you notice it way more in those early two, three years of their lives, they get that independence Slowly over time. It's, you know, around. Nowadays I can put my daughter down on the mat, she can play for 20 minutes, half an hour, and she's quite happy just doing her own thing. That's. That's given me time to quickly go off and do something that I, that I can do. You know I'm not holding a child the whole time, um, and I found that the older they're getting, the more of that time you're getting back. You know, more ability for yourself and and those, I guess, sacrifices, in a way, you pick them back up later on.

Speaker 2: 12:03

Yep, um, you know I. So, since you're your, your kids are a little under two years old. Um, this, probably I think a lot of non-parents don't really get this part when I don't really like them. One, until they're two or around there before they can really talk and before they can really walk, because, like you know, when bearded said, you can put his, his, his daughter down and she comes there. I like that. I like putting my, my kids down somewhere and knowing that they're not going anywhere.

Speaker 2: 12:33

Or I like it when they just say things like dad at versus dad, you suck, you know, like they do at 10 and 12. Um, so like it's cool, I was like I want to know that they can talk and walk, and then I want them to stop doing yeah I'm, because we're at the point now where he's, you know, he's starting to reach those terrible twos, you know.

Speaker 3: 12:52

Yeah and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's getting bad, it's fun, it's kind of crazy, because People used to tell me like, oh, you're gonna miss the newborn stage, you're gonna miss the baby stage. I'm like, no, I'm not, I'm tired, I'm tired of being tired, you know, all the time, like these sleepless nights, waking up, you know, at three o'clock in the morning on the dot every single night, like I was. I was getting frustrated, but like, looking back at it now, like I Gingly do miss those moments when he was, you know, really small. I can hold him in my hand, you know. And now, like he's big and he wants to jump up on the couch and, you know, running around your arms are sore off the 20 minutes.

Speaker 4: 13:37

Yeah, you could do four hours full.

Speaker 3: 13:40

He's. He's like he's getting into that independent stage where, like, I'll say like no, or don't do that, and he's still gonna do it, like he's um broken Our living room tv once already because he I get he used to like to go up to it and just start yeah.

Speaker 4: 13:58

I've been there. I've been there. Yeah, so yeah and I wanted.

Speaker 3: 14:01

I wanted to hang up my tv, but you know the apartment I live, I can't even do that, so it's like I just had to deal with it.

Speaker 4: 14:07

This is a distinct moment in my life that I constantly remember from my son, um, I, and and it pops up on facebook every so often the same memory just just has to remind me of the day it happened. He was about your son's age, actually walking around doing things, and he came out with his from his room with like a spray bottle and a cloth and he went to spray it on the tv and I'm like what are you doing? Because he could see handprints on the tv from him touching it. My mum was his daycare teacher and they had gone over that week about germs and they used lots of handprints on things to say that's where germs are. So he's come out to clean it, like they were showing on In in in daycare.

Speaker 4: 14:53

And I said no, no, no, you don't do that, you don't use that, you don't do that to my tv, you don't do that, it'll break. So he went away and I'm like, okay, we're back. Come back with his mouth like this. I'm like what's he done? I'm like what's he done? He put all the water into his mouth and then spat it onto the tv and then started wiping it and I watched the tv as it started, like generating these pink lines coming up from the bottom and the screen just slowly started dying. I'm like that same moment I dropped my phone, my new phone, I smashed a screen on that and that day it's just a whole lot of broken screens in there.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Yeah, it's. It's one of those days where it's like, like in that moment you're, you're, you're kind of mad, but at the same time you snap back into reality. I can't be mad at them because they don't know any better. Yeah, so yeah, I'd still bring it. This is one of those things you gotta like.

Speaker 2: 15:49

It's the boy, as soon as you turn 18, I swear to god.

Speaker 4: 15:53

I tell him. I tell him now because he's 12, so he completely gets. I'm like you know. See this, you did this at your range. It's been 10 years ago. You did this man.

Speaker 2: 16:02

I I want to warn my son that I'm going to be standing over his bed at 11 59 Before he turns 18, and I'm just gonna punch you in the film. Kidding, I'm kidding.

Speaker 3: 16:10

Um no.

Speaker 2: 16:13

But you know it's funny you're talking about. You know how how you can fit your son in your palm, in a hand. My 12 year old is is five five now. And I still have the picture of when he was born. A week or so later he's sitting in the hood in the pocket of my hoodie, oh yeah, and I'm like, and I'm like, oh, you were in the picture. Now you're big and big. You're bigger than your mom, like. You're only five inches shorter than me, what the hell.

Speaker 3: 16:38

Yeah, my son, like he's, he's barely, you know. Oh, he's not even two yet and he's already half the height of my wife, my wife yeah, it's my wife's kind of short. Yeah, he's my wife's kind of short. So you can only imagine like he's literally at her hip. And it's not even true. Yeah, he's not even two. So I can only imagine how tall he's going to end up being.

Speaker 2: 16:59

Yeah, I do love that. When my wife's like you're getting so big, I'm like nah, you're just really short.

Speaker 4: 17:07

Yeah, my wife hates it. She's five, six and 15 year olds bigger, but the 12 year old he's, you know, half an inch off top, and her at the moment, and I know the next one behind that.

Speaker 4: 17:20

She's going to be tall too. And I'm looking at the fourth one gone. You know, maybe you might not be as short, you might be that high. And then look at the baby girl. Who knows, like, hopefully one of these children are going to stay smaller than your else, so you're just going to be the short one in the house.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Yeah, my wife's only five one. I could hear yelling from the house. Five one and a half, yeah, but whatever. So yeah, it doesn't take long to catch up to her.

Speaker 4: 17:47

So I guess one of the things we talked about a couple of weeks ago was just evolving and bringing on some new skills that you just never knew you had in your repertoire as a parent. Have you found that along your journey so far? Just yes, you just adapt. You like Bear Grylls in the wild.

Speaker 3: 18:06

So I remember his first blowout right that he had. We were on a road trip to. We were going to Atlanta, right, yep, and my dad and my wife happened to go into Burger King and I'm like I'll stay out here and change his diaper, you know, not thinking that, you know he's done, you know pooped through his pants. So like I put the little mat down, you know, I pull his pants off and as I pull his pants off, I just start feeling it run down my arm. So I'm like I start panicking. I start panicking. So I was like you know what? These pants are gone when I put those back on. This is crazy. Yeah, you adapt to. You know certain situations.

Speaker 4: 18:56

I'll admit around that too that between the one and two ages where I started realizing that clothes were replaceable at certain stages. It's just things. That's like you know what. It's just not worth it. It's not worth that, I'm not. It's not going to bother trying to clean this thing. I know what it happened to it, no matter how clean it is. I know what that looked like, you know two hours ago.

Speaker 2: 19:18

Did either of you ever do cloth diapers, or just disposables, disposables?

Speaker 4: 19:23

No, we're doing cloth a little bit at home, they're even more fun. What's the new? Reusable diapers. They're not cloth like they're not cloth from where I was, but it's like it looks like a diaper and it actually has buttons and folds up like a diaper. No, no, it's not too bad, it seems.

Speaker 2: 19:44

No, it always seemed. It always seemed rough to me to do that. It just seemed like I don't want to touch this thing. But then, like we had this thing, a lot of people do, like the diaper genie where you dump the thing in there.

Speaker 3: 20:00

I okay.

Speaker 2: 20:02

I, I I hate diaper genies. I hate them. My one thing about the diaper genie that I hate is when you fucking go to change it and you open the lid and it feels like Satan himself is kicking you in the face.

Speaker 3: 20:16

Yes, my God, yeah, that's. That's the main reason that I do not like diaper genies, because in my eyes, like, if I'm going to be messing with trash or whatnot, I just I would just rather mess with the trash. Let's just throw the diapers in the trash. It's going to stick anyway. So it's like, why mess or waste money on, like, oh, you know two different types of trash bags, one for the diapers and one for the trash can?

Speaker 4: 20:41

So yeah, I need to Google this thing to see what I it's a. It's like bagging and it spins around and ties and not to something.

Speaker 1: 20:51

The next one yeah, we got one of them yeah.

Speaker 4: 20:53

Yeah, we got one of them.

Speaker 3: 20:54

It's a fancy trash bag yeah. We used it for. I want to say about the first year, but this past year, like we, we said no, it is no point.

Speaker 4: 21:05

Yeah, my wife's like trying to get into some other thing now.

Speaker 2: 21:10

So, yeah, I can tell you, like when you're a brand new parent and you're, you're in the stage too, you see all. You see all the stuff marketed for parents. So you're like, oh, I think I need this, I think I need that, I think I need that, I think we have a second one, and bearded can tell you about the time of a fifth. It's like whatever.

Speaker 4: 21:26

Street mice.

Speaker 2: 21:27

Here's regular silverware at like six months old. You know like yeah, whatever.

Speaker 3: 21:32

Yeah, I, because we have all types of like baby silverware and and and and just just stuff you know. You know for babies that we've either bought or, you know, parents have gifted us. And it's like you said, like I'm kind of starting to see like was there really any point in spending money on this Like at all?

Speaker 1: 21:52

Because we've even thought about.

Speaker 3: 21:54

We've even thought about I think they're called the Montessori bed or method or whatnot. We wanted to try that and in you know, talking about it with my wife, we were like we could have did this from the start and just not have bought a crib and not have wasted my, because we have a whole extra mattress. So why didn't we just do that and just and just put like a railing around it? That had been a whole lot cheaper.

Speaker 4: 22:17

Yep, oh, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, that's what we're feeling.

Speaker 3: 22:22

Yeah, it's essentially just a mattress on the ground. Damn it that allows them to have free will in their room as long as the baby, as long as the room is baby proof, so yeah, we have no free will.

Speaker 2: 22:35

in my house there's a, there's a dataocracy, you know I don't want to tell myself anyway. But you know it doesn't always work that way.

Speaker 4: 22:47

No, I mean, I'm finding it nowadays where a lot more streamlined than we were, we're pretty, we're pretty straightforward with this newborn. Okay, this didn't work, this was a waste, that was a waste. We do have the crib, we do have to change table, all those things still, just because one change tables at first when I was younger, didn't give a crap about because I could change a lot of couch bed wherever you know. Yeah. And then when I was older, I've gotten my back doesn't like bending over onto weird angles to change children, so that change table is at a really damn good height for my back.

Speaker 4: 23:20

All right so. But the one thing that's changed you know things have changed over time. What was available before is we got the capsule that goes into the car. Then you just take the capsule straight out and drop it straight onto the pram, Just clips like the pram doesn't. The pram doesn't have a seat, it does, but that's for later. That comes off and then you can just drop the capsule straight on, start pushing. Then you get back to the car. You just take it straight off, truck it into the car. There's no tightening her up, there's no fucking around with the weird angle and the car trying to hate that.

Speaker 2: 23:53

It's so good Is pram the same thing as stroller.

Speaker 4: 23:56

Yeah, it's the same thing, I'll try it here Okay. Yeah, yeah yeah, pram and Stroll, sorry, same thing.

Speaker 2: 24:02

No yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 3: 24:04

My thing is the one thing that I hate about, like you know, like car seats or whatever the case. Maybe, like you know how some car seats can either use the seat belt or they have, like the you know the little hooks and whatnot.

Speaker 1: 24:17

Yeah, but looking to the bottom of the seats.

Speaker 3: 24:20

I hate doing those because my fingers always end up getting smushed trying to get them things out, or if I'm trying to undo them, you know it's just a hassle. And then then on top of that, like let's say, you know he needs to go, you know spend some time with his, you know grandparents or whatnot, so being my wife can have, you know, time to ourselves. I have to take the car seat out of my car and then put it into their car. And then when we get them back, I have to take it out of their car and put it back into my car.

Speaker 2: 24:47

My wife and I we went back and forth on that. She's swore by the seat belt kind, I swore by the clip kind, and then it didn't take me too long to realize all the clip kind sucks. But then me being a sovereign. I refused to admit that the clip sign, the clip kind, was tough, so I just struggled with it till it was time. And just she doesn't. She's listening to this now, but what she will really, it's how many times I pinch my finger. Nope, no, that's good.

Speaker 4: 25:12

I didn't have that issue. I didn't have that issue with mine. I'll actually like the clips because they're like, they're about three inches long when it's the clips right down the end, and you got plenty of room just to push it into the slot and eclipse without even having to put your fingers into the, into the chair and then and then there's this big red finger. Half hour. Every time there's this big red thing that hangs off the end. I just loop my finger into that and pull it and the whole thing comes out.

Speaker 3: 25:38

Y'all should have seen me the first time. I did it Like because, at least you know, when my son was born, they had a sign like or they had us take like this waiver down to this seat belt, the car seat specialist and the hospital before we could take them home, yeah, and they were showing me how to properly install a car seat and whatnot. They're like all right, now it's your turn to do it. I'm like okay, so it literally took like like more, for that took me like 30 minutes. I'm sitting there, I'm down, mind you, I'm a big guy, right. So I'm down there sweating, you know, just trying to like, you know, fasten the thing. And then I turn around to the lady she's just chuckling, she's just chuckling, I'm like this, this isn't funny, this is no laughing matter. This is like we're death from my child, right, yeah?

Speaker 2: 26:25

Yeah, but you know, what's funny is when you leave the hospital that's the one thing they do they make sure that you know how to put a car seat in.

Speaker 1: 26:32

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:32

And that's it. And it's like why didn't you teach me about how to be a damn parent, Cause I don't know anything else All. I know how to do is sort of put a car seat in.

Speaker 3: 26:42

Let me know that I'm going to be up all night the next 48 hours.

Speaker 4: 26:45

They were totally different for us, especially this time around. You know, every time someone came over to talk to us about something, it's like oh, do you have children? You go, yeah, we got four hours at home, okay, and just walk off for us, like, you know what you're doing, we're done, we're done with that.

Speaker 2: 26:58

Right, you're an expert now, yeah, but yeah, the first one is definitely, it's definitely a trip. Like you know, you're overprotective about everything. You know every little thing that goes like they have a little cough oh my God, what's going on with you? Know you definitely, you definitely get that way and I mean you still feel that way with the other kids. But like you get used to things. You know what I mean. Yeah, you get used to things like, but you know, you still that level of like protectiveness that you feel for your kid, like you know, we were talking going back and forth and like Twitter or something about that, where I never felt like I would actually give my life for somebody until I had my kid.

Speaker 1: 27:41

Yes.

Speaker 2: 27:42

You know, and even when mad at my kid and I'm in my brain, I'm like I don't like you right now, you know, I still I would still I still love them and I would still, you know, do what I ever have to do to keep them safe. But I found that this was a big parent. I became a little like shadow protective of other people's kids, like if I see him publicly I can't do some dangerous or or I know and some people are going to hate the way, but like people walk around, like I'm, like you were, you were in that leaving the house, I'm like that's not even my kid.

Speaker 4: 28:14

Have you put sunscreen on today?

Speaker 3: 28:17

Right, where's your jacket? It's too cold out here.

Speaker 2: 28:21

I'm definitely judging other parents. If I see their kid with a sunburn, I'm definitely judging them. Oh yeah, I like the fact that a lot of my friends now that have children.

Speaker 4: 28:29

it's you go to like a gathering, having dinner or something at someone's house and there's a whole group of kids and different parents. I feel sorry for those kids because every one of my friends parents nearly the same way as I do. There's there is constant eyes from multiple angles, so no one's getting away with anything when there's that many parents around.

Speaker 3: 28:51

And I don't know having a problem. So I'm like just go for it.

Speaker 4: 28:53

They got to go. Wait. You shouldn't be doing that, right? I know they're doing that. They're yelling out for the right things. Probably someone I would yell at anyway.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Yeah, that's that saying they had about. You know, probably when I was growing up was like you know, it takes a village right. So, depending on you know, if you're living in a smaller community, whatever, just lots of people around, like you know it's like, hey, it's okay if you yell at my kid, like they probably deserve it. You know, like sometimes it helps when there's other adults who have no problem. You know, speaking out to your kid or showing them something or disciplining them when they need to be disciplined. I don't have the problem that my kid is doing something stupid. Yeah, I don't care. I mean, unless the voice of God I'm not it, but it's always the same thing.

Speaker 3: 29:38

Like we're going the gentle parent route if you will not saying that's you know it's a bad or you know you go for every stall.

Speaker 4: 29:47

You go for every. Yeah, we tried everything like because it's a super nice stage, at one stage where it's like this is a time at corner, especially like now, when he's like, as he's a toddler, like I'm trying to, you know, and be a little bit more stern with them, you know.

Speaker 3: 30:03

So that way you get it in and say like all right, that means business, because I want to get to the point and this may just be me, you know, just being unrealistic about the whole situation, but I just want to get to the point to where I could just give him a look and he already knows it comes. That's what I want, it's just you just hear this.

Speaker 4: 30:26

You just start making a noise and they already know where that noise is leading to, it's instant terror. Oh crap, I've done something wrong. He's right. He's about to say something I haven't. I was gonna say at that age and learning that whole how do we discipline? How do we what works? It's every child's different too. Every child's different. But my son, you know, he always comes up at the show because he's the one that fucking causes the most interesting moments.

Speaker 4: 30:58

He had the bed that was off, you know, the low bed, his first bed, and I still remember he used to like at night. One night he's just in there flipping his mattress out, like hop out and just flip the mattress out of the bed. I just wouldn't go to bed, sleep. I don't know. Prison rules kicked into me. I was warded that night. It's like all of a sudden the door just goes, swung straight open. I'm in there, the sheets come off, they go into the ground and I pick up the whole bed in the frame and I take it back out of the thing and there you go, there's your bed. You sleep on the floor now if you want there. So his face was crying. We've got the photo of him crying.

Speaker 4: 31:33

You know, maybe half an hour. Do you want your bed back? We don't. We're not throwing our bed around at this room. If you want to have it back, I'll have it back.

Speaker 2: 31:41

Yeah, the having the dad look is great. Um, our bedroom is upstairs. If I hear the kids early in the morning, like my wife is arguing with them, All I have to do is kind of when I step out of bed, like step out like loud with a bang, and they know I'm out of bed and then okay, fine, Like I don't even have to come downstairs because they know. Um, but I think the greatest gift that every dad gets as soon as they have a kid is the gift of the dad voice. Um, I don't know why it's so, it's so impactful, but that's all you need is just it's the dad voice. Your wife can say it a hundred times. He'd be like and you just say really, and then instantly sorry, I'll go do the thing now. Yeah, it was hate it too.

Speaker 4: 32:25

Cause. How come you can say, how come you can say this one thing, why is it that you only have to give him a look it's um, we are. You gotta work on your style, woman.

Speaker 2: 32:37

And some people. They quickly assume that like no, you're rough with them and I'm like um, I don't say I do general pairing, but I've never touched my kid Right. Um, for me, general pairing is someone who grew up getting beat Like that. My general parenting is just me not doing what was done to me when I was, when I was growing up. So, um, I, I because I don't. I see that that doesn't help anybody. You know, um, yeah, but I feel like you know you can talk to your kid and you know reason with them and and hopefully they will get it and they'll be able to understand things without having to get punished too much. You know, yeah.

Speaker 4: 33:17

I understand that.

Speaker 2: 33:18

Um, yeah, so yeah, definitely, definitely a dad voice. Um, does it seem to work for you yet?

Speaker 3: 33:24

It is. It is yes and no, yes and no Cause. You know, like I said, he's still in that. You know he's getting into that, terrible too, you know spot. So he wants he listens. And then he does listen, like if I say no, like he'll kind of stop, but he'll keep going. But the moment that I stand up is doing, he like okay, yeah, let me just step back.

Speaker 4: 33:50

He's still finding his own ground at that age, though he's still trying to work out how it all feels and where that stands with you. What, what he can get away with as well. He's going to test the boundaries in every way you could imagine. Um, and that's fine.

Speaker 4: 34:05

It's part of the fun. It's frustrating at times. Other times it's hilarious when you see some of the stuff they try and do because you know how it's going to end. You warn them, you know this is. I wouldn't be doing that if I was you. They're looking at you like, well, stuff, yeah, I'm going to do this, dad, because you can't tell me what to do. And then you know whatever happens. And then the next thing to look at your face like you were right. You knew what you were doing. I shouldn't have been doing this.

Speaker 2: 34:30

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, um, I will say that one thing that has. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, because kids are, when they're born, they literally know nothing, right, yeah, but the number of things that I have to tell somebody to do or not to do, right, like, don't stick this in a light socket, don't you know, poke, try to poke the dog's eyes, don't you know like, all these things that you tell people just not to do because you're going to die, like it's, it's, uh, I think that's the most exhausting part is realizing that every moment that they're, you know, living in your house, your job is to have them, not die. You know it's like don't do it, don't do that, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. It doesn't get any better.

Speaker 4: 35:11

It doesn't get any better. They're still doing it 15. I think they're going to be doing it that whole damn life Probably. Yeah, I mean, I don't even know if my parents are still telling me that type of stuff, and it's probably great they're a few hours away from them that I can't hear that.

Speaker 3: 35:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's one of the things that we, you know, had to constantly guess. We have a fireplace in our apartment and he just, for whatever reason, I don't know why he's so fascinated with it, but and he'll like to like climb up on it and then like walk across to like some stage. I'm like bro, those are like slick, like bricks or concrete, you're going to fall, you're going to fall, and it's like multiple times where he's just like boom or like hit his head, boom.

Speaker 3: 35:54

And you look around and he's like. You know, like I told you, they're bounce, they're bounceable.

Speaker 4: 35:59

You know they're soft and squishy. At that age they can accept a lot more. What do you think would hurt? Probably doesn't hurt him as bad as what you think at times, because they're so. The bones are still flexible. Everything's still flexible in their, in their little bodies.

Speaker 2: 36:14

But at my age, like you know, it takes me like a week to recover from that kind of from anything.

Speaker 4: 36:18

Yeah, I mean I fell down the stairs once and you know that was 14 brokes, sorry.

Speaker 3: 36:27

Yeah, cool yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:28

I remember that when I was I think I was about three years old I fell down. I thought it'd be funny, so I kind of fell down the stairs in an apartment I was living in, you know, then I think I bounced right up. Ha ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha. You know now I'd be like I'm in traction, baby. You got to bring me to the hospital. I think I'm dying. You know it's, it's, it's not the same. Let me ask you this, though Um, what's one thing that has surprised you about having kids?

Speaker 3: 36:56

I think the one thing that has surprised me the most is, even if he's like doing a whole bunch of stuff, that's like getting on my nerves, if you will, or or he's just just doing, just doing stuff in general, Like I'm happy, you know, yeah, I'm, I'm I'm kind of always in a state of like I'm glad that you were in my life, you know, like you know, for better or worse, I'm glad that you're here, and it's kind of crazy. It's kind of crazy because there will be multiple times where, like he's just sitting there or, like I said, just doing some stuff. He's not supposed to. I just I'm just looking at him like I really have a kid and I am thoroughly happy and excited to be your father and it's, it's. I literally have that, you know. You know that thought pop my head literally daily and it's crazy, it's crazy.

Speaker 2: 37:50

It's funny because I'm simultaneously being like what a wholesome thing to say, and like I'm remembering that, and then I'm balancing that with like and and bud. If you're listening, I apologize for what I'm about to hear. You're about to hear, um, but um, my wife and I will sometimes look each other and just think God, our son's a dick. Um, oh the Tom. You know the next the next, the next instant you're like, I would do anything for you. Stop being a dick.

Speaker 4: 38:21

My, my, my son showed up last weekend with his nose pierced. That took me a lot to process.

Speaker 4: 38:28

He didn't, even he didn't ask no, his mom took him to go do that. And while he says it's like I've gone and picked him up and that's that's how he is, and I'm looking at going, huh, just, it's just like oh, it's a thing, all boys do it nowadays, I'm like, huh, okay, like even. You know that was a week ago. We were shopping yesterday and my wife said, oh, maybe we should buy him a new like ring or something for his nose, and I'm like, look, I'm just still not. I still haven't actually absorbed that into my body yet as accepting let's just not to ring it up at the moment Like I'm still trying to comprehend what happened. Why did he do this?

Speaker 2: 39:08

Um, yeah it. When I came home at a day or two after I turned 18 with my first tattoo, um, I walked in and my mom was just her. Her mouth dropped. She's like what? What is that that comes off right? I'm like no, I'm 18 now.

Speaker 2: 39:27

Yeah, it took that, took her a good couple of years to grow into the fact that I had permanently changed my body in a in a different way. Um, cause you know your parents, it doesn't matter how big you are, how grown you think you are, your parents still see you as that kid that they raised. Yeah, they will always see you as that kid they raised. Yeah, and, um, it's hard, not, it's hard to not. You know, and I look at my boy, my older, who's 12, and I'm like man, in four years you can drive in. In six years you'll be in college. Yeah, you know, in 20 years you're going to have kids, because that's how long I'm telling me he's got to wait. No, but like it's, it's. It's crazy to think about that, like how quick the time really does go, how quick it absolutely goes, you know, Um, and then they're just, they're just adults and it's like what? Yeah, when, when did that happen?

Speaker 3: 40:22

Yeah, I, I even feel like that now, Like I know it's only been two years from me, but still it's, it's crazy that I've been a dad for two years at this point and you know, you know, technically, if you, if you go and buy, you know, you know societal standards only got 16 more years left. Well, it's, it's wild. Two years have gone by that fast because it still feels like you know, you know, I know this cliche, but it still feels like yesterday, that you know, I just I just saw him get popped out.

Speaker 4: 40:58

I mean it always will, it always will and that stuff will will never go away. Um, but we've been going on for a bit so I'm thinking let's just wrap it up here. We'll just continue this back tomorrow. Um, every time we have a guest on, it just never seems to be able to fit in with half an hour, for some reason. Um, so tune back tomorrow for part two with NerdStorm.

Speaker 1: 41:20

You've been listening to dad mode. Your passion is navigating this wild journey of parenthood and modern life, from balancing family time to managing your career and still squeezing in some gaming and content creation. And no matter what the women say, they will never be able to pry the controller out of our cold dead hands. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the show. If you did find us on Twitter, tiktok and YouTube at dad mode podcast and we can be found on every podcast site at dad mode podcast.

Speaker 1: 42:02

Y'all be cool, see you next time no-transcript work and hell, just life in general. We're diving into the challenges of raising kids in the digital age. From social media madness to navigating the gaming landscape, we're talking about it all, especially from a dad's perspective, whether it's conquering the latest game, creating content that's more than just a hobby, or just trying to keep up with the ever changing tech landscape. We're right there with you. We want to help you navigate this wild journey of parenthood and modern life, from balancing family time to managing your career and still squeezing in some gaming and content creation. It's all about fun, some dad wisdom and a whole lot of dad mode. Now your hosts bearded Nova and more.

Speaker 2: 45:56

We're back again with nerd storm. Welcome back. How are you doing? I'm not going to ask how it's been since the last time you're here, because we both know all three of us oh, that's kind of stupid to ask right now. So, but welcome back in. Last time we were talking a lot about you know what it's like being a new father and all the things you got to learn and all the challenges you have kind of want to focus now a little bit on the time aspect that we have definitely talked about this on previous episodes, but there's so many different aspects of it and I love hearing everybody's different perspective on it. So you are somebody that works. You obviously have your new, you have your your toddler and you do a lot with content creation. How do you kind of balance all that and spending time with the wife and all that kind of stuff?

Speaker 3: 46:41

Well, first and foremost, you talk to your significant other.

Speaker 2: 46:45

Yes, that's, that's the very first Good Must because, if not for you, no, no, no, no, no, no I'm in this room by myself.

Speaker 3: 46:56

But no, like that's. This is definitely a good thing to do, because if not, not only are you going to call stress on your significant other, you're going to call stress on yourself, your kids. It's just. It's just not. It's not going to be a good situation at the end of the day, because there's going to be something that you end up forgetting that you had to do, or you know something that you're missing out on that you should be there for, or you know whatever the case may be.

Speaker 3: 47:21

So it's definitely always good idea to, you know, plant stuff out and like what me and my wife do and we're not the best at it, you know we. You know there's there are a couple of things that you know I miss here and there. I might forget to say or not, but like, what we try and do is like write down, like what my works first and foremost, what my work schedule is for the month, and then from there, like what day she would need breaks, or you know the days that I stream in, the days that I might need to like specifically sit down and record, you know concept for like TikTok, you know YouTube and whatnot, yeah, and we kind of just like space that out and then, like you know, obviously days where you know it's just me and the boy, whatnot. So we kind of try and space that out, so that way it's easier on all of us.

Speaker 3: 48:07

Now, you know, like I said, we don't always necessarily stick to it, but it's for one, it's the idea in the thought that counts first and foremost, because if you don't do that, like I said, it's just. It's just. It's just, it's just, things are just going to end up bad, you're going to have a bad time.

Speaker 2: 48:23

You are. I remember when I was doing more content on TikTok and I'm talking, you know I talk a lot about time management and being consistent and scheduling stuff like that. You know that and I think a lot of people don't understand it. Like I'm like, hey, if you need to make a schedule and write down all the things you need to do and prioritize, and it's the same way when you're dealing with family, like you know, no matter how much I talked about content creation, family and work are always way more important, and I don't care who you are, I mean, unless you're someone who your job literally is content creation. Like that's your income and that line is kind of blurred. But really you have to focus on all that other stuff and like sometimes you need to know it to the fine grain, detail in terms of, like, what it is you need to get done and what's important. I'm sure you experience the same thing.

Speaker 4: 49:15

Oh yeah, and I mean it's. You know we talked about it's working smarter. How do you work it? And all I think is you'd know it's well, you're juggling everything. You had that TikTok series for a while about gamers and you had to come at that, you weren't getting that from your streaming. That's a whole different thing. That's a different. It's not like you could use your stream and then cut that up and then put that on the TikTok. You're creating actually your own content for TikTok itself there. And then I know you got the YouTube as well. You can't. It's balancing, just it's a balancing act inside itself as well. You've got two, two different levels of balancing.

Speaker 2: 49:56

So have you? Have you found that the scheduling has been more difficult?

Speaker 3: 50:01

Yeah, yeah, it definitely can be difficult because you know, like I said, you know things come up, you know there might be things that we forgot. You know when we're sitting here, you know planning like there's there's been a couple of times where we forgot like oh, we should probably have planned a date night here, because you know, you know we're both, you know, stressed out or whatnot. You know we needed time to ourselves, you know. So I would have to like cancel something, you know to push that in, because something that I've had to like cut back on a lot this past year, which I'm going to try and like get that back into the swing, swing of things. I haven't streamed as much as I used to this year and more focused on, you know, trying to stay consistent with you know like take talk and get my YouTube up and running, or whatnot. And a lot of the times when I've canceled stream is because I've noticed that you know my wife is stressed out, like I need to, you know, pick up a slack there or whatever the case may be. So you know this family comes first and foremost.

Speaker 3: 50:59

I know there are, there are, a lot of people that you know.

Speaker 3: 51:02

I'll say this as a husband and a father. I know a lot of people sit there is like, oh, kids definitely come first, but like, when you're married, you need to make sure your wife is good, because if your wife's not good then your kids are going to be good. Because especially if, like they're the you know, you know quote unquote primary caregiver. You know a lot of people want to call it that, if you know, because in my case I'm, I'm, you know, working all the time, so it's like she's, she's a stay-at-home mom, so she's watching them most of the time. So I got to make sure that she's good at the end of the day before you know anything else. So if I, like I said, if I see her stress, I'm just going to cancel what I had to do. Like if I had to make content, all right, I'll push that to tomorrow. Or if I had to stream, all right, I'll push that, you know, to whatever you know day, I can do it because she comes first.

Speaker 2: 51:51

Yeah, and you know, shout out to all the, all the stay-at-home moms out there. Or too many people say, oh, you just sitting home all day? No, it is a hard job. Your dad's out there who might be saying that you, who don't even like in two hours with your kids, being like I can't do this anymore. Imagine doing it 365 days a year. You know it is. It is a lot of work, yeah, you know. You know you're not, it's you're. You're dealing with a kid but like it's so hard to be responsible for every moment of that kid's life. You know you have other expectations as a stay-at-home mom where you know you got to do all the. You're doing probably the grocery shopping and you're doing all the laundry. You're keeping the house up. It's a lot of work doing that.

Speaker 4: 52:34

It is exhausting work and you know, I don't think single parents are confident to yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 52:39

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4: 52:45

Two weeks ago my wife and all the kids went down interstate and you know, for a few hours away, flew a few hours away, and it was just me and the newborn at home for five days. It was five days at first, four days it was, and then flights got cancelled so I ended up being an extra day. But you know, at first it's like, yeah, that's fine, we're going to have great. And then by second day I'm like, okay, I really need to go to the toilet. And you're awake, how am I going to do this? Well, you're screaming, you know. I don't got anyone in the house to unload it to. Oh, okay, hey, can I make a coffee with one hand?

Speaker 4: 53:20

I got into the habit of and it sounds like pure bachelor. I had ground beef, just a big, big pound of ground beef, and I just put some spaghetti sauce into it and some vegetables and that and put that into a container and in my head that was my dinner for the next, like few, many days. I ended up buying takeout one night. But okay, if I put pasta to it, that's spaghetti. If I add some chips to it, that's now nachos. Well, that's how I broke it up in my head, but that was all Okay. I can't eat until she's asleep. I need to put her down in bed. You know where I'd eat at six o'clock, six, 37 o'clock at night. I was then pushing into that nine o'clock at night. It's like, well, I just I can't. I can't put my hands down.

Speaker 4: 54:02

And it really did give me a greater insight to how the wife does it at the moment, being a stay at home mom and while she's off at work in and juggling all that, having an insight on okay, cool, we went out. You know even going out. Okay, we're going out. Okay, did I pack everything? I got to the shops one day and realized that I left stuff at home. I'm like, oh crap, now I got to turn around. I was my wallet. Actually, I couldn't even buy the things that I was missing because I left my wallet at home. I did there.

Speaker 4: 54:30

The baby she's screaming she doesn't want to be in the car, but it was. This is what my wife does when I'm not around.

Speaker 2: 54:39

I learned that that lesson kind of the hard way. I think my boys were four and two and I went on a business trip and overseas and you know they flew us in business class. I've never flown a business Well, I didn't know that bearded. And so I'm on the phone and like you sit down and they give you a hot towel to like relax in the glass of champagne and shit, and I'm like, oh, really nice. So then I'm taking pictures of stuff and I'm texting to the wife and like they feed me on the real China. And I'm texting that to the wife and she's in and she's texting back. She's like fuck you. And she's like you know what I mean now? I mean gummy worms for fucking dinner because your kids won't go to sleep. And I'm like I'm so sorry, I'm going to shut up now.

Speaker 4: 55:31

I saw where that was going you know, I was speaking to that meme with the dog inside the house where it's all on fire. It's everything is fine. You're making problems for yourself.

Speaker 2: 55:45

I didn't know. I didn't know any better. I learned, I learned.

Speaker 3: 55:49

Yep, but I've definitely been there multiple times. This is just in there, especially with my wife would stay at home, the things that kind of get her down is like she, because we only have one car, so you know, it's like I'm always taking the car or whatnot, right, so she's stuck in the house all day. It's because we've gotten into like you know, arguments or whatnot, like, oh, you get to leave the house and whatnot. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, I just go to work. That's not leaving. In my opinion, that's not leaving the house. But I had to take a step back and be like, oh, she means getting a break from, break from the house, yeah, a break from the house. So yeah, it's. It's definitely a learning experience, you know, trying to not only juggle everything that we have going on, but also understanding of what they're going through as well.

Speaker 2: 56:47

So yeah, yeah, it is. It is leaving the house, you know. So that's a big deal, but from talking to other, you know, stay at home moms. That I know. It's also the fact that you're having adult conversations during the social circles, you know social circles, exactly, and that that gets to be really hard.

Speaker 2: 57:05

You know I have a buddy whose wife stay at home and they had twins and she starts to lose it after a while. You know what I mean. She's just like I just can't and he'll come home. She's like I got to go out, I got to go out and go to my friend's house for like an hour, I don't. You know, she's like you did a good dinner and all that stuff, but like because it's hard, because your whole world becomes them you know them, it's not that it's bad and you love them and you know when you do anything, but like you're still a person that has other needs as well, you know, and you need a little breaker. You could. You could lose a little bit of yourself too.

Speaker 4: 57:39

Yeah, very, very much. So Just going back to a little bit of time and how, how it's all juggled in your life Did, were you streaming? I don't know too much. Were you streaming and doing content creation before your son?

Speaker 3: 57:59

was born. Yes, yes, so I was, but I wasn't necessarily taking it nowhere near as serious as I am now. But the day that I found out that my wife was pregnant, it's like everything like switched, like I need to be able to do, not only do something that you know he can be proud of, but I could be proud of, you know. So I got serious about it because I genuinely wanted this to be another source of income. Right, like my whole, my whole goal at the time was you know, do this so that way you can stop working at your you know day job so much, or you know be so tired, or whatever the case may be, and you can have multiple sources of income and then you can actually use that to spend more time with your kid and with your wife, with your family.

Speaker 3: 58:50

So that that it was just like a light bulb that popped in my head, type thing, so I got super serious with it at that point.

Speaker 4: 58:56

Okay, then I was just seeing this is just the first person who's actually talked to that started in my head. You could potentially have started content creation before children, like it wasn't. It wasn't a thing where my children were born. I do remember my son was when he was born I did contemplate YouTube because our internet at the time here in Australia, even live streaming. That was a hard thing to do. To upload a upload a video to YouTube was going to take a day, you know, to get a video up as well. So that was my first idea of content creation was YouTube 12, 12, 14 years ago, but not live streaming. I could never think about what it was like live streaming. We've always joked about more than I. You know what it would have been like without a family and our kids streaming and what a mess our lives would probably would be before children, children, if it was a thing. But you know I find it for those itch and ask it. Just, you know, had that change but, like you said, you've taken it more serious now.

Speaker 3: 59:56

Yeah, yeah, Because I wasn't like, I wasn't even posting on, I didn't even have a TikTok. Well, no, no, I take that back. I did have a TikTok, but I was not posting on TikTok. I made a post, like once every month or so. There's all just like, let's like random. You know those those random gameplay clips that you get off your Xbox. You just throw those up on the TikTok.

Speaker 3: 1:00:19

Like that's the type of stuff that I was doing at the time. And then then it was like okay, you got a son, you should take this seriously. That's when I started, you know, like coming up with like constant ideas or skits or whatever. I don't think I was doing it first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, I just, I just had to actually start taking this. And when I started taking the series is when things started blowing up. I was thinking, man, I wish I had been this serious before he was born, so I could have been a little bit further along.

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

But it's all good, but it is, it is all good. That's beautiful content creations. You can kind of get started and whatever like you can take a long break and come back. You lose a little bit of momentum, but you get it back again, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:01:00

I mean probably I'll say in hindsight, taking content creation seemed more serious once you someone was born. You weren't put in a position of what you could dedicate before to what you can dedicate now, because I think that would probably be a great detriment and negative impact on on your motivation to make content If you were punching out so much numbers and doing so many streams and this and that you you really pushing it and then all of a sudden, that's had to have a backseat Because, honestly, that's that's me, that's more, that's this show. You know I said it was funny. I was looking at the Twitch, which had its memories and you know, your year 2023 rapper, I haven't streamed it six months. I haven't streamed. I haven't done really any TikToks in six months. I'm done outside of this.

Speaker 4: 1:01:52

That's been it for me and I could only imagine, you know, those parents that do have to to face that at some point is, you know they're younger and they're going to become dads or or mums at some point, and that's something that probably they should think about now a little bit. It's if you know, if you are going to do it. Do you need to remember this? Probably, you know it's going to have a take? It's going to drop down a tier priorities in your life? I guess yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:02:19

I I stream. I use to stream about one day a week. Now I'm still on Twitch, mainly to stay a little bit relevant so that I'm not the person who's oh, he hasn't streamed in six months. I'm going to remove them as a as a someone I'm following. So I try to stay a little bit relevant and that's the reason I stream it for that little is to stay active on Twitch still.

Speaker 2: 1:02:39

But yeah, I like bearded like this is what I do. This is like this is my main outlet now for for content creation and it's been great and it also ties back to something you said a few minutes ago is you know? I like especially this particular podcast where I'm talking about life, I'm talking about parenting, I'm talking about all this stuff and what it's been like. Yeah, because my kids will be able to listen to this or watch this someday down the road and maybe understand after I'm gone or whatever, and like they'll understand a little bit more. Maybe it'll help them be better parents if they're hearing their own dad talk about what it was like raising them. I love you, but sometimes, my God, kids you know, so it's like not really a legacy, but like it's.

Speaker 2: 1:03:23

It's something that's going to be out there literally forever, that you know they're going to be able to to, to learn more about me. And that's one thing I think is so cool about as technology changes is this kind of thing can happen. Yeah, you know, people always remembered like, oh how, how does everybody remember me? You know, down the road, like this is how be active, be social, be do this kind of stuff.

Speaker 4: 1:03:44

Yeah, I feel sorry for my kids to content. They'll see that they look me up and use to come, but hopefully it was Well. Yeah, just just just be bringing that up more often had me thinking my, my wife, for example. Her mother passed away before we met and I know that she's got photos, but as far as I know she's got one video where she can hear a mother's voice but not actually see her mother on the video and I never thought about the incident that way and being content creation and having children, you're technically putting stuff up there that live on forever that your kids, your kids, could show their kids or great care and kids really down to take. You know, give a take on depending on how things you know go out with technology and where it's stored, but it's something that can live for a long time and it is a memory.

Speaker 4: 1:04:40

And that's precious I think that's really special, actually now to think about it more.

Speaker 2: 1:04:44

It is, you know, because I never got an opportunity to meet my father before he passed, and I have one picture of him, you know, and so like, so like, as going up, like you're concocting all these stories about what your parents or your father was like based on this one photo I have you know, versus like what my kid will have you know.

Speaker 4: 1:05:04

Yeah, he's going to have videos of you yelling.

Speaker 2: 1:05:10

Yeah, yeah, that's about right.

Speaker 3: 1:05:11

That's him have all those videos of you eating those beans.

Speaker 2: 1:05:20

Yeah, and swearing a lot, but my dad had no potty mouth, so you know you're talking.

Speaker 3: 1:05:39

Hey, more if you cut out.

Speaker 4: 1:05:41

Yeah, you know, if you just cut off for a second.

Speaker 2: 1:05:44

Am I back now? You on it, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:05:45

Oh, I thought there was something wrong on my end.

Speaker 2: 1:05:47

Oh, I know, I think I pulled the mic too hard. I think I might have loosened the cable. Okay, I will, I won't touch it. So, anyway, does your, when you're gaming, does your kid like to watch you game, or is it like not interesting to him?

Speaker 3: 1:06:01

Oh, he's, he's he can be interested and he can not because I'm. I'm starting to think he might be like me because I have ADHD and I'm starting to think like, oh, he probably got it too, because he can sit there and then he'll want to do something on his own. Yeah, like whether, cuz he? My son, likes to watch miss Rachel, right? Well, she's like an educational person on YouTube for, like you know, tolerance or whatnot. So he loves watching this rich. So I have to, you know, before he starts throwing stuff or getting like frustrated or whatever, I have to pull my phone out. Pull up, miss Rachel, you know, put my phone in. You know, kids motor where?

Speaker 4: 1:06:38

it looks like yeah, yeah, yeah, so they can't go to anything else and I'll just hand him miss Rachel.

Speaker 3: 1:06:45

He'll sit it there and he'll just start watching it and then occasion he'll look up and watch, actually like physically, like watch me Play the game for a little bit and I go right back to miss Rachel. But there there have been plenty of times where he'll specifically like go and pick up like the Xbox controller or places to control or good, yes, he likes to hear that, he likes to hear the but are you like press you?

Speaker 4: 1:07:11

You're like Palpatine in the background. Got good good.

Speaker 3: 1:07:17

I just, I just need, I just need him to. You know, get into Star Wars, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:07:21

Yeah, that's why I dropped that in there.

Speaker 2: 1:07:24

My, my wife tried getting our boys into a lot of the things that she liked to do and they were kind of interested for a while, but now they are 100% gamers and like super hero geeks and they like Star Wars and and everything Marvel and every, all video games. It's awesome. It's like I have like little buddies, all it's. It's truly awesome. My wife is like I need a daughter. I need a daughter, you know, but no, it's awesome, it's awesome for me Anyway my sister might have you.

Speaker 4: 1:07:58

Yeah, they Totally different. He doesn't game like. My mom has set up a laptop at her house. It's like now you can play Minecraft like the other kids at school, primary school, do. So he's kind of getting into that stuff and and and his dad, I have to move a light country that you know they don't. They're not into that type of stuff that side of the internet, really any other internet all together. But it was great hearing was a couple of weeks ago. My sister messaged me going oh yeah, clayton wants to know Can you do Star Wars Lego with him? I'm like, yes, we can do Star Wars Lego. Like, yes, I am the man for that job. Like, yes, felt great.

Speaker 3: 1:08:42

What's cool about my situation is my wife is also, you know, like a game or very nerdy or whatnot. Slow it's, it's it's kind of perfect. So we can think of both. We sit there playing a game or, or there'll be, they'll probably gonna be games that you know we both play, that he's gonna also want to play or whatnot. So it's it's pretty cool. And plus, my wife is, you know, she's getting ready to get into content creation or so.

Speaker 4: 1:09:04

Oh, that's it. Wow, there's so many. Yeah, you know there's so many great. No, no, it's not tick tock. Couple content, creations, creators together, they have working together. I've seen the ones where, yeah, and I know there are there are creators on, but we all know that their partner stream, but you don't really see too much of a crossover in between. Yeah, but then you've got the other end, where you see the guys that really leverage, that they're a couple and I think I think that works so damn well, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:09:38

I really do think it works way better than than the latter.

Speaker 2: 1:09:43

Oh yeah, yeah, it'd be cool just to have somebody that great.

Speaker 4: 1:09:47

Yeah, the most. The most I got my wife to do was throw a pie at my face and she thought that was great, mm-hmm.

Speaker 2: 1:09:54

That's funny. That's the one thing that my wife is volunteered to do and wax stripped my head.

Speaker 4: 1:09:59

That's on. Oh, that was the charity you want me to hurt?

Speaker 4: 1:10:07

Basically, I'm like hey hey, I gotta do this thing for kids and raising money for hospitals and video games. At some point I'm gonna need you to throw apart my face and there's some wax strips, you know which is. You need help with that. I'm like, no, probably not. Next thing, you know, one of the viewers said, oh, is your wife around? I said, yeah, she goes. How much would it charge you? You know, how much would you want to wax strip your armpit? I'm like, oh, god damn it. So that was it. That was it. She's like I'll put that money in straight away. She did. She put some money straight over into it. And then my wife was so happy, me on the phone going, hey, I'm gonna need you down here. I don't know how to wax, you know I could wax strip my leg, but I don't know how to do my armpit and then I'll get here.

Speaker 4: 1:10:51

She was like the flash coming down the stairs.

Speaker 3: 1:10:58

My wife's definitely been on stream with me before. We play Stardew Valley on stream Literally probably one of the best times I've had, like just playing games with somebody on stream, and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. It's a very Amazing and loving moment because, for one, you're sitting there making content with, you know, you know the person that you love. And then, secondly, like you don't have to sit there and you know, you know, pretend you can be who y'all are together and it's just it. It just creates these crazy vobas, like it was. We were playing Stardew. She had me Going chopping trees and whatnot. So at the time when we did that, that guy on tiktok that all the ladies love, that chops you know, yeah. So I was like you know what I'm gonna chop wood like here. So I was like Everything. She was like, oh, please don't do that. I'm like, oh, I'm about to. Every single tree is about to get these thrust. Yeah, some amazing moments were so. Yeah, it was definitely good, that's funny.

Speaker 2: 1:12:12

So bearded bearded nerd storm. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a lot of fun talking to you and it kind of Remember what it was like when my kids were young. Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:12:25

No problem, I'm glad that I was able to get up here, thank you. So if you guys don't know much about nerd storm, you can go catch them, like I said before, on YouTube. On tiktok, you can catch his live streams on twitch. Learn more about him. Apparently, his wife is gonna be a creator soon too, so you cannot get to know.

Speaker 4: 1:12:42

And gherky was a good father. I just want to say that.

Speaker 3: 1:12:47

Thank you he was a good dad. There's like I'm sorry that I'm pro I had to do this after that.

Speaker 3: 1:12:54

I have to say it because it doesn't make sense for people to sit there and say Goku's a bad dad. He was literally in Gohan and go to his life for a majority, like the people like to say, oh, piccolo was a better dad than then go Han was Piccolo literally only watch go Han for like Six months and then he was beating them up for training him, if you will, for those six months. Yeah, it was like six months compared to a lifetime. The math ain't math.

Speaker 2: 1:13:20

Yep, yep. So Thanks again for having for joining us here. Nerd storm and nobody listening. You can catch Um bearded at I next week just talking about some other crazy shit. So you're nice, I'm back for that too.

Speaker 1: 1:13:37

You've been listening to dad mode. Our passion is navigating this wild journey of parenthood and modern life, from balancing family time to managing your career and Still squeezing in some gaming and content creation. And no matter what the women say, they will never be able to pry the controller out of our cold dead hands. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the show. If you did find us on Twitter, tiktok and YouTube at dad mode podcast, and we can be found on every podcast site at dad mode podcast. Y'all be cool. See you next time.

Speaker 2: 1:14:51

You, you, you, you. But you know, when I was in my heyday of doing I'm doing well on more, if I was getting like 3%, so to see 20% Was it was crazy. Now I probably won't hold once they start pushing it. Yeah, oh, I, I did uh also, I did a little more uh digging between your youtube and in uh tiktok. Yeah, I pushed out a lot more videos on youtube the last month that I did on tiktok like 35 more, and I was like oh, and I think that would make it.

Speaker 2: 1:15:49

No, I think it is it because then I went through each of the videos that we pushed and the average video on tiktok got about 40 minutes a play of watch time. The average video on youtube had well over two hours each. On average not each, but you know. Yeah, that makes sense which is yeah, like people, just they just watch more. I think youtube's just doing a better job of who they're pushing it to youtube's made for it.

Speaker 4: 1:16:15

youtube is very much made for it. You know um yep, what are we talking about tonight too?

Speaker 2: 1:16:22

um, I don't know so. Um, he's. He's in the back stage. I'll grab him in a minute Um.

Speaker 4: 1:16:29

Change it. I mean he's, he's. He's his first time, dad.

Speaker 2: 1:16:33

What about the change? His first time dad. This is his only kid. Um, I think the child's not two years old yet. No, he's only a little so they've been, yeah, they've been through one Christmas. Um, how about we?

Speaker 4: 1:16:44

go over what we went around Two weeks ago with the changing he because it's more fresh for him.

Speaker 2: 1:16:52

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's very fresh for him.

Speaker 4: 1:16:55

You and I, like I, forgot who I was. We're seasoned. We're seasoned who I was.

Speaker 2: 1:17:01

Yes, um, and he probably still cares what his wife thinks about things, exactly. So, um, all right, so that that would be a good one. Um, now, how do you want to break it? Like, do we just, hey, we're running out of time, but then come back with the same?

Speaker 4: 1:17:19

Yeah. So I'll just say I reckon we just go with, because what dom did when I was on his because river has a timer he doesn't like. Oh man, this always happens. Every time I have a really good guest on, we're gonna have to come, we'll have to bring you back and we'll do more of this and that was it.

Speaker 2: 1:17:35

Okay, oh, okay. So you guys did the same kind of thing.

Speaker 4: 1:17:37

Well, he didn't plan on it, he thought he could get everything from me in one take and he's like I forgot that. You know how to fucking talk and do an interview half on, like half the fucking guys in this podcast. He has to do more of it. I'm like dude Anytime you want to chat.

Speaker 2: 1:17:49

I'm down for it, like that's fine, yeah All right, so we'll, we'll, we'll tell nerdstorm that around 25, 30 minutes in that we're gonna wrap it up and then We'll come back in, come back or whatever. We're not even recording, we just we just wrap it up.

Speaker 4: 1:18:05

Give it a second, we'll go jump straight back into it and I can just cut it straight there back with nerdstorm.

Speaker 2: 1:18:12

Yeah, you know, okay, cool, All right, let me uh, drag them up. Nerdstorm. How are you? Hello, hello, how's it going?

Speaker 3: 1:18:23

Pretty good.

Speaker 4: 1:18:24

Pretty good.

Speaker 2: 1:18:27

Well, hey, are you gonna be able to turn your cam on, or yeah, yes, I am.

Speaker 3: 1:18:32

Oh awesome.

Speaker 2: 1:18:37

So bearded is. Uh, we got a Somewhat of a tight time frame, so we're gonna try to keep it to about an hour. Um, okay, that works.

Speaker 4: 1:18:47

I still got Christmas, so what he's got.

Speaker 2: 1:18:50

He's got Christmas shit to do and it's like it's not. It's not like it's tomorrow or anything you know. So it's cool. So we're gonna go for. Um, usually what we do is we usually talk to everybody for about hour plus right, and but we don't usually put out episodes that long, so usually we he'll cut it in half. We want to make life easier for bearded this time. So at around 30 minutes we're gonna be like oh hey, you know we're running short time and we're gonna kind of break it, but then we'll we'll just pause for like a minute and then we'll start back up with I'll kind of reintroduce you again and then we'll just talk for another 25 minutes for that foot.

Speaker 4: 1:19:26

Every time he gets to editing bro, every time I get to like oh crap, how am I meant to cut this? And then I've got to cut it. Then I get onto Adobe and then I'm trying to just record a voiceover. Try to feel like I went today. We're gonna actually try and do this again properly.

Speaker 2: 1:19:42

Um, and anything in particular. You, what you want to, uh, try to talk about tonight, or anything you don't want us to bring up.

Speaker 3: 1:19:52

Uh, no, nothing in particular. Nothing in particular, you know. Uh, yeah, like you were saying um, you know, I'm still fairly new with this whole dad thing, so yeah, and that's where we're going to be going today.

Speaker 4: 1:20:03

So exactly, we fought about it just before.

Speaker 2: 1:20:06

Yep, yep, um all right, all right.

Speaker 4: 1:20:11

Let that roll, I'm going to grab a.

Speaker 2: 1:20:13

I'm going to grab another drink. I'll be right back.

Speaker 4: 1:20:16

You need a drink? Oh hey, so much stuff. I still got to buy all the food. That's my thing at the moment. We went to do it yesterday for Christmas. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:20:33

Yeah, I like I got. I got the um, the ham to smoke so I can do a smoked ham, honey, honey, glaze, smoked ham. But then I want to get like, maybe some pork belly and a brisket. There's so many people coming over to ours. I love pork belly. Yeah, yeah, I'll try to work out how I want to do everything. Then I was like maybe we should do some lamb as well.

Speaker 3: 1:20:55

Oh my God, maybe I could do some lamb, how am I going to work this all?

Speaker 4: 1:20:58

out. How much protein do I need in this family? Hold on how many people? How many people are coming over to our house? That's the other one. At the moment I'm still trying to work that out. I was messaging my sister going you coming over, just like, no, no, I can't. Ah, cool, cool, that's full paper we don't have to worry about.

Speaker 3: 1:21:19

Yeah, I don't know if y'all want to say this for the rest of the recording, but something that I'm just not a huge fan of, especially, like you know, holidays and whatnot. My, my mom and my wife's mom right, yeah, I have bought him so much stuff and it's just, it's like why we can't even fit half the stuff in the apartment. It's just like now we're out to throw away a lot of his older stuff and it's just like why, like my mom, bought him an indoor slide. Why, why does he need that?

Speaker 4: 1:21:56

Because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to them. That's your problem, not their problem. That's your problem.

Speaker 2: 1:22:02

Before I had kids and my cousins both had kids, I thought it was really funny to buy them the most loud of not toys as I could get for their kids. I'm like I have fun with that. And then I had kids and you know they remembered that. So they're like here and I'm like, why would you do that to me? Why would you do that to me? I'm like, oh, it's not so funny now.

Speaker 4: 1:22:26

It's not funny being on the computer.

Speaker 2: 1:22:29

No no, so we'll get started with the second part. Here Again, we'll go for about 25, 30 minutes and we're going to kind of pivot to. We'll start off anyway with like balancing time and you know how you kind of work all that stuff out because of the work and and content creation stuff and all that shit. So all right and all right, cool and cool. That was a lot of fun.

Speaker 3: 1:23:02

Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:23:03

Oh yeah. I forgot how much I forget about when my kids are younger, like you'd say, oh shit, I remember that. You know when my kid was doing that, yeah, yeah, it's funny. We have one of those digital frame things in the kitchen Because you know that's where you spend most of our time and it's all these kids pictures. And I asked my wife, like why do you think she's like so when I'm mad at them, I can look at those and not be as mad at them. Have you got one of those new digital?

Speaker 4: 1:23:31

frames. Do you see the ones like more recent? My mom got a digital frame only a couple of weeks ago and I went over there and I had to, like sign into some app on my phone. And it doesn't matter, I don't have to be in that house. She's put myself, my sister and other people in there and you just you can just upload photos from your phone to her frame in her house.

Speaker 4: 1:23:56

Oh, nice yeah, I thought that was really cool and you know I remember last time I saw digital frames, you know the screen was three inches wide, like my phone's, bigger than what the last digital frame I saw was, and the quality was pixelated, like you know, a bad convenience store CCTV. But this thing was sharp. It was like looking at it like on a giant iPad, Like it was. Yeah, I was impressed with them. Yeah, I kind of want to get one.

Speaker 3: 1:24:20

And I say my dad would appreciate that he's always asking for all the pictures of my grandson. Like it's cool, I'll give them to you when I can take them, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:24:31

I'll see what's the app for pictures? How about you take them for a day?

Speaker 1: 1:24:34

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:24:35

Yeah, how about you? You know, drive all the way from Tennessee, come up over here and, you know, take them, or you know, let me take them up there to you Drop them off.

Speaker 2: 1:24:42

Does your wife have relatives that are close?

Speaker 3: 1:24:45

Literally two blocks down the street Nice.

Speaker 2: 1:24:49

So yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:24:49

Do they watch? Do they watch your son? Oh, yeah, yeah, whatever we want to. You know, me and my wife want to go have you know night out. You know for ourselves whatnot. We'll just see if her mom's working. If she's not working, we'll drop them off. Or if her, like sister or something, is free, like she'll watch them too. So yeah, okay, nice.

Speaker 3: 1:25:10

Because my mom lives, I think, yeah, she lives about two and a half hours from where we do. And then my dad, you know, like you know, hold another state, so yeah, yeah, okay, that was just something to look at.

Speaker 4: 1:25:22

Cool Cut. This is the frame is called Framer. Oh, and you buy them from Amazon? Yeah, well, that's what the app is called, and then when I looked up on the app website, it just yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:25:39

Oh, okay, $149.

Speaker 4: 1:25:43

They're big, like I said. But no, it was. It was for, like, a gift for family member or something like that, if you wanted to have a track.

Speaker 4: 1:25:53

I think it's really worth something. Like I thought it was cool being able to to send photos. You know we got the Santa photos the other day and my wife and I you know I was leaving the shops and was able to send the link. You know send the photo straight to the frame. So that's now rotating on my mom's frame and it actually it actually shows down the bottom. You can put your own little icon for yourself so it actually says who's uploaded, so she can see little photo of me in the corner in my name. So I called Josh uploaded this.

Speaker 2: 1:26:25

So, like, if you just take a picture of you giving the bird, she'll know it was you, though, yep.

Speaker 4: 1:26:32

I thought about that, but she watches kids. So the last thing I need to do is, you know, watching someone else's kids, and there's a photo of me just giving them the bird and lantern that's come through. I'm going to run so I can go do shopping.