Picture the chaos of parenting: early mornings, runny noses, and the mystical quest for the 'Husband Handbook'. George from School Lunchbox joins me to swap tales from the trenches of fatherhood, where we share a laugh over the universal dad experience of sticker-shock and the unexpected delights of Easter egg hunts. With a candid look at the transition from professional life to the hands-on day-to-day of parenting two girls, this episode is a reminder that in the midst of family mayhem, there's a community of fathers embracing the ride.
Feeding kids can feel like navigating a labyrinth of nutritional do's and don'ts, but we've cooked up a strategy as simple as it is colorful. I lay out my 'number five' rule—two fruits and three veggies—while George and I swap tips on making meal prep a playful affair. From sandwich shapes that spark joy to a palette of flavors that would impress a seasoned traveler, we serve up advice on keeping both the lunchbox and your little ones lively and diversified.
Morning routines can signal the start of a dreaded daily grind, but what if they became a ritual for bonding and well-being? I share how my early rise and weekend prep transform mornings from frenzied to fruitful, setting the tone for a day where even self-care finds space on the to-do list. We wrap up by blending work, family life, and the careful curation of social media, offering up a taste of how to keep it all in balance—hint: sometimes your best tool is the smartphone in your pocket. Join us as we celebrate the wins, weather the challenges, and most importantly, stay grounded in what matters most in this parenting journey.
Picture the chaos of parenting: early mornings, runny noses, and the mystical quest for the 'Husband Handbook'. George from School Lunchbox joins me to swap tales from the trenches of fatherhood, where we share a laugh over the universal dad experience of sticker-shock and the unexpected delights of Easter egg hunts. With a candid look at the transition from professional life to the hands-on day-to-day of parenting two girls, this episode is a reminder that in the midst of family mayhem, there's a community of fathers embracing the ride.
Feeding kids can feel like navigating a labyrinth of nutritional do's and don'ts, but we've cooked up a strategy as simple as it is colorful. I lay out my 'number five' rule—two fruits and three veggies—while George and I swap tips on making meal prep a playful affair. From sandwich shapes that spark joy to a palette of flavors that would impress a seasoned traveler, we serve up advice on keeping both the lunchbox and your little ones lively and diversified.
Morning routines can signal the start of a dreaded daily grind, but what if they became a ritual for bonding and well-being? I share how my early rise and weekend prep transform mornings from frenzied to fruitful, setting the tone for a day where even self-care finds space on the to-do list. We wrap up by blending work, family life, and the careful curation of social media, offering up a taste of how to keep it all in balance—hint: sometimes your best tool is the smartphone in your pocket. Join us as we celebrate the wins, weather the challenges, and most importantly, stay grounded in what matters most in this parenting journey.
This episode of the DadBodcast is proudly brought to you by Bud. The Label Bud is a kids clothing line that offers simple, wearable and versatile pieces. If you are looking for clothing for your kiddos with quality and comfort at the core, then look no further. Thank you, bud, for making this episode possible. Go get your dad's full bud. Howdy ho, daddios, and welcome to the Dad Podcast. This is brought to you by myself, kyle Graham.
Speaker 1:This is a place where all types of dads or dads-to-be can tune in, cop a giggle or learn something new about life as a parent. Follow along as we interview dads of all types and undercover some wisdom to help us be the best dads and partners we can be. So get comfy and listen in your big deals, because the next episode of the dad podcast is about to go down. So today on the show uh, we've got george from the school lunchbox instagram page. Um, yeah, just thought I'd have george on. He's got an interesting story. Um, he's got kids of his own too and uh, I'm sure he could share some some lovely wisdom for us us wisdom for us dads to be more active in the lunchbox part of the house and help the missus out a little bit. So, mate, we'll start things off. How are you, how is the fam? Yeah, good man, it's cold.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me. Yeah, fam's good dude. Healthy girls. I've got two daughters, 11 and 14. Healthy wife she keeps me on my toes, so yeah, good family dynamics. Yeah, white picket fence and a dog. So we're all good. Yeah, beautiful, but yeah, kind of typical sort of family, household, same sort of, you know, pressures and stresses as everyone else, but we just sort of get through. But my journey, no sicknesses at the moment.
Speaker 2:No, we kind of just got through that, yeah, which was only a couple of weeks ago. There's a few going out, but yeah, fortunately we're okay, touch wood.
Speaker 1:How about you guys All good in?
Speaker 2:your boots.
Speaker 1:We've been in the trenches lately. It's been hectic. Yeah, I've got three kids, three boys, and uh, they're all at different stages. Once our oldest is six and uh, middle one's three and nine months and they've all had bouts of gastro, go through their schools and things. And, yeah, top that off with you know, coughs and sniffles and things like that too. So there's not much sleep going on in our house at the moment wow, but yeah but but yeah, otherwise, yeah, had a um, a big weekend over easter and things.
Speaker 1:And um, yeah, lots of activities, lots of easter egg hunts and things like that. And um, how about?
Speaker 2:you how was?
Speaker 2:your easter yeah, it's good man, we uh, because I live in geelong, which is like a coastal town and we're about an hour from Melbourne. So we headed to Melbourne for a couple of days over Easter and we try and make the most of like that four-day off. You know time off that we had. So you know the girls in Melbourne, cbd and shopping. It was good, yeah, it was good. We got the dog with us, so it was good fun. Sounds expensive, yeah, not good for the wallet, but you know I'm the one that's always like what, how much? And pull that face. You know that's too expensive a face. So it's the things you kind of get down pat as you get older with being a dad. You know it's like how much you know, regardless of not knowing what it's meant to cost, you just always act that everything's expensive. So it's a good thing it's part of the dad handbook that they don't hand out when you become a dad.
Speaker 1:Well, hopefully this podcast becomes one of those.
Speaker 2:That would be awesome, mate. I'll tell you I would have loved one when I was first a dad, Even a husband, to be honest. A husband handbook would have been great. Hey, man, we should write that. That would be huge, yeah.
Speaker 1:You've written a few books, so you know yeah the husband's handbook.
Speaker 2:There you go, but you know what?
Speaker 1:He'll be wrong. Husband for dummies yeah, that's right, He'll be wrong Totally. And mate, tell us a little bit about, yeah, the family dynamic. You say you've got two daughters.
Speaker 2:Yeah, two daughters, kiki, 11, and Anela, who's 14, and a dog, miko, who's almost three. So, yeah, we sort of started late with kids, like I was 37 when we had our first and kind of thought, all right, it's time I'm sort of wiser, a bit more street smart should be okay. But it was. No preparation can prepare you for, you know, fatherhood or parenthood. I believe I learned quickly and so did my wife. So my wife went from a, you know, double degree professional running corporate business and you know, from one minute like hosting board meetings to the next minute she's got a baby hanging off the boob. You know, house is a mess, you know, hair unwashed, you know, and it completely shipped a change. So if it was a shock for us, it was for me. You can imagine what they're going through. So I was the typical yeah, I mean, it wasn't easy, but the first three years were a blur changing nappies and you know all of that stuff. It's just crazy. If you can get through that, you can do anything, you know, yeah, yeah. So we got through relatively unscathed, which was cool.
Speaker 2:Then, when it came time for kids to start school, it was, yeah, it was hectic for my wife managing everything. I used to leave early for work, come home late, so I missed out on a lot of the mayhem until one morning. One morning I was off sick and I could hear commotion in the kitchen. I'd run into the kitchen trying to figure out what's going on. Who died? Is there an elephant in the house? What's going on? And as it turns out, they all looked at me like I was a fool or like I was unusual, because they're like what are you talking about? This is normal. And my wife's like. You know, I've got to manage. I've got the school bags, the homework, the lunches, the breakfast, make sure their hair's done, their shoes, uniforms and drive them to school. And she says, so this is what it's like, it's chaos. And I just said, okay, one thing, give me one thing that I can take off your hands. And she said, if you can do school lunches, I'm happy, I'm like done. So that was the start of it all for me, which was kind of crazy because I had no idea. I didn't know what to add. I didn't even know where to find the school lunchboxes, so it was pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:But when I did, I needed help, and the way I tried to get the help was online. You know I'll jump on like mum Facebook pages or you know certain types of groups that you can join and there were a lot of like mum lunchbox pages and I'd join and I'd get in and then they'd realise I'm a guy and they'd look at the profile pic, the name, and then it's like it's not really for you. You know what's your motive, why are you joining our page? And I started getting some slack. I even got like blocked several times because people just assumed I'm there for different reasons, like inappropriate reasons, which obviously is not the case. You know I'm there for different reasons, like inappropriate reasons, which obviously is not the case. You know I was there for help and then I realised, oh damn, that's tough, you know.
Speaker 2:So I still struggled my way through the lunches until I sort of had to learn on my own.
Speaker 2:And then, as I was learning, I was just sort of the blinkers on, don't care what anyone's doing, I'm just going to do my own thing, make it bright, colourful and creative.
Speaker 2:And then the girl's got a note back from one of the teachers saying hey, your mum should put these lunches on Instagram. And I'm like A, I'm not a mum B, you know, assume. But ultimately I didn't even know what Instagram was, so I downloaded the app a lot of trial and error, you know and then, before I knew it, like the followers were growing and one of the TV networks I think it was Channel 7 or something saw it, and then they invited me on the show and I got some flack on the show as well by one of the female hosts saying Really yeah, it was live as well, and so it was quite embarrassing. She basically said, yeah, it was crazy because, like, it takes me 10 minutes to do a couple of lunches, like no longer, in fact, sometimes five minutes, depending on what I'm creating and she kind of didn't buy it. She said, no, that's impossible, like, and I'm like no, no, it's, that's how long it took. And then she's like nah, I don't believe you, and so you call me a liar, like on national television.
Speaker 2:On live TV. Yeah, so it was quite a bit, you know, and I sort of got my back up a bit and I thought you know what, I don't care about any of this media stuff, I'm just going to do my thing. But you know, things got crazy. My recipes I thought others could benefit from it, maybe other dads and those that sort of struggle to join other groups like I did. So I thought I'm going to create a page or a few pages, so that people can, like me, can jump on, learn and it's for free and get some inspiration and sort of have a little community. Pretty much what you were doing, but not on that scale. So I did, but not on that scale. So I did.
Speaker 2:I created a Facebook page and Instagram and fast forward like seven years and with the TikTok there's like 600,000 followers, got to write four cookbooks all bestsellers, which was crazy travelled the world, done documentaries in the UK TV in Europe. I've done over 50 live television performances. Now, ambassador, like crazy, it's just like mind-blowing. In fact, thinking about it now it freaks me out because it just started by helping. But there's a message in that and that is that people need the help, people are looking for help and that's that people need the help. People are looking for help and that's why it's it's popular and, um, and it's funny because now those pages that were rejecting me, um, are like joining me, you know, and they're on. You know, they're on the team, you know, which is a sad way. You don't have to prove yourself. But um, yeah, and I figured, you know, if it's, it was tough for me, it's obviously tough for dads out there, so, yeah, absolutely well, there's.
Speaker 1:There's a lot, a lot in what you just said to unpack and yeah, I'd love to dive a little bit deeper into some of that, because I've obviously got um three kids of my own and lunchbox uh duties in our house seems to be a bit of a point of contention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:It just seems to be a battle that we deal with every day, and I mean, how did you like, what were some of the things that you found in your research and things that work for your kids?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's a bloody good question. I'll tell you why. Because I had no idea I would go to the professionals. I'd Google nutritionalists, like pediatric nutritionalists for kids. What are they saying? These guys are experts, but man, it was so complicated. I'm just a simple guy. I like simple things, don't overcomplicate things, but they give me protein and calories and calcium and vitamin types you got to have, and it was too confusing, like it would have been confusing for anyone, not just me. So I just had to figure out how can I make something really hard really simple for everyone to understand, especially me. And then I um, ultimately I broke it down. It's.
Speaker 2:I did study the whole bloody thing, to be honest, to try and figure it out. But in a nutshell, I figured that if you can use the colours of the rainbow with natural products, like fruit and veg, like produce, so if you can incorporate a bit of yellow, a bit of red, like apples, like apples or kiwi or mangoes or whatever, just use, basically use a heap of fruit, so the kids get the. You know, the colours are what attracts the kids, you know. So you can't go bland. So I figured that incorporating the colours of the rainbow is one easy way to do it, the number five. You know two fruits and three veggies. So if you can incorporate two fruits and three veggies, which was literally the number five, was my way to remember that you're home in a hose because you're getting a couple of fruits easy apple, orange, whatever banana fruit you can use. Sorry, veggies, you could use a bit of cucumber, carrot and mini tomatoes. And I sort of stuck to that number five formula and I found that it was trial and error. Girls, was it always working? But what always worked was being a little bit creative.
Speaker 2:So out of a piece of bread with the crust slapped together, it can be a bit daunting. I figured I kind of learned the hard way and it would come back with a couple of bites and I'd be like why didn't you eat your lunch and it's like it's too big, I don't like crusts, or you know I wanted to play, you know, a lot of the time. So I figured, well, if I can make that lunch sandwich bite size and fun to eat sandwich bite size and fun to eat, maybe if they have one bite and it might get their hunger going, it might get their metabolism going that they'd want to eat more. So I started creating out of bread. I'd make ravioli sandwiches which took like one minute not even to make. I'd make a dumpling out of bread with fun fillings inside, you know, and it's okay to cheat Like, it's okay to, you know, sneak in something that they normally wouldn't have, you know, inside the sandwich, but at the same time you can sneak in veggies, you know, if you're hiding it in a dumpling.
Speaker 2:So I started getting creative, so turning a piece of bread into dumpling, for example, a few beautiful colours and a party food. I'd add popcorn occasionally, because kids associate popcorn with movies or going out or a fun evening, and popcorn, there's a lot of nutrients in it, so it's a good additive. You have some crackers that are low in fat and aren't necessarily going to kill them, some crackers that are low in fat and aren't necessarily going to kill them. Yeah, so I always include party food, fruit and veg and a creative sandwich, and that worked for me, but that took me like over a year to figure that out. So now all I say to these people make food bite-sized, fun to eat, use the colors of the rainbow, rainbow and incorporate the number five. That's it. You know, I wish there was a nutritionalist out there that would say hey man, yes, I've got 15 degrees in nutrition, but all you really need to know is this, and that would make life so much easier. But yeah, anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, and like I mean so, you would suggest then, if things are working and lunches are getting eaten, to continue to broaden like your kids, I guess palate, and keep trying new foods or continue to keep serving up the same thing because you know it works.
Speaker 2:I believe it comes down to the individual or the children themselves. If they're content and they're getting the nutrients and vitamins, man, I'd give them. If I have to like, I'd go two, three times a week. I'd give them the same food, because you know it's a gimme, it's a guarantee, it's like they're lining up for goal and they're not going to miss, you know, with that particular food. But I do like to change it up a bit. You know I like to keep use seasonal food and fruit and veg. I want them to try new things.
Speaker 2:I'm lucky, like Melbourne, geelong Victoria, where I live, there's a lot of like the food scene's great. So when they go out to dinner and they'll have, they'll see something that's unusual to them. You know it might be like a Vietnamese type of food or something like a banh mi which they've never had before. Then I'd recreate that with some of the flavours in the banh mi, like they use some pate and some mayo, for example, or buttery mayo, and instead of pork crackling I'll use ham, you know, and just put, you know, obviously no chilli. But I like to incorporate foods that they see out that other adults would eat and I'd like to simplify that and give them a slight taste of it. So it's like using culture and you know the food that the cultures have to offer.
Speaker 2:You know, I'd like to get them to try. So at least once a week I go daring, I give them something that they're. It's like they're 75 metres out from goal and I don't know if they're going to kick it or not, but it doesn't matter, because they've kicked three already this week, so I'm happy. Yeah, it's kind of just weighing up risk rate and, yeah, always trying new stuff because I think they'd appreciate it more when they get older. You know, I know I would have, certainly if I had gotten that instead of having mortadella and salami, you know, for 12 years straight. But that's another story, man.
Speaker 1:Well, like we always find in our house that the kids will eat certain things at home or you know, out and about, but then we try and replicate and do the same thing in the lunchbox but it comes back every time uneaten. So like, yeah, I don't know, we're really struggling with that at the moment. Set some rules.
Speaker 2:Unfortunate yeah.
Speaker 1:What's that sorry?
Speaker 2:Set some rules. So what I do is I do think, I do believe that a good lunchbox is the key because it keeps it fresh and airtight. So what I used to do is, when I used to do school pick-up, I'd pick them up and I'd do the lunchbox check so they jump in the car. First thing they do is you know it's 3.15, 3.30, and they open it and if whatever's not eaten, I used to make them eat it on the way home.
Speaker 2:You know, and I'd be like that's your snack, it's still fresh, it looks good. There's no excuse of you had no time to play because now you're not playing, you're in the car, you know. So they generally, even if they nibbled at it a bit or ate half of it, I'd be happy. So I used to always make them, on the way home from school, eat what they didn't eat. But what they didn't, I generally like if they ate nothing and it was a valid excuse. I'm down with that. That's cool. But generally it's the time factor, because I don't really get that much time. I feel like we're I just want to play, yeah. So that's why I'd basically yeah, even sometimes when they get home I'd be like all right, take a seat and have your lunch now and pull the whole wait till your mom gets home. Attitude. That always works. It scares the kids. But no, now, always yeah.
Speaker 2:A good lunchbox is definitely a key because it keeps it fresh and doesn't cross-contaminate, keeps all the food separate. But yeah, monkey see, monkey do is another approach. Like, if I'm going to give my kids something to eat, they have to see me eating it first. That's my rule, you know, and it's literally monkey see, monkey do. So I can't. You need to practice what you preach.
Speaker 2:So if I'll be like at times, would make four lunches, which they're all the same, and one for my wife and myself and the two kids, so they know, okay, we all eat, this is what we're eating, it's what mum and dad eat. They're still alive, so we're going to live through this. You know as traumatic as it might be for them, but yeah, so that's another thing. Dinner's big. You know, what I used to do was, before they started school, like back when they were about four, four and a half, I'd serve their dinner in the bentos, like in the school lunch boxes that they were going to have.
Speaker 2:So they got used to eating from it. So it wasn't daunting, it wasn't scary, it wasn't something new and they knew how to open it and close it and, you know, they got familiar with it. That was another big sort of win I found was using this school lunchbox way before they even started school, just to get them familiar. And it's a sense of home when they're at school. It gives them a bit of comfort of, hey, this is a part of this is what we do at home. So, yeah, that's great advice mate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now you know, like I've obviously seen your page and I see all these incredible lunches and things and whatnot. And you know, obviously the question that you were asked is like how long does this take, like when do you have the time to do this? And so, mate, when do you do all the cooking for the lunchboxes? Is it in the morning, before school, or is it at night, you know, before you go to bed?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I generally do them in the morning because I'm an early riser. I get up about 5.36. By the time I get myself ready, it's like 12 pm. No, I'm just kidding, it doesn't take that long. About half an hour. I get showered and get myself sorted, grab my coffee and I jump in the kitchen.
Speaker 2:But what I find for me and it takes me between five and 10 minutes to make a lunch or make the lunches, which isn't long at all if you really think about it, but I am prepared at all if you really think about it, but I am prepared. You know, one thing I do is I enjoy going to the grocery, like grocery, so I enjoy going to the supermarkets, and I generally do it on a Saturday or Sunday and what I do is unpack everything and the missus helps me. We like peel the carrots, you know, wash all the fruit and veg, pop them in an airtight container and in the fridge. So all I'm doing is, in the mornings, assembling rather than washing and peeling and stuff. All I like to do is assemble the fruit and veggies in the lunchbox and all I need to do is just make a few sandwiches, or in the form of ravioli, dumplings, spring rolls or whatever. Sometimes I'll make pastries, I'll do a bake session and freeze them as well and just take them out the night before. So if you can make it easier for yourself, it's the way to go. But now I enjoy baking in the mornings. Now it's sort of become with everything I do and I've got time, I'll pull out some frozen puff pastry before I jump in the shower and when I'm out it's thawed, ready to go and I just put some like, say, tomato paste in there, some cheese, a few different likes, maybe some shredded chicken, pineapple even, and cook it up in the air fryer and make scrolls, you know, which takes 10 minutes to cook. So, because I've got to be creative so that I can get my girls to eat, I find for me in the morning and the smell of freshly baked food in the morning is next level, it's kind of they wake up and go. Oh yeah, that smells good. You know the appetite's going already.
Speaker 2:So yeah, the morning, to answer your question, I prefer the morning, but I do prep. You've got to be organized, you know, and the more organized you are, the easier it is. But it's crazy, kyle, because I was a lazy guy, you know, growing up and even married most like I don't know, 10 years before we had kids. But like I was kind of lazy, like I'd get up and be like, oh, I won't have breakfast, I can't be bothered. But when you're responsible for little humans, it changes you, you know, all of a sudden it's like wow, I've got to be fit and healthy so that I can look after them, because without me they're not going to eat, you know. So I look after them because it's a different responsibility and, as a result, I look after myself because I need to be able to get up at 5.36 and not laze around or whatever. So it's crazy, you need to look after yourself almost more than you need to look after your kids. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:I'd agree with that. Yeah, 100% to look after yourself almost more than you need to look after your kids. Yeah, it's crazy. I'd agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's why 100% and I didn't ever understand. You know, when you jump in a plane and they'd say, ladies and gentlemen, you know exit doors, blah, blah, blah. And if oxygen, if we need oxygen, they always say, put it on yourself first and then put it on others. And I used to think no way, of course I'm going to put it on my kid first, like what are you talking about? But then it clicked and that is, if you don't put it on yourself, then you can't put it on your kids. So it's just an analogy of you have to look after yourself and it's not. I understood that it's not being selfish if you go for an hour run or a half an hour run or go to the gym. If anything, you're doing your kids a favor by going to the gym so that you can come back healthy body, healthy mind, good mindset. Kids can see you're looking after yourself and therefore you're eating well. And it's a whole cultural family dynamic shift 's crazy. It's kind of big, you know, I'm I'm not sure if you agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I, I agree wholeheartedly. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, we, we do a similar thing in our house and you know we've got three kids and all that ages that are pretty hands-on, and we, we have to carve out time, otherwise it just doesn't happen. So communication in the form of, you know, sitting down and talking to each other about our week on a you know, setting it into a weekly calendar, and things like that, is something that we have to do, otherwise we'll get no time for ourselves and then we'll, you know, for the rest of the week, feel lazy, tired and, yeah, you just won't be yourself.
Speaker 2:So, yeah.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more. It's so good. And also, what I found was, as my daughters are getting older, I'm just trying to find ways to stay relevant, because they naturally connect with my wife because they're girls. They're talking about makeup, hair, fashion, you know next big thing, or whatever, you know Taylor Swift, whatever. But for me it's like, well, how am I going to stay relevant? So I found that cooking and getting them involved with the cooking has been huge for me.
Speaker 2:You know, I kind of think being a dad to pre-teens and teenagers, you almost got to become a friend rather than a dad. You're always going to be a father figure, but for me I'm finding I've got to be more of a friend. And so now I'm talking to them like, hey, who are you crushing on? All that sort of stuff which freaks me out, dude to talk to them about. Because it's like that sort of stuff which freaks me out, dude to talk to them about. Because it's like I find this dude like you know sort of thing, but no, it kind of makes me see things through their eyes and it's as difficult as it is to admit to needing to do it.
Speaker 2:I think it's important because I want them to say to me hey, dad, you know I've got this issue, you know? Or and the reason I ask him is so any boys at school, you know, looking at you funny, or is there someone you got you're crushing on, or whatever the terms are these days? And then if I'm talking to them and asking for like something that's positive for them, I just hope that if they have something negative, they can come to me as well, because if they can talk to Dad about something, have something negative, they can come to me as well, because if they can talk to Dad about something that's good, they can hopefully come and talk to Dad about something that's not so good.
Speaker 2:So that's you know and I use food a lot to connect. As far as, hey, girls, this is what I'm going to make tonight. Can someone help me with potatoes? Or let me show you how to make a mash. Know, because if I get hit by a truck I need you guys to make this mash. You know, mom loves this. She can't cook to save herself. You need to make this mash, so you know, we we kind of do that. So it's more of a almost like an activity bonding session.
Speaker 1:Um yeah, I was gonna say do you find that, like just while doing those activities, instead of saying, hey, sit down, we're going to talk this, they're more inclined to open up, because they're just, you know, hanging with dad doing something and you guys are just you know whether you're bantering and just you know hanging out. They're more inclined to sort of open up to things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally Absolutely. The more you're friends with them, the more you connect. I believe, at this age, you know, I believe I think up until the age of 10, you need to be. You know you need to set the rules, set the foundations, for you know building, you know a different connection. But for me, at this stage I think you know a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old it's important for me to be, yeah, find that connection.
Speaker 2:And through music, like I like to. We listen to all sorts of music and, um, we, we'd listen to a song and I'll be like, oh well, play me your song, what's your favorite song at the moment? And like my youngest put she'll listen to taylor swift. My eldest will put on, like an old, she put on an old pearl jam song. And I'm a pearl jam diehard, like I've got four stitches at their concert moshing back in the early 90s, right, and I'm like you're listening to Pearl Jam. She's like, yeah, and I'm like, wow, and tell me about the song, why do you like it? Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:And then it's just a different connection. And then I'm like, well, listen to this Pearl Jam song or listen to this Eddie Vedder song. You know, the more you talk to your kids. I guess the more you know, you learn about them and the more you get to know them, and sometimes I find listening is the best thing you can do to kids rather than just talking to them you know about. You know, do this, do that? Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I mean that could be another like 44-hour podcast. You know, do this, do that? Yeah, yeah, it's crazy, I mean that could be another like 44-hour podcast.
Speaker 1:you know about that, absolutely mate.
Speaker 2:But food for me is the ultimate connection where I get them involved. I've been fortunate enough to do, you know, a few shows here and there and I've got them involved with that, like they'll come on live.
Speaker 1:TV yeah.
Speaker 2:So we've done the morning show, I don't know a dozen times together. You know today's show, all of those. We've gone to New Zealand, we've done Europe together and they've done live TV appearances. But I didn't necessarily do that so that they can say, oh well, you know, look at me. I wanted them to do it so they can see their old man doing it because my youngest, her attitude, has shifted. It's not shifted, but she's got a different mindset.
Speaker 2:She'll say she doesn't say to me oh, when I grow up I'll want to be a beauty influencer, for example. She says, when I grow up, I'm going to be because she sees me doing stuff Like. I'll say that like once I took him to a bookstore saying girls, I'm going to have a book out here one day, I'm going to start writing it, and we're going to, I'm going to have a book, and then I do it, you know. And then you know multiple times it's happened. Or girls, we're going to go on TV, you know. And then it happens. And you just set goals that are collective, positive affirmations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's almost like manifesting a little bit into our lives, you know, not too far advanced, like six months or three months advanced, saying because this is what I want to do, watch Dad, you know. And then when it happens, they believe, well, if Dad can do it, I can do it, you know. And when they say I want to do like contemporary dancing, I'm like, well, what are you going to do to do that? It's like, well, I need to take lessons and I need to get a mat at home. I'm like, okay, so how are you going to do it? Research the lessons, Research where to get a mat. How much is it going to cost? Can you afford it, you know, and so you sort of Good life skills right there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, making them dream a little, but it's doable, and making them do it and therefore they believe they can because they're putting the wheels in motion. Yeah, yeah, so that's, I find the key. Sorry, can you still hear me? See me? Yeah, also sorry, I thought because someone was calling me. That's all good, but no, the connection is crazy and you can't be the same from early age to like the preteens. You've got to change with their growth. You've got to adapt, I find adapt, and that's why I do with food as well. I can't, I didn't necessarily just make them the same, like fun dumpling sandwiches, you know, um, as I did seven years ago, I've had to change it up and that's why a lot of the followers and people that, um, you know, follow me on um social media. They have grown with me because I'm staying relevant, not only for my kids but for their kids as well. Yeah, and you know like I'll make muffins using a protein shaker. I might have mentioned it to you the other day.
Speaker 2:So, instead of using a mixer like a blender, and you know you've got to wash all this stuff I just use a protein shaker or a cocktail maker mixer and throw all the ingredients in there, shake it up, and it's easy. Easy to clean and it's done. So, again, simplifying food but making it easy for everyone to do. And that's what is part of the appeal and I mentioned when I did Ready Steady Cook the other day or last week, these professional chefs, like you know, pulled out like Miguel, pulled out a blender, saying, oh, we're gonna make crepes. I'm like, nah, dude, I'm not washing that like this, I'm just gonna use this mixer. And he's like what are you talking about? And he, after the show, pulled me up and he said I can tell that you're not a chef because you don't care about what you have to use and what you don't have to use. There's no rules. I'm like, well, you can't, you can't. This is the real world. We don't have all these expensive blenders at our expense Food processes yeah.
Speaker 2:So you just do with what you have. Sometimes a lunchbox I can put together with just a couple of bucks, because that's all I've got handy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. You've obviously got a pretty busy life juggling your business and then also your Instagram pages, books, things like that. How are you balancing it all, mate?
Speaker 2:I do have about. I'm lucky at work. They're quite supportive. They give me time off when I need to. You know, do some travel or whatever, but even before that, like I'd be up 5 30, I'm usually breakfast, lunch they're all done by by 6 30. Go to work, do school, pick up at 3 30. I'm sorry. Actually, what I do is when I do the lunches, I generally photograph it or video it and upload and and people think, oh, you know, you do all this editing. Yeah, nah, I use my phone as my camera.
Speaker 2:Like my phone is my camera. I've got this cheap. In fact it wasn't cheap, it was a free app from a couple of Queensland guys that developed this editing app that takes me two minutes and then I just post it. And then I go to work, come back with the girls, do school pickup, and then I answer any queries I might have, or emails, you know whatever. And then once I did that and I came home and the video I posted in the morning had over 5 million views and BBC Food in the UK wanted to buy the rights and I did. I offloaded it. Yeah, good idea.
Speaker 2:Like that's crazy stuff that you like I don't think about. Because I'm at work, making a living, because I need to feed the kids, yeah, but stuff like that happens, which does take a little bit of time. But other than that, between make dinner, wife goes to the gym, comes back, we chill. I'll go for a run, chill with the girls, make sure they're good with their homework. They've usually got activities. So when the girls have got their stuff on, like whether it be dance or piano, that's when I get my stuff done. So I don't overlap any time. So I use that time wisely. So I use that time wisely. We still get them to bed by 9.30. So after 9.30, I've got a good hour, an hour and a half before I sort of flake it, so I get stuff done there.
Speaker 2:But there's no time for stuff like TV, or it doesn't really happen for me anymore. It's more a case of just it does take up time, but this is kind of unusual. It's not like something that everyone would do. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy, but it toughens you up, you know it does, because you get some stuff I was never used to. You know you get all the weird types of people out there that want to either bring you up or bring you down. So I just, yeah, kind of deal with that a bit, which is kind of weird. But most importantly, the blokes are good. The blokes are quite supportive. Other dads, you know I get a couple of haters, mostly from overseas, because they're not used to what I do, but other than that it's pretty good and I enjoy it. So I enjoy the creative outlet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no good on you, mate. Well mate, yeah, thanks for sharing like an insight to your story and, yeah, really appreciate you spending the time. I know you're busy coming on the show and, yeah, appreciate it. Thanks for having us. No, thanks for having us. Thanks for coming on, mate, thank you.
Speaker 2:Like I loved it and I appreciate like anything to share something, anything that other parents can share with other parents they should, you know. Or if other dads can support other dads. You know, I wish there was other dads back eight, nine years ago. That could have helped me. You know, through this whole lunchboxing thing and you know, because I had no clue and now I love to be able to not just offer advice but just see what I do and if you can get anything out of it, then it's worth it. But even it doesn't have to be for lunches, it could be for anything Like just follow, you know, something that can connect you with your kids or your family, that might, um, make life a bit easier, or um, yeah, yeah if it means stacking a dishwasher.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just do it right, give it a go yeah, absolutely yeah, a good mate of mine.
Speaker 1:Uh, just just recently, um, there's there's a sort of like card game out at the moment that um basically has, uh, household tasks and things like that on it, and you know they sit down together and and you divvy them out between you so you, you know you both carrying load equally, and things like that too. So there's another idea of um how you can lighten the load at home as well and, um, yeah, I'll find out the name of that and put it in the show notes for people anyway. But, as every guest on this show, you're now part of the DadBod community and we always urge everyone to you know if they've got any questions for yourself to reach out. Where do they find you mate on the social media?
Speaker 2:Yeah, on Facebook, instagram or TikTok, it's just the tag School Lunchbox. That's how boring I was when I created it. It made sense and so, yeah, reach out on just DM through Insta or email. You know it's just dad at schoollunchboxcomau, but ideally, yeah, shoot an Insta or Facebook Messenger and I'll definitely respond. I always do. It's what we do as humans, you know. If someone's got a question, help out, you answer it and help. But yeah, I'm happy to be.
Speaker 1:You vouched for that. You got back to me straight away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it's just yeah. You just don't know who needs help, but I've certainly got the dad bod to join your club and community, so I'm stoked man, and now I know it's going to good use.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, absolutely Well. Thanks for coming on, mate Appreciate it, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode, you bunch of legends. If you enjoyed the show, could I please get you to show me some love by subscribing and leave a really nice review, also for loads of extras and to stay up to date with all things? Dad Podcast. Head on over to at dad underscore podcast on Instagram and give us a follow. Huge love to you all, daddy-os. Catch you soon.