A Dozen Questions with Dad – Brittlestar
His Instagram and Twitter bios read Stewart Reynolds -The Internet’s Favourite Dad* (*unproven)… and while the unproven thing tracks I guess (and is humble)… it’s easy to accept as fact.
Name: Stewart Reynolds… better known online as Brittlestar
Kids: Owen (21) and Gregor (18)
City: Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Links: Web / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / Tik Tok / Peace. Love. Canada. Merch
Through his Brittlestar accounts, Stewart Reynolds has been producing and sharing fun and sweet and smart and funny/sweet/smart videos since Vine. Do you remember Vine? These days, he’s tackled the pandemic, vaccines, political scandal and buffoonery, winter, and more. He’s. funny dad that knows what he’s doing, and (from the outside) looks like he’s having a good time doing it.
He’s inspirational and kind. He’s funny and educational. He creates great content. And he’s more than just the internet’s favourite dad, he’s (probably) his kids’ favourite dad too. To learn a little bit about Stewart’s life as a dad, I sent over the A Dozen Questions with Dad questions and he graciously took the time to answer them and share. Check ’em all out now and check out Brittlestar on your favourite social media platform.
A Dozen Questions with Dad – Brittlestar / Stewart Reynolds
1. What is/was your favourite curse word alternative to use around the kids?
– ‘Fudge’ was my go to. If fulfilled the physical release of an f-bomb without the f-bomb. That said, since the beginning of the pandemic (and the fact our kids are grown) we’ve removed any censorship on language in the house. I almost wish we’d done that sooner. As your kids start to deal with adult problems I think anything you can do to remove barriers in communication is smart. Sometimes the best word to use to express how you feel about something is a rude one.
2. What is your favourite thing to watch with your kids? (TV, movies, YouTube, etc.)
– We constantly share videos we like in group texts. My youngest son doesn’t watch any long-form content except for basketball. My eldest son will happily watch series like Community with us.
3. Which kids program from your childhood do you wish was in HD and still relevant now for your kids?
– Mr Dressup for adults. Not like, sexy with Ernie Coombs nude but something with that same slow pace where there are problems or conflicts but with some calm thinking you can work through them. I’ve been trying to convert our live stream (The Morning Show Thing – 9:30AM ET on Fridays) into that. It’s a kids show for adults.
4. Which fictional dad (TV, movies, books, comics, etc.) do you like to think you most resemble or would you want to resemble as a dad?
– Clark Griswald. 100%. Fallible, mortal, inappropriate but always trying to keep his heart in the right place and do anything for his kids.
5. What is/was the one toy your kids love that you wish would go missing? (past or present)
– Both boys had favourite stuffed animals as kids. They were given presidential level security whenever they came with us on trips.
6. Which of your hobbies/interests have you or do you hope to pass on to your kids?
– Both of my boys work in media production (audio and video) which I love, so I guess it’s happened!
7. Do you have a go-to meal for daddy cooks or solo daddy dinner night?
– I am the absolute KING of KD. I make it better than anyone. Guaranteed. No extra ingredients. Just the pure unfettered taste of man-made cheese and factory grade noodles.
8. Do you feel like you were sufficiently warned about how many times you’d get hit in the nuts as a dad?
– NO! It seems like an occasional guffaw on TV or videos, but that area gets severely abused for years when you have kids. That sounds auto-sexual. It’s not. It’s really, really not.
9. On a scale of 1 to 10, how close is your experience as a dad to what you thought it would be before you were a dad (1 = not close, nobody told me it would be like this. 10 = really close, I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into)?
– 3, I kinda knew what I wanted to be as a Dad but it is a trip. The job of a lifetime… literally. No one prepared me (or I wasn’t able to comprehend) for the constant worry. CONSTANT WORRY. It never goes away.
10. What is the most challenging thing about being a dad for you? (ie. discipline, organization, leaving to go to work, helping with school work, explaining the world. etc.)
– It’s all challenging. The discipline. The feeling of not being there sometimes. The notion that YOU are the guy(s) in charge is terrifying at times.
11. Can you share a proud dad moment or memory with us?
– I’ve been absolutely lucky with how proud my boys have made me. From my youngest being Valedictorian in middle school and negotiating his own brand deals on social media when he was 12 to my eldest being hired by The Beatles social media team when he was 16 and engineering a prominent national podcast series. So many moments. I think though I am always struck by how kind they are when I see them talking to people who follow us on social media when we’re at a conference/convention. Your kids treating people with kindness is almost all you can hope for as a parent.
12. What significant yet simple piece of advice would you give to other dads or dads-to-be?
– It’s their life, not yours. You need to be ready to help when asked (or absolutely necessary) but apart from that, they need to figure things out on their own. That is a VERY difficult thing to learn when you’re a parent. I’m only JUST learning now and I have to keep reminding myself. I’d make the road as smooth and straight as I could for both of my boys but… who wants a flat straight road? You don’t get to enjoy the trip then. 🙂
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