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Grow Your Parenting Instagram Account to More Than 10K In Less Than 12 Months

December 14, 2020

Want to grow your parenting Instagram account? It’s easier than you might think. You just need to show up.

With a little bit of time, effort and consistency, you’ll get to 10k in no-time.

I couldn’t believe it when we hit 10k followers on Instagram. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that we’d get to that point in less than a year, but here we are!

There has been SO MANY things I’ve learned along the way when it comes to managing an Instagram account along the way and it can certainly feel like a bit of a minefield when you start out.

With so many ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ of Instagram, it can be difficult to know how to grow your account for the best.


I’ve broken down some of the key tips and tricks we used to be able to grow our account to more than 10k in less than a year.



Want to view it directly in YouTube? Click here.

by The Breaking Dad
Daddy cuddling with daughter
Parenthood

The importance of taking time for yourself

December 12, 2020

I saw a great article the other day; it talked about how we should stop glamorising over-working.

It hit home, hard.

I work a full-time job, high-pressured and do all the hours…and extra hours…that come with it.

To be able to pick up Evie from school on the days that I do, I work crazy hours to catch the time back up.

Throw in exercise, managing an Instagram page, YouTube channel and website as ‘The Breaking Dad’, seeing my girlfriend, her kids, and making time for ‘me time’ and, well…the maths doesn’t quite stack up.

Matter over mind.

I’m ambitious, like many other people.

Driven by the desire to give my daughter the best life I can possibly give her, I try to use my time as effectively as possible.

Problem is: There just isn’t time for everything.

I don’t know about you, but I regularly over-do it.

Curiously, I don’t ever feel stressed. I like to think I’m quite a laid back chap, more so over the last few years – I certainly never used to be.

I know when I’m stressed because my body tells me before my mind does.

My eyes start flashing as if I’ve been staring at a light for too long. Warning bells go off in my head because that’s the first signal that a migraine is coming on.

My body goes into shut down, and I can do nothing but lock myself in a dark room until it passes. The next day always feels like a hangover.

100% attention, 100% of the time.

If you look up the job description for ‘parent’, it’ll tell you that stress is par for the course.

When we’re with our children, they expect (deservedly so) 100% of our attention, 100% of the time.

“Daddy, can you get me a drink please?”

“Daddy, I’ve done a poo!”

“Daddy, can you pass me the toy that is literally within arm’s reach of me?”

On top of this, you have the continual worry that your child will injure themselves. The moment you look away, they’ll slip, trip or flip over the only object in the room. It’s inevitable.

I don’t know about you, but whether you work, parent full time, or balance both…It’s bloody stressful.

Dealing with Stress

We all need to take time to recharge our batteries.

I can’t lie to you and tell you that this is something I’m good at, I’m not.

But over the last two years, I’ve tried to focus on my mental wellbeing. That’s because if I’m in a good place, I’m a better parent to Evie.

Meditation

If you haven’t tried meditation before, I can’t recommend it enough.

Meditation is a process that helps you to clear your mind of thought by focusing on the present moment.

I’ve used a few different apps and there are lots of great ones out there. I used to use Calm, which was great…but I’ve recently moved over to Headspace.

You can try both of them for free, and I really recommend them; meditation got me through some very low periods in my life.

Now I just use it help alleviate some of the pressure I tend to put on myself.

I often find that by the end of the day, my head feels really tight, like somebody’s squeezing it.

Meditating for 10 minutes every day helps me to slow down the pace and focus on what matters.

Exercise

Outside of the difficult circumstances we’ve faced surrounding lockdowns this year, I’d ordinarily use exercise as my outlet.

I won’t bore you with the science stuff, but there are tremendous benefits for your mental health, as well as physical.

Exercising releases ‘feel-good’ chemicals which help to regulate your mood – dopamine and serotonin (as well as others).

I’ve always struggled with body image and had an interesting relationship with food as a teenager – I genuinely believed that to look good, I needed to look as thin as possible from the side.

It wasn’t great.

As I got older, I discovered exercise and my relationship with how I viewed myself improved.

Now I find that exercise helps me in a number of ways.

  1. Self-esteem
  2. Stress
  3. Sleep
  4. Energy

Spending time with people I love

Being a Daddy is the biggest stress release for me. Whatever is going on in my work or personal life, my focus always falls squarely on Evie when I have her.

Really, it’s a form of mindfulness. I stop thinking about the past and the future and focus squarely on the now: Making sure my little girl is OK.

I love being with Evie, even though spending the day in parent-mode certainly does have its own challenges.

That’s why I try my best to make time just to switch my phone off and relax with my family and friends as often as possible.

As much as I love working, sometimes it’s important.

Make time for you

Overworking isn’t glamorous. There’s a subtle art, which I certainly haven’t mastered yet, to working hard.

It takes a more holistic approach than most of us are used to.

Putting in the hours at work or looking after your kids is a noble cause, there’s no doubt about it. HOWEVER, if you burn out, you’ll be grumpy, less effective and less valuable to the world around you as a consequence.

Take that work ethic of yours and spread it across your personal, parenting and work-life and strive for balance.

Only when you invest time in all three of those things, will you recognise your true potential, I imagine.

I’ll let you know when I manage it.

by The Breaking Dad
Daddy and Daughter
Parenthood

Facing into Parental Self-Doubt After Separation

November 18, 2020

There’s no manual for parenthood. It’s harder than most people imagine, but infinitely more rewarding. 

I’ve learned in recent years that parenthood is one of those un-winnable games. 

Once you think you’ve mastered one level, you’re onto the next – each level with harder puzzles to solve along the way. 

Throw separation into the mix and quickly you’ve got two players trying to help one character win, each with conflicting strategies and objectives.

I have Evie on a two-week split timetable and there’s a gap that I don’t see her every two weeks of about five days.

It sucks.

It’s always been this time I’ve struggled most.

Thankfully, children are malleable little creatures and they adjust so quickly; Evie certainly does.

She fully relaxes back into her routine with mum and when she sees me again, it always takes her a little while to warm back up.

Considering I see Evie seven out of nine days that break after seems like a long time indeed.

That’s not to say we don’t always have a great time together, we do. It’s just that the difference is noticeable.

It‘s this time that causes me to question myself most.

Does Evie want to be here? 

Am I doing a good enough job?

Is she really happy?

It plays on my mind a lot.

More recently, I’ve tried to remind myself that we all succumb to that self-doubt from time-to-time as parents.

Instead of suffering like I used to, I try to think of self-doubt as not only healthy, but useful. 

Questioning myself forces me to continuously examine my behaviour and re-evaluate my approach towards parenting to ensure I’m doing what’s right by my little girl. 

There’s no one size fits all strategy for bringing your kids up.

What matters, and what they’ll remember, is that you tried your damned hardest to fill their lives with love, security and laughter.

So keep smiling.

by The Breaking Dad
Parenthood

10 things you should start doing for a happier life

October 2, 2020


We’re all human, right? If you’re anything like me, you have good days and bad days. ⁣
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The sooner you accept that it’s all part and parcel of the process, the sooner you’ll sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. ⁣
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Here are ten things you should keep (or start doing in some cases) immediately if you want to be happy: ⁣
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1. Be grateful and appreciate the people around you⁣
2. Be brave and risk failure⁣
3. Focus on on the positives⁣
4. Give yourself a pat on the back once in a while; you’re doing great.⁣
5. Look at how you can help others, as well as yourself⁣
6. Stay focused on your goals⁣
7. Create a plan and stick to it⁣
8. Keep trying…don’t give up⁣
9. Avoid making excuses⁣
10. Don’t take the easy way out⁣
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It can be easy to lose sight of these goals sometimes…God, I’m terrible for it. ⁣
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The important thing to remember is that we’re all just works in progress.⁣
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Are there any I’ve missed out? Let me know in the comments….⁣
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by The Breaking Dad
Parenthood

You can’t pour from an empty cup

October 2, 2020

Evie’s hair salon was open for business today.⁣⁣
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I look good, right?⁣⁣
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…Right?⁣⁣
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I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and re-evaluate things recently.⁣⁣
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I’ve realised that I spent so much of my last five years surrounded by toxicity. ⁣⁣
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I read an article recently about toxic relationships. ⁣⁣
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How many of you have experienced a relationship or friendship that takes far more than it gives?⁣⁣
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In this article, it described a good relationship as one that holds, ‘a shared understanding of the value of the resources that are invested into the relationship’ and how each person honours their side of the bargain. ⁣⁣
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Put simply: You look after each other.⁣⁣
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Right now, I can honestly say that I’m in the happiest place I’ve been in YEARS. ⁣⁣
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I’m surrounded by the most supportive, kind and caring people and I have to say, I’m so happy.⁣⁣
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It feels good to say that after suffering and feeling so low for so long.⁣⁣
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Why’s it important?⁣⁣
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That’s simple. The happiness that these amazing people give me spills beautifully into my relationship with my little girl.⁣⁣
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My message is simple:⁣⁣
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You can’t pour from an empty cup, but if you fill it with poison, you’ll do yourself damage too.⁣⁣
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Pause once in a while and be thankful for the people who had real value to your life. ⁣⁣
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That’s the good stuff. ⁣⁣
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by The Breaking Dad
Parenthood

A world full of opportunity

October 2, 2020

We all face highs and lows from time to time. Life has this funny way of changing when you least expect it.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Humans don’t do well with uncertainty, and more often than not, we’ll sit there and stress about all the ‘what ifs’. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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If you’re a parent, you’ll probably feel like that’s feeling has been magnified a million times. It certainly has for me.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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When faced with uncertainty, people have an uncanny way of slipping to one of two attitudes: ‘Optimism’ or ‘Pessimism’. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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The approach you take will DRASTICALLY change the way we deal with negative events, as well as having a lasting impact on you as a person. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Optimists will approach a situation with a positive mindset, whereas a pessimist will expect the worst. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Which are you?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I’ll let you into a little secret: I’m an ex-pessimist. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I used to worry about things that were beyond my control, spend too much time comparing myself to others and feel like I wasn’t good enough. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I’ve been through some incredibly low times, and questioned myself right to the core. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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During those lows, I realised something essential to my happiness.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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I have the power to influence the way I look at situations and re-frame them more positively. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Better still, so do you. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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If you do these three simple things, you’ll feel better, honest.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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1. Meditate: Take time to allow your brain to process your thoughts. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
2. Write: Extract those thoughts into a journal often⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
3. Play: Get out, have fun and learn to be ‘off’ from time to time.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Society places too much pressure on us to be on 24/7. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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If you feel like you spend too much time trying to be a people pleaser rather than looking after you, I challenge you to think about the damage you could be doing.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Once you do, you’ll see a world full of opportunity, rather than a landscape scattered with obstacles.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

by The Breaking Dad
Parenthood

Featured on Gingerbread, the charity for single-parent families

March 21, 2020

Today is #SingleParentsDay and I’m delighted to announce that an article I shared my story with Gingerbread, a single parents charity based in London, which was published today.

Read it here


The thing is, when I first became a single Dad, I couldn’t bear the idea that I’d failed as a parent. It was difficult to accept and I thought life could never be good again.

The fact is, it can.

Here’s a little snippet from the article:

As a single parent, you don’t have the chance to give up. Your life isn’t about you anymore, it’s about your child and that means being strong. Stronger than you have probably ever had to be before

@The_Breaking_Dad | Gingerbread

by The Breaking Dad
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