TV presenter Nigel Clarke Chats about The Baby Club and Dadvengers

TV presenter Nigel Clarke Chats about The Baby Club and Dadvengers

There’s just not enough time!

Nigel Clarke, CBeebies presenter, explains how Dadvengers started from an all Dads episode of The Baby Club, the groundbreaking show for mums, dads and carers with babies under 18 months old. The Baby Club reflects the important CBeebies mantra that “Everyone’s Welcome”.

We talk about a generational shift in what is expected from and expected by dads and the importance of dads having the skills and confidence to be alone with their kids.

Ian and Nigel try and explain to James what the Clubhouse excitement is all about and we discover how you manage a 4 hour filming session with babies, sing songs (!) and probe Nigel about parenting in the public eye and what goes on at a CBeebies Xmas party.

Contents

01:15 Using Lockdown in the most positive way we can be - “I've found a place where I'm happy.”

02:00 Nigel’s motto - “There just isn't enough time”.

03:00 Special To Do lists

04:00 Children on Teams and Clubhouse

“Somebody told me about it (Clubhouse) and I was like, this is never going to work. But if it's done right, it's like attending a really cool lecture or a really cool networking room where you share stuff.”

06:45 Trying not to get stressed - people are accommodating

08:00 CBeebies closed for a couple of weeks and we, as the presenters, were recording stuff in our homes. So I did a series of links from my lounge.

09:45 Dadchats was a place for me to just research what parents might want to see or hear about in the Dadvengers podcast.

11:20 We did an episode of The Baby Club just with Dads

14:55

“I'm mid forties. So I grew up with a generation where the dads were at work. You see them maybe at the weekend, maybe in the evenings, maybe briefly before they go to work in the morning.

They didn't have the opportunity to be with their kids and around them spending lots of time.”

15:45: Wanting to be more involved - The Baby Club as a platform to really help dads.

18:40 The essence of it was wanting dads from all different backgrounds who were engaged with their kids, who weren't scared to change a nappy.

20:10 The importance of making dads feel welcome.

21:00 Patience and being public figure.

21:30 I don't know if I can really call my work work.

23:30 Chaos and contagious crying - how to film an episode of The Baby Club.

24:45 I know a song that’ll stick in your head….

26:20 What happens on a CBeebies night out, stays on a CBeebies night out.

28:00 Tips

• Men need to learn how to listen, not just talk.

• Feel good with a squirt of aftershave.

• Be present when your kids are there and you're spending time with them, put that phone away, drop it down.

30:44 There's not long left. We're at 13, we're two thirds of the way through, and then it's over, they're gone and they're not kids anymore.

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Learn more here

https://dadvengers.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Dadvengersofficial

https://www.instagram.com/dadvengersofficial/

https://twitter.com/Dadvengers_

https://nigelclarkepresenter.co.uk/

https://www.thelionsbarbercollective.com/

New Year, New Lockdown, New Podcast Season

New Year, New Lockdown, New Podcast Season

Photo Credit: Gabriel Tovar via Unsplash

How's it going?

New Year, New Lockdown... a joyous time.

Now I don't know whether it's because my son is nearly a year older than he was in home-school remote learning version 1.... but he's much more engaged with learning and embracing his Daddy's teaching "authority". This is a good thing, less shouting and arguing all round, generally a happy house.

It could have been something to do with my tip on this week's Lockdown Dad's podcast - get your children to help design the plan for the day / week, I think it does wonders for their sense of control in these difficult times.

or maybe I'm being more present, devoting both my mind and my focus to home schooling and then working in between?

Not everyone has this luxury but normally work can wait and multi tasking is doomed to fail anyway.

Whatever the cause it's a small win in a world of blank calendars and drizzle...

The podcast that won’t go away

Get a one minute seek preview here

Yes! the podcast is back. We joke that we'd love to kill it off, but bringing out great guests and hopefully adding insight and value to our audience's lives is still massively important, now as much as ever I reckon.

So it's season 3 and episode 28, this time James and I are joined by Louise Goss, founder and editor of The Homeworker Magazine.

One time self employed journalist based in Australia, we discover how interviewing and profiling home working entrepreneurs for a tech start up was the start of the idea that became The Homeworker magazine.

Louise draws upon her husband's experiences as we reflect on how attitudes towards home working have changed from both an individual and business perspective.

Plus...

Why her magazine is much more useful than googling the top 5 productivity tips

How The Homeworker blends key themes around business, productivity, mindset, well-being and your work environment.

and why James found another reason to hate fascists.

Episode 28 includes

02:30 James has the hump with fascists
03:30 Groundhog day - it's hard to hit the ground running in 2021
04:20 Ian misses flow
05:30 Less parental guilt this time
07:20 From Freelance journalist to celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the magazine
09:00 Louise back in UK with 2 children under 3
09:50 Blending business, productivity, mindset, well-being and your work environment.
10:15 I wish I could say I had this Eureka moment and this amazing foresight that we're all going to be doing it
12:10 Work and life are very integrated nowadays. And there's no real getting around that.
12:50 it's very easy to do a quick Google, you know, top five productivity tips working from home.
15:25 Branching out into a corporate subscription
16:30 There's working from home and then there's working from home during a global pandemic
17:30 Parenting and homeworking
22:00 Husband changing how he felt about home working
25:19 We actually turfed my daughter out of her room and made an office joining lockdown
26:30 Ergonomics advice - the best posture is the next posture

27:20 Tips

• Involving the children in the planning of home-school

• Leave the fairy lights up

• If you create an inviting and welcoming workspace you're going to do better work there

Photo Credit: Ray Hennessy via Unsplash @rayhennessy

How Can I Be A More “Present” Father?

Last week during my Free, 5 Day, How to Control your Work Life Balance challenge, the day 4 exercise was all about switching off.

We did an important breathing exercise and then we physically removed ourselves from our phones.

I included that exercise for 2 reasons.

1) It's something that I find useful to practice myself. Controlling and managing my state through breathing and putting my phone somewhere where I can't see it and therefore can get distracted.

2) Switching off is a commonly identified desire and challenge of men in our Working Dads Club Facebook group

Q. What do you hope to get from being a member of this group?

"Support and advice on being more present for my family."
"Support and advice to be a better dad and mange my work life so I’m 100% present."
"Strategies to help me enjoy my time with family more by switching off from work mode."

As luck would have it the UK #1 Dad Blogger John Adams has joined the Daddilife “Dads at Work” roster and has written about the metaphorical and literal benefits of switching off.

A couple of highlights for me:

"We need to be in control of our tech, the tech should not be in control of us."

"When you get home in the evening, put your phone away and don’t look at it again until the morning."

Video Inspiration

Everyday in the 5 day Challenge I went live in the challenge Facebook group. The Day 4 live involved me talking about some of the things I learnt as a national league hockey umpire and how to use this to be a more present father.

Elastic bands, focus and controlling your breathing.

Originally recorded as a lunchtime live in the 5 Day Free "How to Control Your Work Life Balance" Challenge Facebook group https://www.inspiringdads.co.uk/5-day-challenge 7 min video talking about focus, presence and controlling your state via breathing

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