Hello mate, How? Are you doing?
I'm alright. How are you?
Yeah, really good. Thanks.
Really good. Good, got a guest on today.
We have indeed. We have indeed.
Out of Parkinson. How you doing?
I'm very well. Thank you.
Thanks so much for having me on. Absolute pleasure, absolute
pleasure. We were just saying off air
you've you've had a busy start to the week.
Well, SAT's week have started. I posted on Friday.
My son for some reason just refused to put his uniform on on
Friday. So he went to school in his
pyjamas. My dad took him Friday, so I had
the task to try and get his uniform on him this morning.
But you know what, it's like that you can't force it.
You don't need to have like a real bad relationship with it.
So it kind of just bided my time this morning and what we've
started to do is show pictures of stuff to my son.
So like yesterday, for example, he doesn't like to put clothes
on a lot of the time, so we showed him a pic.
There's a new popeye's chicken restaurant opened right near us.
And I'll have to say I'm not looking for sponsorship, but
class. If you've not been Popeyes, it
is class. I've not been here.
I'm excited. Honestly, it's unreal and I
won't tell you how much I spent because I was a little bit hung
over yesterday as well, but it was a lot.
More than you normally would have, yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah.
I mean, it was too much. We had I had to doggy bag some
of it, which she's not like me. And I've shown him like the
chicken shop and then he got ready.
So this morning I was like showing him, you know, his
school and his friends, like on Dojo, like, oh, come on.
And then he finally just kind of was like, right, all right,
let's do it. So that was a success.
But yes, with SAT's week starting and the sun slowly
starting to appear, the paddling pulls out.
It's just all, it's all all go here.
Yeah. Yeah, I recognise that.
Mate, that's awesome. Sorry, this has nothing to do
with anything we're going to be talking about.
Is Popeye's chicken better than KFC then?
Yeah, And. And what?
Do you know, I, I feel, I feel tremendously guilty because KFC
has been there for me through a lot of my life.
The the relationship you have with the Colonel, it's a special
relationship. It absolutely is, and the herbs
and spices will. The herbs and spices will never
leave me. But I don't know whether, I
mean, I used to. It was like a running joke that
I used to have KFC an awful lot. Obviously you can see me on
camera. It won't come as such a shock,
but it's a no. I think Popeyes is, yeah.
It's the new kid on the street. It's it's fresh.
It's. There's one in Birmingham New
Street, when we've been going to London there's one in there,
isn't there? There is, yeah.
They're starting to pop up, aren't they?
They are no pun intended there, no.
No pun intended there. No pun.
Intended. So obviously there's kind of
there's two sides to this. There's obviously you as a dad,
but then obviously there's there's the podcast and all the
stuff you do with your brother as well.
So I think it'd be interesting to talk about both.
Should we talk about you as a dad first?
Tell us about your life, your kids.
Yeah, so you know, if, if no one, if people are listening and
they don't follow me, you know, I'm 37, I've got two children.
I've got a 10 year old daughter recently turned 10, my daughter
Isla. And then I've obviously got my 7
year old autistic lad Max. And it's just, it's, it's been a
bit of a crazy journey because obviously Max was born in 2019,
so he wasn't one when like we went into lockdown and stuff.
So it was all a bit, you know, we kind of started noticing
things. And I always like to do this
whenever I'm talking about my personal situation and my kind
of life as a parent is just a huge shout out to my wife
because, you know, I don't know if you find this, it's like you
constantly. I don't know whether I was
constantly expecting things to fall into place with my son.
And I was like, you know, when I first heard like, you know, he
could be autistic and, and I was like, no, no, because I didn't
speak when I was a youngster. I didn't speak for a long time.
And then I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was in primary
school. And I was just thinking like,
no, no, because up until like lockdown, he was hitting all
these milestones. It was all, you know, it was all
going well. My daughter was like, you know,
when she was growing up, she was hitting all of her kind of
targets dead early. And I was just thinking like,
oh, no, he'll get there. You know, he'll, he'll get
there. It'll, it'll, the penny will
drop. And, and my wife was the one who
was kind of the head of the game with it all.
And you know, she did all the kind of parental referrals and
the, the stuff that some people don't see if you don't have
neurodivergent children is, and it's the real kind of the slog
of it, isn't it? To really start the, the cogs
turning in. And my wife, I give nothing but
massive credit to my wife. And, and I think it took me a
long time to maybe just accept the situation that we were that
we were faced with. And obviously the ongoing kind
of UPS, downs and everything in between of being an autism dad,
it was, I think, you know, I've spoken about this before.
It's like you kind of you have the right to mourn the life you
thought you were going to have. Like, you know, when I found out
I was having a lad, as you can imagine, I was thinking because
my daughter just she's just singing, dancing, she just loves
it. She is like your typical girly
girl. And you know, as soon as I knew
I was having a lad, I was thinking, oh, you know, rugby,
football going to be going and what name is going to be doing
this? He's going to be doing that.
And then obviously as time's gone on, we've tried all
different stuff, you know, as, as as many parents do and it
just hasn't kind of worked out. It's not, it's not the kind of
situation that he enjoys. So I've kind of just, and it
was, it's funny with like social media, I've never really posted
about my kids at all. It was like the odd birthday
picture or something like that. And then again it was my wife.
So I mean, I'm giving my wife nothing but props.
She she recorded like 5 seconds of me on an aeroplane about 3
years ago where my son was having a bit of a meltdown on
the plane back from holiday. But he was overtired.
It was nearly flight and I picked him up in the aisle.
And I mean, my lad's quite a hefty lad.
He's a big boy and I was, and I was rocking him to sleep in the
aisle. And my wife, I didn't realise at
the time, she just got like a little 5 second clip of me
rocking him to sleep on this plane.
And then she said to me, she said, you know, you really
should try and post more. And you know, there's a lot of,
there's a big support network out there, but a lot of it is,
is the mums, the amazing mums that, that, that share tips and
tricks and share their sort of journeys and shed.
I think it'd be really good if you did it as you know, from the
dad's point of view. And I posted that video not
thinking anything of it. And then it was like overnight
millions of views and comments and, you know, and then and it
actually helped me. It actually helped me sort of
understand that I wasn't alone. You know, it's like yourselves
that the conversations you have on this podcast, you probably
don't realise how much it's helping other people.
And I feel like when, when you get those messages, you don't
quite understand the kind of impact you're having.
And I think that's been a massive help to me personally,
especially when I've had like, you know, because you have down
days, Don't you have days where you're literally like, what the,
what is my son going to be like in 10 years?
Is he going to ever have a girlfriend?
Is he going to get invited to parties?
Is he going to ever play for a football team?
I have those thoughts in my head constantly.
And I always think like, he turned 7 recently.
So in March, he turned 7. And obviously he didn't, he
didn't have a party as such because at his special setting,
you know, we don't really know any of his friends or his
classmates and stuff. So, you know, we kind of always
do his favourite things, whether that's swimming, whether that's
just like playing in the garden will get him his favourite food.
And then the people who is most, you know, that he recognises
most that he has the best relationship with IE my parents,
a couple of my really close friends.
And yeah, so it's, it's a crazy journey in it.
And I love the quote where it's like, it's a journey I never
expected, but I love my tour guide.
I think that's just kind of what sums up for me because he amazes
me constantly. And I think, you know, and, and,
and arm in arm with that is just what an amazing sister.
You know, my daughter is too, my son.
She recently won an award and inclusion awards night for like
the heart of gold award for being such an advocate for a
brother and stuff. So it's led to some amazing
things, some amazing sort of messages and hope really.
Yeah, sorry. Can I go on there?
Mate, no, no, no, you did. But we wanted, we wanted you to.
It's good. The thing that keeps coming up,
again, mum's props to mum's doing all of the graft,
especially early on. Like it's just such a common
thing and and dad's to kind of lag behind a little bit.
But the other thing you just said then about your daughter,
they just kind of take up the mantle of being this support
structure for their siblings with no training, nothing.
They just get it because they live with it, don't they?
And they just, they're so good at it.
And she got an award for it. She got, I know she got an award
for it. No awards for me or my old mum,
but but you know, being there and and watching that was, was
such an amazing moment. There was 2 girls, you know, our
autism every day. Yeah, me and my three, I think
she used to be called and she, it was her daughter as well.
So we kind of met up and we got on really well.
And it's always amazing when you speak to people who are in a
similar sort of situation in yourselves.
But I completely agree. I mean, you know, my daughter, I
always, I'm constantly worried about my daughter because being
the type of girl she is, I know she would love nothing more than
to have a 7 year old brother who could talk, who could play games
with her, who could follow her lead.
But he doesn't he, he marches to the beat of his own drum all the
time. So she has to kind of get on to
his level. And it's difficult because she's
only 10 and you know, there's an awful, you know, there's times
where, and I always remember she got this like Barbie Dream House
when she was like 5 or 6 and, and she said it all up lovely
and was ready to play. And then Max just came over and
just absolutely just destroyed it.
Like honestly, it was like witnessing me at Popeyes
yesterday. It was destroyed.
And, and it said those times where you can tell she's upset,
she don't want to show she's upset.
So like this. And we, one thing we do that's
important is we try and give her her own time and stuff.
You know, one of us will take her somewhere, whether it's a
music thing or a concert or even just a cinema, just to get
because it's crucial that she has a bit of a break because
it's, as you're well aware, it's, it's, it's such a full
time job. And especially when likely don't
sleep, like my son is not a great sleeper at all.
It's it's crucial that you kind of it's just routine, isn't it?
And it's different. It's just trying to manage the
different points of time where you know, you can never write.
I always say that you can just never relax.
You can never rest and think like, oh, we've got this nail.
Because it's like I was when I was getting my son ready for
school every day and I was taking him to school, which I've
been able to do the last few months just because work has has
kind of worked out that I can take them to school.
And I was thinking, this is easy.
And then the one day I wasn't there, he didn't put his pyjamas
on. And then it was like an absolute
battle with my dad because my dad was a bit like, it wasn't
sure. So, yeah, it's, it's, you know,
it's always props to the to the wife for her amazing sort of
early kind of spotting of what it could be and what, what what
needs my son might have. And then it's, it's been like,
you know, she's, I always say that she kind of laid out the
blueprint of, to how to navigate being a, a sudden parent.
And I've just kind of slowly but surely got there.
Yeah, yeah. No, I totally get that.
And, and again, you touched upon the, the grieving, the life that
you thought you were going to have.
I think we've, we've mentioned that quite a few times.
And that's a, that's a common theme that that kind of comes
up. But I mean, what's something
else about raising an autistic child that nobody truly
understands until they live it themselves?
I always find it when you know if you if, if you have like some
of my close friends that they're brilliant and they do like
school pick ups and stuff like that.
I've got two friends in particular who, you know, their
jobs are a little bit more free in terms of timing.
So they could, you know, if we're really struggling, like my
dad had a knee replacement recently.
My dad picks Max up like every day.
But if my dad, you know, my dad was out of action, I could just
text one of my mates and be like lads, any chance?
And I think what they noticed the most is just how non-stop it
is. I think that I think a lot of
people, you know, obviously I like to post, I always say this,
I like to post positivity. I like to give people, you know,
on my social media, if I ever post something where it's been a
difficult or tricky time, it'll be me talking because I always
think I would never want to post a video of my son, like having a
meltdown or a picture of him upset.
I don't think people need to see that.
But I do think people, you know, people who follow for the the
send parent kind of times, they love to see the progression, but
they'll also love the honesty of like me saying, well, actually,
it's been a really tough day. It's been a really tough week.
I mean, Christmas was really tough this year, probably that
the toughest Christmas we've had through lack of sleep and
through kind of the Christmas tree.
He'd never, my son had never really bothered with the
Christmas tree before, but he was pulling it over every night.
And it was just like, you know, the favourite baubles that we
had was smashing. And it was just like you just
thought like, what, what are we best doing here?
But then it's one of those things that you just, I always
think now it's like things could be worse.
It could, you know, he could have stood on one of the broken
baubles, but he's not like, let's tidy up, let's crack on.
And I think, you know what, what people don't understand and say
is how the small little wins, which I always talk about like
how every send parent should celebrate every little victory,
whether it's, you know, even like my son put in his uniform
on this morning was I was so buzzing.
I was just like, yes, like, thank God he's done that.
And I don't think people understand people might see that
and be like, what? They got the kid dressed like,
how's that a big thing? And I'm, and I think that's
probably the biggest difference. And that's, that might be just
the case of people, you know, with neurotypical children, just
that's the expectation. That's just the norm.
And I think with, with Olson and you know, with this community,
it's there is no norm. Like every day.
Every day is completely wild. It's like you said then about
where your mates have kind of realised that this, this life is
non-stop. It's almost sometimes it takes
someone from outside your circle to go, Oh yeah, mate, this is
non-stop because that is just your life.
You're so used to that being the norm.
Like you were just saying then like sometimes I'll say to my
mates, they'll be like, can can you do this?
There's no, because I've got to do this and because of this,
I've got to do this, this and this with them.
And, and all of a sudden they're like, sorry, what?
And you're like, Oh yeah, I've got to do this kind of list of
things and they're like, that's mental.
And then I'm like, yeah, it is. Oh, yeah, it is.
It is quite mental, isn't it? Like, yeah, but it just becomes
our norm. And, and The thing is, like you
just said then like, you know, you're trying to be positive and
you're trying to put a positive spin.
Even when bad things happen, sometimes all you need to do is
have a conversation with another parent of an autistic child to
go, alright, yeah, my day wasn't actually that bad because it's
all, it's all relative. But still, you know.
And I think that's the that's one of the real positives.
Like social media is, you know, it's one of the other, isn't it?
It can be. It can be both.
Yeah. And then you can have, I mean,
I've had some, I've had some crazy comments on my social
media, which I think years ago would have really upset me.
And I've not, you know, I'm not known from our patients.
I'm not saying I've got a short fuse, but, you know, someone
pushed in front of me at Popeyes yesterday.
They were nearly wearing the Louisiana gravy.
And you're hungover. Yeah, exactly.
But it's like when you, you know, if you post something or a
clip or whatever it may be, and then you get people commenting
on it and like you said, sharing their day.
And like I might say, like, you know, if round Christmas really,
I posted about, you know, my son stayed up till 3, three in the
morning and then was up at 6. And, you know, basically myself
and my wife were taking it in shifts to try and catch up on a
little bit of sleep. And then someone will comment
going like, yeah, my son's been awake for 23 hours straight.
And I'm just like, right, OK, you know, take it, take it with
a like, that's OK. Like I'll I'll take the three
hours Kip. Yeah, it doesn't take, it
doesn't take away from your experience, but it's still you
kind of go, yeah, OK. But autism Top Trump's is
amazing though. Isn't it?
Oh, top Trump's on on top. Trump's and autism is.
Amazing autism top chomps on Instagram.
It's awesome. It's one of those things that
when someone says they've been to Tenerife and you've been to
11 a reef, it's like. Yeah.
Do you know what though? It's kind of helped me in like,
like some of Thomas's behaviours that I used to really, really
struggle with the kind of the more, the more violent stuff
used to really bother me. And I think the day before
yesterday we had one. It came out of nowhere and I
handled it so much better because of because of this
community we've built and all the stories and things that
people share. As I'm going around and I'm
thinking, I'm thinking a few years ago this would have broke
me. But because of all the stories
and all the families that are going through far worse, I found
myself actually responding better for his sake as well.
So instead of what I would normally do, I'm getting down on
my knees and I'm getting eye contact with him and I'm slowly
going through it and I'm thinking, OK, I wish I'd done
this three or four years ago because it it, it kind of when
you, when you start seeing it that way, you actually do
respond to situations better. Absolutely.
Yeah. It's, it's just like every day
is a learning day, isn't it? And you can, you can do
something 10 times, it can work 9.
But then suddenly out of nowhere, you don't see it
coming. And then, you know, I think I've
got to the point now where I I just buzz off my son like just
the way he is, the way, the way he's like says the odd little
word. And like yesterday, I keep
thinking and bringing up Popeyes too much.
And the people are going to be thinking I'm after that
sponsorship and they. Could be right even if even if
you're not after it, if you get 1.
But we're in, we're in Popeyes yesterday.
And, and you'll know this, it's like when when your when your
child builds something or says something that they've never
done before, the feeling you get is just like the most amount of
joy like you can feel. As a parent and it was like we
sat there and he was clearly starving and we'd, we'd, we'd,
I'd got him, I'd got him loads of tenders and then he, he was
dipping one of his tenders in the ketchup, right?
And he put it in his mouth and he chewed it and he swallowed
it. And I was like verdict.
And he went great outstanding like that.
I'd put him up right. I'd never in my life heard him
say that. And I was like, I was just, even
though I was struggling a little bit with a hangover, I was,
that's the greatest thing ever, like, and people must just be
like, why is this guy losing his mind?
But it is, again, it's, it's, it's these little things, isn't
it, that that matter to us. And, and exactly as I said, you
know, if my, I had a kid, you have a kid that gets straight
A's in, in, in, in, in school, gets all of the GCS, ES.
And then my kid does something that anyone else would be like,
well, he just put his nappy in the bin.
That was amazing. I didn't even teach him to do
that. He's just going to put his nappy
in the bin. I mean, not only have I got a 7
year old in a nappy, which you know, that comes up, but he's
putting his nappy in the bin and they're like, why are you so
excited? I'm like, you just don't get it
and you never will. Tiny victories.
Yeah. Tiny victories.
Yeah. I mean, going back to Dad's
then, do you, do you think Dad and the send world are kind of
overlooked emotionally or? I think it's difficult.
I wouldn't, I don't think I'd be qualified to comment.
I'd like to think that things are getting better, think people
are opening up more, you know, channels like yourself, you
know, my socials posting, you've got, you know, these sort of
Trail Blazers like your James Hunt's and and people like that.
And I think a lot of people are, you know, maybe, maybe there was
like a, an embarrassed feeling from certain lads and dads who,
who didn't think it was. But then you've got like, you
know, I think is it Paul Mullen at Rexit or former Rexon player
Tom Aspen or the UFC fighter? So, and they're sharing openly
about Paul. Scholes.
Yeah. Pardon.
Paul Scholes. Oh yes, Paul Scholes.
Exactly like Paul Scholes, I hadn't realised he had an
autistic son. I did actually see him in an
airport with his son and obviously could see the son had
needs, but I didn't know anything about him.
And, and obviously, you know, he's opened up a lot more and I
think that's probably helping him.
And, and when you see someone who, you know, was, I mean, I'm
a big United fan. So Paul Scholes was, you know,
an absolute idol and to see him be so roaring to share and be so
honest, I think it's opening, opening the door for a lot more
blokes. And I think it's really
important. And, you know, and that's not
taken away from any of the amazing mums and the, the work
and the advocacy that they're doing.
I just think it's important that we obviously have both sides.
And that's obviously what I, I try and do and yourselves try
and do to give, to give like men a platform because we know that
men's mental health. I'm open and honest to say that
I really did have some down days and still do have a lot of down
days. And a lot of that can be due to
tiredness. It can be due to the stress of
just not knowing. It's more the unknown, isn't it?
Because you just don't know. I mean, our daughter was just a
dream. Like was, was the EI Don't know,
I'd say it, but it was the easiest thing to, to raise her
for the first 3-4 years. Then obviously my lad comes
along. It's just like, you know, just
like it's like a scene out of Twister.
I was like, I was flying fast at one point.
I was like, what's going on here?
You thought this was going to be easy, did you?
I know, here we go, hold my beer.
Hold my beer, I'm on my way. But it's right though, isn't it?
It's, it's overwhelming. There's no escape.
There's no kind of a way of kind of avoiding.
It takes over your entire life. Every ounce of your DNA is kind
of sunk into it as well. And I think from a bloke's point
of view, like you said before, is having those people that you
can relate to, whether it's in sport, music or whoever the case
is. Whereas, you know, men being
men, sometimes we don't want to have clinicians talking at us
going too deep. We just want to have a bloke
that we recognise who says it as it is and we go, oh, you've just
said, well I need to hear in like 15 seconds rather than 15
minutes, right, OK, no problem at all.
I can start to relate and have that conversation.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's almost given permission, doesn't it?
It's like, it's not that men, it's not that people didn't want
to listen to men. It's that no one knew men wanted
to talk in the 1st place. So it, it's just that we've all
been sitting here being quiet and then slowly bit shortly like
like James, I think it was James Hunt must have been that first
video that I ever saw with his, with his lad.
I think Jude was in the pool, wasn't he in his, in his dad,
who suddenly passed away now came over and that little
connection they had that was like the impetus for a lot of
people to go. Oh, I, I do want to share my
story actually. So like, I think James for me
and a lot of people was that and it's just kind of spread out now
and and like the, you know, we're doing it.
You're doing it, Jamie Jewett's doing it.
And then obviously with all the other people you've just
mentioned them are Paul's gold. So yeah, it was almost
permission. It was like it was almost, we
were just waiting for permission to be able to share it.
And I'm so glad that people are getting more and more confident,
too, isn't it? Because again, it's just helping
more and more people. Yeah, and I think that the, you
know, the whole kind of community online, like we talked
about before, I mean social media can be a little bit of a
of a the Wild West. You know, it can be so positive,
so amazing. It can also have and I think if
you've just got that because what I love, well, I say I love.
I don't love it because it's always like a vile comment.
But when when someone makes that initial like horrible comment,
the people who jump on them, you don't have to do anything.
I just sit back now and just enjoy the fact of life, right?
Well, they've just made a mistake because now there's like
20 people absolutely jumping on them.
I mean, I think. It's like it's like the Wizard
of Oz, isn't it? You just that scene which goes
flying my pretties and they just go and they just that's it.
We'll comment here now. Yeah, I think the, the worst one
that I had, I'd say it always sticks out in my head, was when
my son got his official diagnosis, my wife wanted to not
like throw a party, but she wanted to do something nice on
that day to make it a really special memory for Max and for
my daughter. So we got like, you know, nice
food and we got him like a little gift.
And it was just like a, and a celebration of basically all my
wife's hard work to get to that position.
And someone commented on it saying, like, why are you
celebrating this? It's like celebrating your kid
having cancer. And I remember seeing it and
being like, how can someone be so heartless and so uneducated
and basically horrendous? And then they got so much like
abuse back that they ended up just deleting the comment.
And I was just like, I just don't need to worry about stuff
like that. I mean, I know I spoke to James
Hunt about this when he was on our podcast and he he was
basically saying that he doesn't, he tries to delete him
like because he doesn't want anyone else to see those
comments. And I understand that.
But then I also think that, you know, trolls will get found out,
like trolls will just they're not smart enough to say anything
clever. Whatever they're trying to say
is just hurtful, false and basically just vile.
And it used to bother me well, more than it than it does now.
I mean, I'll, I'll see a couple of comments here that even if
it's just on like a, a personal clip of me.
Do you know, I had the other day, right?
I shared this on the podcast. I posted a picture of myself in
the garden, right? So my wife had took the kids to
to see her family in Birmingham and I'd stayed home sorting a
few things out and I've gone out for a few drinks with one of my
friends and I posted a picture of some was some was beautiful.
And I posted a picture with a bottle of beer.
And I just put like happy Saturday, right?
Just just just an honest. Pretty innocuous, yeah, Yeah.
Yeah, who's it? Who's it annoying and someone
currently going you're like a chubby Tommy Robinson, right?
That that that was what there. That was what the comment was
and I was like, I don't like the fact that you 2 are both loving.
No, no. But I'd say that that'd be that
just sounds like the kind of things one of your mates would
say, right? Dick head.
Look, a chubby Tommy Robinson. Was he actually trying to be
offensive? Honestly, the first person I
knew, I shared it with my brother.
I said my brother's going to love this.
And he's and he he just it, it normally sends a thumb up emoji.
I think he sent three of them. That's how much he approved to
comment. But you know, stuff, stuff like
that's not too bad. And I remember there was a.
Bang goes to Popeyes in endorsement.
Yeah, that's it. Yeah.
Probably put me off getting more.
But I we, there was a there was one like I used to get like, you
know, I still got a lot of weight.
Shouts and there was a clip of me and my brother on Now my
brother's lost loads of weight. He's kind of put me to shame.
My brother's in great nick now. But me and my brother were on
We're in London with Michael Ball on Radio 2 I think it was.
And it was when we were promoting something and we did
this. There was this clip and it was
going quite well on the socials. And then someone commented going
this is so unfunny. That's what happens when you put
3 fat bastards in a room together.
What? Listen, say what you want about
me and my brother, but leave Michael Ball.
Alone, he's a legend. Yeah.
I mean, I've got better with comments.
I think I used to get in there and try and be all high and
mighty and, like, win, do you know what I mean?
Like I want to win this but then if like you've just said then
you find that the more people jump in, what I do feel is that
whatever interaction they have on ours, I want them to have a
-1. Not because people are going to
slag them off or give them shit, but just make them wish they'd
never made that comment in the 1st place so that they don't
then go on and do the same on someone else's.
Because usually these people get to go around say all this shit
because let's be honest, they are probably having a hard time
in their own life like bullies do at school.
And they just go around dropping this shit left, right and centre
because it makes them feel better, because their life is
probably quite shit. I just want them to not do that.
So, but it's hard. It's really hard keeping your
mouth shut, especially when they're really stupid.
You're not. I could, I could win this so
easy. But you're all right.
Just stay away. Just.
Stay off your phone. Just have to cool yourself down.
Take a breather, yeah? I'm still very much let's find
out where they live and stick in the back of a car and we'll go
for a drive so. We've got we've got this, we've
got this little WhatsApp group with any of the lads that have
been on the podcast. And sometimes if we'll just like
screenshot something and sometimes it's meant to be
offensive, but it's still quite funny.
Like you'd be like, ah, clear play.
That's that's quite good. So you screenshot, drop it in
and the lads are like, right, where's this comment?
Where is it? Let's get it.
Go on, let's go. And if you tell them it's not 20
lads and we're flooded into it. It's all dads of autistic.
Kids, all dads of autistic children going.
I love it. It's not it's not a group of
dads you'd what I'll be messing with either.
It's lack of clean, lack of page act ready to go.
Yeah, like this lot, there's like such a mix of issues that
they have to deal with. It's like it's, it's not all
sleep, it's no, it's not all aggression.
It's just a mad mix of all sorts of mental shit.
So basically what would happen like with your comment there
about being a fat Tommy Robinson is they go, that's really awful,
That's really awful. We'll find out who the person is
and you know, whatever it is and we'll we'll give it back to
them. And then the next comment they
take that, they go on like ChatGPT and create an image of
you looking like Tommy Robinson or something like that and then
start joining in taking the piss out of you as well.
So it's a two way thing. It's like, how dare they say
that to you? But it's quite funny.
And we're going to join in. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. As long as it's, as long as
it's. I mean that one, I mean, you
know, if there's one person that I don't ever want to be compared
to is him, but also, you know, and then there's a little weight
job in there as well. I can deal with that, that
that's like, you know what, that's funny.
It made my brother laugh, whatever.
And it was also Adm so no one in public eye saw it, but I was
happy to share. But yeah, I used to.
I turn those comments like if ever I see one that's really
that, I just think it's really poor.
Like I'll I'll make a separate video and I'll blank the name
out so they won't. Get dogs or whatever it's
called. Yeah, exactly.
I don't want people like I don't want them to get the attention,
but I also want to highlight the lack of education with some of
these comments and these people. But I do find a lot of them are
from America. It's always on Facebook.
My old comments are always on Facebook.
Yeah, Facebook's a cesspit. Have you have you have the if
you disciplined your child more, that wouldn't be like this or
it's down to bad parenting. It's the we have like a bingo
card of just phrases. Yeah, that teacher, that teacher
said once. Oh yeah, one of them was from a
a teacher as well in the UK who apparently looks after send
children on a newspaper article where over the summer when they
were like digging out autism families because obviously
there's no money for potholes anymore because autistic
children eat all the money they they've joined in and would like
yeah, it's bad parenting. I can tell you right now it's
bad parenting and lack of discipline.
And I was like, Oh my God, it's a teacher.
I mean, honestly, that that that gives that'll give teachers a
bad Rep and. I'm I'm telling it.
Like I'm cheering teachers in TAS all the time.
But yeah, it's, it's, I mean, some of the some of the, I
remember getting, I got Adm once and it was like you're it was
definitely from America because they use the word, what do they
use instead of nappies? What do they call them?
Diapers. Diapers.
That was it. Yeah.
So it was like, your son is far too old for diapers.
Keep being a shit dad. You see next Tuesday.
And I was just like, whoa, I remember, you know, I was at a
pub watching football and I was like, whoa.
And then I was like 5 pints deep and I was thinking, should I go
back here and just absolutely destroy him?
But then I thought, oh, no, just delete and block.
Like I'll just, I'll get rid of that one.
But yes, it it's when they when they do Adm.
So it's not even like they were doing it for everyone else's
sake. It's like, no, I just want you
to see this. I know what I'll do today.
Just for you, I'll send Adm. To somebody, that's what I'll
do. Like what?
What I know it's. Just like surely you've got
better things to do. But that's it, isn't it?
They haven't. They haven't because it's so
sad. You must be the same as me like
on social media, right? If I you know, there's, there's
quite a few people I follow and, and I, I don't really like the
content. I even follow them for just
because I know them or whatever and I don't like the content.
I just will scroll past. Like if it's, say, if it's like
a comedian and they post a clip and I don't find it funny, I'll
just scroll past. Yeah, you don't feel the need to
go you. Fell off.
You look like a fat. There's like, there's like AI
know it gets thrown around a lot, but there's like a, there's
a level of like narcissism to this where like, right, I guess
everybody wants to know what I think about this.
So I better get in there and and let everyone know because
they're all going to care. Like no one gives a shit, mate.
Why do you think? And I think they go, I mean,
we've done it before when we've seen some comments that get
dropped and then you can kind of follow on and see all the other
stuff they've commented. They're like all they're doing.
All day long. All, all they're doing is like
commenting on shit all day and you're like, yeah, what's going
on, lad? You.
Are you all right? I I have got to the point now
where I do, I do find it. I don't find the comments funny,
but I just find it funny that because I always just think
like, God, how much of A loser do you have to be to just take
your sort of negativity and just I post it.
I like right. I just don't get.
It share it with the world. I talk about football fans like
that, Like I'm a huge, huge football fan.
Like massive, you know, born and bred Man United fan.
I love the England national team.
You know, I watch all the games, friendlies and everything and I
but I just don't care about other people and what they
support, who they support. Like, do you know what I mean?
Like, for example, if I'm watching, even watching
Liverpool play, Liverpool, one of our biggest rivals, do I want
Liverpool to lose? Yeah.
But if Liverpool win, am I going to, like, be annoyed at
Liverpool fans for celebrating a win?
Like, I don't, I just don't. I always think people who fight
over football teams are the biggest gimps on this planet.
I'll do you know what I mean? Like when?
They I couldn't agree more. The gangs and like the hooligans
and grow up like go and support your team.
I love the banter, like as long as it's in good spirit.
Yeah, across, across the stadium, like exactly.
That's, you know, chance. Funny stuff.
As long as it's, you know, as long as it's OK and it's not
really sort of. Crossing the line, yeah.
Yeah, exactly. I don't mind that.
Like like a simple way and not make sense.
If I'm like, yeah, I'm all for that.
And then when the game's over, see you later, see you next
week. Like I just.
Yeah, the hooligan shit really always confused me because I'd
be like if, if, Because it's like war, isn't it?
Like that's what they're treating it like?
They're treating it like you're at war.
You're like join the fucking army like.
Yeah, you've got actually. Count people if you want.
Aren't you a? Gretchen to good use.
Yeah, you can actually shoot people and it's basically legal.
I mean, go do that. If you don't wear a Millwall
shirt under your army clothes, that's fine.
Yeah, it's mental, right? So tell us a bit about obviously
like the social, we've just been talking about social media.
Obviously the stuff that you and your brother do is really cool.
Can you, can you talk? So how did that all start?
Yeah. So yeah, it's been going for
like 8 years now. So my brother, otherwise known
as ICT, Mr P, my brother Lee. So he's the oldest and then
we've got the middle brother, Ryan.
And then I'm the youngest. I always say I'm the youngest
and hungiest. I always like to get that in
there. But then it helps me build.
It helps me build morale. After Tommy Robinson.
So using that from now, I'm the youngest, I'm the youngest, I've
got a brother. I'm saying I'm the youngest.
And the hungry, Yeah. That's I did write it once on
like my mum's birthday card and it didn't go down well.
So just be careful with the use. Yeah, just yeah.
I'll I'll, I'll make sure I don't sign my mum's birthday
cards or Mother's Day cards as the youngest and hungry.
Yeah, so my brother was a full time teacher that kind of
inspired me to start working in schools.
I was kind of, you know what, roughly about 2122.
I was in between jobs. I wasn't sure what I wanted to
do. And then I kind of my brother
brought me in to his school and I did some refereeing and things
like that. And I really enjoyed working
with the children. So then I kind of built my own
way there to get into a school. Then my brother has kind of like
built this social media platform and he goes across the world
really trying to help teachers and school staff with training
with technology. He's got his own sort of Teach
Me AI, which help really helps teachers reduce workload, which
is massively important, obviously in schools.
And then we're on a family holiday. 2018, my dad's
retirement, he, my dad had worked at the same place since
he was like 15. So with his like retirement
payout, he took the family to Florida, which is just testament
to the man. I mean, he is, he is seriously
the, the, the goat. And we were there just kind of
chilling by the pool and we were sharing stories.
And then my brother was like, oh, we should start a podcast.
And I swear to God, I had no idea what a podcast was.
I always say this, I had no idea.
And then he was like, it's basically just radio.
Like you just record and I'm like, all right, yeah, cool.
Didn't really think anything of it.
We were sat in Buffalo Wild Wings in America.
Now, if you've if you've been to America, have you been to
America? I I used to live in Chicago when
I was a. Kid oh, did you?
Have you Have you been to Buffalo Wild Wings?
I don't think so. I don't think I have.
I mean, listen it. It would even put Popeyes to
shame. Holy shit, Yeah, yeah, it's big
you're listening to. America, OH.
God, I'd be happy with a great. Wild Wings.
I'd be happy with a cottage chicken deal.
OK. Yeah, so we sat there and then
my brother said what about two peas in a pod?
And I said, oh, what about two Mr Peas in a podcast, which is
like the greatest thing I've ever said because I actually
felt like I was involved in the origins then.
And then, yeah, we started recording and it was like every
couple of weeks it was a little bit sort of like, oh, can you do
it tonight? And I was, I used to be like,
oh, no, I can't do it tonight because I just didn't really see
it as anything. I was just a bit like, you know,
I don't really know what it is. But then once it started going,
it was just like, and then lockdown just took it into like
a different, yeah. It just went mad with all the
teachers and school staff who were at home who weren't able to
be involved in that school banter.
And then, yeah. And then it was like, you know,
it's been followed by tours and books.
And it is, it's been one of the greatest things personally I've
ever achieved. And obviously doing it alongside
my Big Brother, we've had, you know, our Nana, God bless her.
She passed away two years ago. And but she had her own feature
on the podcast. She was like a, you know, she
was adopted as like our listeners, Amanda.
I saw you give her a shout out when you did one of the one of
the stage shows that she was just.
Sat in the middle such AI or whenever that video pops up, it
always gives me that little bit of emotion and well, nice and
I'm always just like what a moment and and actually we're
going back. We're doing the, we're doing The
Lowry in two weeks and it's our biggest ever show.
So we did. We've done the small room at The
Lowry in Salford. I think the small room is about
350. We've done that a couple of
times, but this, this other room is like 1700.
Amazing. So the nerves are a jangling and
and you know the Tommy Robinson coming, I'm doing sit ups and
press UPS like you wouldn't believe.
And yeah, so I mean, when you talk about like the community
and stuff that that's what that all is because, you know,
working in a school is hard work.
And you do get you do get a lot of people outside of education
who criticise and who who don't quite understand, you know, the
classic comments of, oh, you get so much time off and oh, how
hard can it be when you only work from 9:00 to 3:00?
I mean, I'm married to a teacher as well.
It couldn't be further from the truth.
And so I think we give like school staff, hopefully give
school staff, you know, because I'm a teaching assistant, my
brother's a teacher, we kind of cover that.
We kind of give them a little bit of hope and that they're not
alone and that everyone goes through these crazy times.
And, and when it comes down to it, we always say we're the
educational podcasts that you don't learn anything because it
is just funny stories that people send in, obviously
personal stories. But because we've been doing it
for eight years now, you know, we've kind of spoke about every
single thing we do unless someone kind of crops up in the
week. It's been, it has been amazing.
And I still love it to this day. And it's led to things like
this, you know, building my social media numbers, you know,
getting invited on this slide by yourselves, which, which I
absolutely love and just kind of meeting other people.
And we've had, you know, guests on ours and it's just it's,
it's, I mean, it's, it's still baffles me that it's a thing.
Like I went to a con. I do sometimes get recognised
which I find I mean I. It's, it's a bizarre feeling.
It's fucking me. It's the first time somebody
said to us, we went to a rally in London last year.
We'd only been doing it about four months.
Yeah. And we were invited to this
rally in Westminster. I said jokingly to you, wouldn't
it be funny if someone recognised us and wanted a
photo? We spent the entire afternoon
people, do you mind if we come and say hello and have a photo?
It was surreal. It was weird.
Somebody came over and I can't remember the exact scenario.
Someone came over and they had their their phone in their hand
for a photo and they held it out and they said about taking a
photo. And I was like, Oh yeah, sure.
So I took their phone off them to take a photo and she went,
but no, I I want the photo with you.
And I was like, in my head, I'm like, why?
But I was like, oh, I thought, I thought she was like, here's my
phone, can you take a photo for me?
I was like, absolutely, of course.
Can it what? Are you taking a photo of?
But so yeah, it's bizarre in it. It's just weird because again,
we're just normal. We're just dads like.
We're just exactly, Yeah. And I, I, I mean, I do buzz off
it. It's happened more over the past
year than ever before. I mean, I remember the first
time it ever happened. It was just after lockdown.
I took my lads swimming and it was in like a family changing
room and I got recognised when I was in my swimming shorts.
Of all the places to get recognised it was a horrible
feeling. I've never held my breath in
like honestly I was like I was turning blue.
But it was fun. I was in Liverpool.
I went to Liverpool last week. Me and my close friend went to
watch Paul Simon in Liverpool and we're walking through
Liverpool and then this woman was just like I missed a pee and
like ran over and like hugged me and wanted a picture and stuff.
And I'm just like this is, this is wild.
And I think the the craziest one was we're on holiday about 2-3
years ago and a woman came over whilst I was sat with like my
dad, my mum, my wife and obviously Max was in his
pushchair asleep I think. And this woman came over holding
two of our books and was like, I've brought these for holiday
reads, like, could you sign them?
And I was like, oh, my goodness me, I didn't have a pen licence
at school. How is this happening?
So I mean, I, I do, I, I'll never like, I, I don't, I mean,
I'm guessing like, you know, you get to it.
I will never reach the heights of certain people.
But you know, when you see people who just reject, like,
oh, no, I can't. I don't want a picture.
I see it all the time. I'm just thinking like God, I, I
love it. I'd do it all day and it.
And it's not, it's not an ego thing so much, is it?
It's because it because you know you've given value to to
somebody in some way. It's not like it's not like I
think. It's a lovely thing, it's.
Just nice, yeah. I I, I always get so fuming when
I I get a message. I've had a few in the past where
someone will be like, oh, I saw you in ALDI.
Didn't I'll come over and I'm always like, come over, I'm in
ALDI. How big?
How big of a big shot do you think I am?
Yeah, yeah, I was. I was begging for money outside
Waitrose and I saw you walk out like that'd be.
We're in Audi. We all know.
We all we all know. The nibbly nobles just come and
talk to me. I'm the common man.
It was, yeah, we had it with I think I was outside.
No, it wasn't. I was sitting in a Starbucks and
somebody just came over and just I was, I was working, you know,
because you still have 9 to fives.
I was out there on the laptop and just comes over and goes gas
and I went, yeah. And he went it's nice to meet
you. I was like, nice to meet you
too. Like didn't tell me why.
And then he went, I recognise you from the podcast.
I was like, mate, I'm so sorry. I said, can you appreciate that
was a bit of a weird interaction for me because you just said
Gaz. I thought it was someone that I
knew and I didn't recognise his face or something.
But nice to meet you. I was like, nice to meet you
too. I was like, this is fucking
bizarre. Yeah, you've had to do that
thing where you don't know the persons name and you're like hi
mate, are you doing pal? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's great to see you again.
It's great to see you too. When was the last time we
bumped? Into each other, Yeah.
When was it again? Yeah.
Oh, it's good. So what what's the plan for for
the, I mean, is there a plan or you're just kind of riding out
and seeing where it goes? Yeah.
So with the the episodes happen weekly.
Obviously we don't do them in the school holidays because
obviously that's a bit of downtime for us because like you
said, we both still work and we're on, we're on our third
tour at the minute and it's just been extended.
So we've got we've obviously got this show at The Lowry in two
weeks, but then we're we're on tour the full October half term
this year and then the full February of 2027.
And then I mean the shows, like I said, I'd love, you know, I
really want to try and get you both to a show.
The shows are just such a buzz because obviously you can share
things that you can't necessarily share on the
podcast. It's a little bit more after
dark. You know, we have stories from
audience members that are there. Some people own up to them, some
people don't. You can imagine what the like
when they don't. But we really, you know, the
first half is like traditional stand up, like we, we both just
take bits to do little different things.
And then the second-half is just we just rally off stories.
Like some of them, you know, we'll get sent like, say we'll
get sent 20 stories a week and there might be one that's just
like, Oh my goodness. And.
That'll go back to the. Live show box whilst the others
will be like, you know, or we'll share those in the episode
because they're a little bit more PG but no, I'm really I
mean the nerves leading up to a show are crazy because you know,
like most comedians will do like work in progress shows and.
Small intimate settings, I think some of those, yeah.
Exactly. They're kind of testing their
work, aren't they? We did what was our first show
of this tour? Oh, it was, it was Manchester.
We did the Aviva Studios in Manchester.
And I and I remember just like just before we're going because
we'd not said any of the stuff to anyone.
So it was like, are people going to laugh?
Are people going to like it? Like, but then I always convince
myself by saying like people who have bought tickets to come know
us, like they know what we're offering.
They're not, they're not like randomers who are just like, oh,
what these guys going to do? It's yeah, yeah.
Loyal, like listeners and followers of me or my brother or
both. And then no, I mean, I
absolutely love it. It's it's tiring.
And obviously it's, you know, I'm away when we're doing shows.
Like we had a week in the week in October.
We were basically away the whole week, which is an awful lot for
my wife, you know, to have both kids on our own for that long.
But you know, I come home and try and be as present as I can,
even though I'll be so tired. And it's not like when you're on
the road, it's everyone thinks, oh, that must be amazing.
Like I don't sleep well when I'm not at home.
Like, I don't know whether it's like a little bit of guilt,
whether it's just a little bit of worry because I'm, I'm
already placing myself in the doghouse with my wife without
even being put there. So I'm always just like, I can't
really, you know, ring my wife in the morning and be like, oh,
I had, I had a glorious 8 hours last night.
I feel like I have to have a bad sleep to say Oh no.
To be fair, I didn't have a great one either.
I personally stayed until 3:00 in the morning.
Yeah, I made it shit night. Well, yeah, no, it's going
really, really well. And then yeah, as long as people
are still kind of interacting with it and enjoying the
episodes we're putting out. And obviously I've the shows
can, the shows can go on. I mean, when we finish this
tour, it would have lasted. So it would have lasted up from
October 25 to February 27. And obviously we have to do it
in the school holidays to fit in with our work.
So, you know, Fast forward another year.
You know, I'd love to think that we'd that people have enjoyed
coming to the show so much that if we were to to announce a
brand new show, people would come back.
I might be wrong. I would think that.
Was it quite, I imagine it was quite bizarre, the idea of doing
a show in the 1st place, Was that like, like, do you know
what I mean? Did it feel like, like if
somebody said to me, me and Andy like, do a show, I'd be like
about what? Like I wouldn't know what it, I
wouldn't know how to do it. Yeah, I mean, do you know, it's
funny. I mean, again, I'll give my
brother huge props for this. He just like had a plan.
He was like, let's do the podcast and then we can start
doing shows and brilliant. Obviously, if the podcast like
took off now we had our first show pre lockdown.
So the podcast was at a decent level.
You know, it was getting a good amount of listens.
But then Lee we booked a venue and just sorted it all
ourselves, sold tickets, ran our own bar.
We had like our wives working behind the bar and I remember
going out and I think we I think it was to about 150 people and.
How's your first show? That was our first ever show
yet. That's brilliant.
I might be. I'm sure it was about 100 and
150, maybe 130. That's brilliant.
I remember being like, I was in the green room and I just
remember being like, Oh my. Because my brother was always a
performer. He did drama.
So he'd done shows, pantomimes, all that kind of stuff.
And obviously he'd have a little bit of sort of the experience of
doing interviews and, you know, this morning and that kind of
stuff. And I was like, this is so
weird. I couldn't, I couldn't quite
believe that. Like I was walking out.
And then once that first joke lands, and I think what's funny
is because me and my brother have a funny relationship in
terms of he's very kind of straight laced.
He is very sensible, put it that way.
And whereas I'm a little bit more of a renegade, I'm a little
bit more what, what you going to say?
So he was, he always says he was so nervous because he wasn't
sure whether I was going to get him cancelled or not.
The dynamics between you works really well, doesn't it?
Yeah, I mean, he, he's brilliant, my brother.
And he's he's he's a proper, you know, role model to me and so
many others. And he, I think even though he
always talks about how much I do, he's heading, I think he
knows that we need each other for the podcast to work.
Like you couldn't have had, you couldn't have two of him.
You definitely couldn't have had two of me because I wouldn't
know how to plug a microphone in.
So it would be a big issue. But then, yeah, so we did that.
We did the first show and it went really well.
And then we ended up booking like four or five.
And then lockdown came in after I think we've done three shows
and then lockdown came in. And then that was where we got
contacted by like an agent and then Phil McIntyre, who's like
one of the biggest tour promoters, saw the kind of
traction we were getting during lockdown at the podcast and
decided to spread the the tour like we did.
The first tour was somewhat like 57 dates, but it was all just
like weekends. So it was like every weekend we
were doing shows and then half term we're doing like full weeks
and Easter 2 weeks. And then we finished that first
tour and then it was like straight away they were like,
oh, do you want to do another one?
So we were like, Oh yeah, we'll give it a year.
Because obviously you don't, you don't want to over kind of do
it. Yeah, you want, yeah, you want
to keep people wanting more and coming back, but you need to
give it a little bit of time. I remember the biggest regret I
have. We did, we did a two week, so
half term in like 20/22/23 fell. So half the country were off in
one week of October and the other half of the country were
off in like the other week in October and it just depended
where you were. So we did two weeks in the
October half term and then just didn't do the show again.
And it was such a good show and we only performed it 15 times.
And we were thinking, oh, why have we not just extended it?
So that's why obviously this one has been doing really well.
I mean some of the venues we've been doing it's like pinch me
stuff. We sold the Hackney Empire in
London out. It was just and we went, it was
so funny. You know, we did the, we did the
Hackney Empire and then we went to the pub next door.
So my dad had come with us on tour.
So my dad had seen the show like 7 or 8 times and then he decided
to meet an old workmate and he just got absolutely trollied in
this pub next door to the Hackney Empire.
So then when we finished the show and go into this pub and my
dad is absolutely out of it, he was honestly sat there on his
own, just like swaying. And we go and sit down and my
dad's one of them like firmly keep our feet on the ground.
He was caught. He was going, did you make any
more mistakes? And all of it, getting it,
getting a bit chimpy. And then out of nowhere, Tim Key
walked in, you know, yeah, yeah. You know, the Ballad of Wallace
Island, like the guy, and he's in Alan Partridge and stuff.
He just walked in and sat down. And I was just like, I've got to
go and get a picture with him. Like, he's an absolute legend.
So then he was just kind of like, oh, So what are you doing
here? And I was just like, well, we've
just sold that in the empire out.
And he was just a bit like, what you 2 did.
Yeah. Who are you?
But yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I I'm extremely grateful.
I'm extremely sort of appreciative of of everything
that's common and and long may it continue.
And, you know, obviously I think them don't want to sound like
corny here, but to to do something that I know makes my
parents, my wife, my kids. Even though Max won't know it
yet, but maybe in years to come, he can see the books and he can
see the the Tor clips and be like, oh, no way.
Like, yeah, is that my dad or a fat Tommy Robinson?
I can't try. But yeah, it's, it's, it's been,
it's been amazing and such a such a wild ride.
Yeah, I'll bet. Oh.
Man, no, that's really, that's really cool, man.
Thanks. Thanks for all kind of giving us
some time to to go over this. I mean, just one, one last thing
then just touching about the back to being an autism dad.
It's always a good way to end with with kind of guests.
If there is a piece of advice you'd give to a dad who's going
through the diagnosis process or trying to get their head round
it, I mean, what would that piece of advice be?
Oh, that's a good question. My piece of advice would be
always just focus on the positives, focus on the small
wins. I often talk about progress, not
perfection, and I think that's so important because progress is
progressing And anytime, like we talked about before, anytime
your child does something, puts a nappy in the bin, says a word
that's never said before, the feelings different than, you
know, the feeling was when my daughter would do something like
write a name. It's that you feel like you've
you've accomplished something as a parent through love,
understanding, impatience. And I think that's the key thing
to have is don't compare, you know, to other children, to
other families, to other milestones, to create your own
journey and to, to enjoy it and to, I always think just embrace.
I've, I'm embracing it now. It, it, it, it was a little bit
of a, of a scary thought when I first, you know, was learning
about autism and, and, and you know, you know, you talked about
my 7 year old started to use the toilet a little bit, but he's
still in pull ups. He actually didn't realise he
was wearing underpants tonight and he was, and he's just
absolutely drenched the couch. So you take, you take the wins.
And and also it's just massively important that you talk like you
listen to yourselves, you look at the the positive role models
that are on social media and you try and just take every day as
it comes and just do the best job you can do.
Be there if you could always and embrace the journey.
Amazing. Love it mate.
Thank you very. Much.
All right. Thank you mate.
Really. Enjoy it.
Well, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
It's been a long time coming mate.
Yeah, yeah. No.
Well, I'm looking forward to staying in touch and I'll send
the I'll send the tour dates over and any show that you can
make. Oh mate, love that.
Put tickets aside. Absolutely love that.
Before you go mate, do you just want to let everyone know what
your socials are and stuff so they can give you a following?
Yeah, amazing. So you can follow me on TikTok
is I'll have to remember this now at the other Mr P and then
on Instagram it is at 2 Mr PS podcast or just search Adam
Parkinson into Facebook or Instagram.
And yeah, really appreciate it. Looking forward to yeah, I'm
sure my wife will appreciate listening to this.
Might Get Me Out of the dog out. Yeah.
Is that why you were just bigging her up for the first
half an hour? Yeah, she's done an amazing job.
Did I say how amazing my wife is?
Did I say how great she. Is oh God, they broke the mould
when they made her. Oh, absolutely super broke the
mould. We'll edit this out so she never
sees it. But yeah, next time we're in
Manchester as well, we'll go and split a Popeyes or something
like that. It's a date.
They love it, mate. Adam, thank you very much mate.
Cheers boys. Catch you soon?
Cheers pal. Tell that mate.