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July 3, 2016 7:55 AM

Relax during this long weekend in the US by getting a baby to do your housework.

From New Zealand's How To Dad.

posted by Johnny Wallflower (27 comments total)

Never knew they could be so useful. I may have to get me one. How do you go about that, anyway?
posted by scalefree at 8:01 AM on July 3, 2016 [4 favorites]

"if you clean the toilet, i'll let you play with these fireworks"
posted by pyramid termite at 8:01 AM on July 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wow! All this time I've been thinking "nope don't want kids nope nope nope" but I had no idea how helpful they can be!
posted by vrakatar at 8:07 AM on July 3, 2016 [3 favorites]

He seems to have a whole series of these videos. They're pretty cute. His little girl is growing up.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 8:13 AM on July 3, 2016

I love how she shuts him down on his high five request here.
posted by obfuscation at 8:22 AM on July 3, 2016 [3 favorites]

Waiting to find out that the kid is making and posting these videos and her dad has no idea
posted by beerperson at 8:23 AM on July 3, 2016 [6 favorites]

"How to put a baby to sleep" involves some kind of black magic.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:41 AM on July 3, 2016 [8 favorites]

I'm trying to decide if any of my various bins are clean enough to hide in, even to amuse a baby in a video. Brave!
posted by Secretariat at 9:36 AM on July 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Only tangentially related (involves parenting skills), but awesome: Rat Mom saves baby rat from snake.

TW: rats, snake
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:59 AM on July 3, 2016 [10 favorites]

Kiwis are masters of the deadpan.
posted by stinkfoot at 10:10 AM on July 3, 2016

Johnny Wallflower, aside from NY pizza rat that is the second time I've ever rooted for a rat
posted by mlo at 10:11 AM on July 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

> Never knew they could be so useful. I may have to get me one. How do you go about that, anyway?

When a butler and a maid love each other very much..........
posted by Frayed Knot at 10:16 AM on July 3, 2016 [6 favorites]

Never knew they could be so useful. I may have to get me one. How do you go about that, anyway?

Keep in mind, though, it involves entering a two decade long, quarter-million dollar contract. Might be cheaper to hire a cleaning service.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:51 AM on July 3, 2016 [17 favorites]

Came in expecting to see this, was happily surprised to see babies can do more than just floors.
posted by Mchelly at 10:58 AM on July 3, 2016

High five?
posted by absalom at 11:09 AM on July 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

If I had a baby I would never stop making skits like this.
posted by rhizome at 12:16 PM on July 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am a fan of baby YouTube, but it makes me wonder how many unfunny copycat dads are out there making videos that will haunt their poor featured kids.
posted by little onion at 12:27 PM on July 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Still has nothing on Action Movie Kid.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:28 PM on July 3, 2016

I hate these dad-and-kid videos, because my ovaries immediately want to have a baby with whatever dude is featured and it is a reminder of how low their standards are

(though to be fair, between this guy's accent and Jon Snow looks who wouldn't?!)
posted by Anonymous at 2:36 PM on July 3, 2016

Deadpan in NZ is a long tradition.
posted by Autumn Leaf at 5:35 PM on July 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

how many unfunny copycat dads are out there

Absolutely, it is fraught with danger. Everybody's a comedian, plus you have to have a gimmick. I might do stop-motion baby vids, for instance.
posted by rhizome at 5:39 PM on July 3, 2016

A how to dad skill not yet mentioned is the uncanny ability to maintain your favorite blue dad-shorts and and dark green dad-tee through daughter's entire childhood.
posted by klarck at 7:16 PM on July 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

I noticed in the How To Dress Your Baby video the baby was also wearing a very similar dark green shirt and blue shorts. Cute detail. (And! I have learned thru extensive YouTube research that he has two daughters. One is a bit older and appears in a only a couple of the videos.)
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 8:00 PM on July 3, 2016

I'm having complicated feelings about rats
posted by angrycat at 5:45 AM on July 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Complicated, you say?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:59 AM on July 4, 2016

> I love how she shuts him down on his high five request here

She full-on hisses at him at the end of How To Dress Your Baby
posted by morganw at 11:58 AM on July 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

This only works for me if I frame it in a way that my toddler gets to respond, "No, *I* do it By My Self!"

That said, said toddler is getting good at enforcing the household rules on the cats.
posted by Quasirandom at 10:29 AM on July 5, 2016