{"id":131975,"date":"2020-08-24T11:27:41","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T10:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=131975"},"modified":"2020-08-24T11:27:41","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T10:27:41","slug":"parenting-blogger-spotlight-nigel-higgins-diy-daddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/parenting-blogger-spotlight-nigel-higgins-diy-daddy\/","title":{"rendered":"Parenting Blogger Spotlight: Nigel Higgins, DIY Daddy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Painting, decorating, family blogging \u2013 jack of all trades (and master of parenting blogging, in particular) Nigel Higgins shares what led him to become DIY Daddy<\/a> and what he thinks could be the long-term effects of lockdown on families across the globe. <\/strong><\/p>\n

How did you originally get started with writing about parenting? <\/span><\/strong>
\nI started out writing my blog about parenting literally by accident. I\u2019m a painter and decorator and about seven years ago I fell from a ladder while working and broke my wrist in four places. After about three days at home and bored out of my brain, my wife suggested I started a blog and DIY Daddy was born.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favourite thing to post about and why?<\/span><\/strong>
\nOver the years my favourite types of posts have changed, but what I\u2019ve always found most satisfying are personal posts about me and the struggles I have had at different times in my life. In particular, my struggle with depression. I found a great form of therapy in writing about it and it\u2019s helped me identify when I may be heading towards a bout of depression.<\/p>\n

How have you had to change your approach to blogging, or your content, during the COVID-19 crisis? <\/span><\/strong>
\nI haven\u2019t really changed that much. I decided I didn\u2019t want to write content that was constantly referencing COVID-19. I have had posts that were related to COVID-19 but I kept it to a minimum. My collaborations with brands didn\u2019t really slow during lockdown so I was able to mix up my content with an element of organic and paid work.<\/p>\n

How will lockdown have the way co-parents share responsibilities \u2013 will we see more men embracing being stay at home dads? <\/span><\/strong>
\nI\u2019m sure that many men will change the way they approach parenting, especially if they are the main breadwinner. They will have had an insight into how difficult it is to parent 24\/7. I definitely don\u2019t think there will be a rise in more dads becoming stay at home dads, but hopefully they will share the family duties a bit more evenly.<\/p>\n

How would you recommend parents balance working from home with their family duties?<\/span><\/strong>
\nEvery family dynamic is different and, of course, now working from home is obviously something that has to be added into the situation as well as home schooling. For us as a family, from the beginning of lockdown we organised how everything was going to work out, but when it didn\u2019t go to plan we didn\u2019t worry about it. We would adjust our day accordingly. My advice is to be organised and just go with the flow until it settles into a routine.<\/p>\n

Best no-fuss stress-free family meal for busy times?<\/span><\/strong>
\nSpaghetti bolognese is easy to make, can be cooked in advance, and makes for a very stress-free mealtime.<\/p>\n

Did you get what you wanted for Father\u2019s Day this year? <\/span><\/strong>
\nI got exactly what I wanted \u2013 all of my children together for a couple of hours. It was a bit different as it was in the garden (socially-distanced, of course).<\/p>\n

How do you collaborate with brands and which kind of brands do you really like working with?<\/span><\/strong>
\nI collaborate with brands in many different ways. It could be reviews or sponsored posts. I like to work with brands that are in keeping with my blog. The brands I prefer to work with are those that make a brief challenging and interesting.<\/p>\n

For PRs looking to work with you and your blog\/website, how would you prefer they approach you and with what kind of content? <\/span><\/strong>
\nI\u2019m happy to be approached in whatever way suits the brand. That could be email or a phone call. I\u2019m happy to cover any content as long as it is relevant to my blog.<\/p>\n

What other blogs do you check out regularly (whether parenting-related or not)?<\/span><\/strong>
\nI regularly read Dad\u2019s Delicious Dinners<\/a>, and I read a lot of cycling blogs. Too many too mention. However, I\u2019m a big fan of As Easy As Riding A Bike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Reach-the-right-influencers-with-the-Vuelio-media-database\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Painting, decorating, family blogging \u2013 jack of all trades (and master of parenting blogging) Nigel Higgins shares what led him to become DIY Daddy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":131974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,4038,6980],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131975"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131979,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131975\/revisions\/131979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}