Rob Kenney’s tutorial videos are a hit on Youtube. Although this genre, so specific to the social network, abounds on the internet, Rob has made it special: to teach and give advice to people who do not have a father figure.
Rob Kenney is a Youtuber whose channel “ Dad, how do I? (“Dad, how can I do…?”, in French) is followed by 4.32 million subscribers. In his videos, Rob teaches people how to tie a tie, how to do crafts, money management, cooking, fishing, car maintenance and simple life advice.
In other words, everything a father is supposed to teach his children. Rob’s tips and techniques are built on kindness and encouragement, and his approach appeals to people online.
Rob started his Youtube channel because he knows what it’s like not to have a dad teaching you a whole lot of stuff. The child of divorced parents, Rob witnessed his mother’s deep depression and alcoholism after she was declared unfit to care for her children. Rob therefore went to live with his father who abandoned him and his seven siblings when he was 14 years old.
An extremely difficult period for the teenager who suffered from anxiety. He then promised himself never to make this happen to his future children.
Today, Rob’s children Kristine (29) and Kyle (26) are adults. The father, married for 29 years to his wife Annelli, quickly felt alone after their departure. It was then that during the Covid-19 pandemic, Rob had the idea of launching a Youtube channel on which he would provide advice to the youngest (but not only) who would not have a father figure.
“ I will do my best to provide useful and practical content on many basic tasks that everyone should know how to do ,” describes Rob on his channel.
Since then, Rob’s advice has been a hit. His kindness and his encouragement, which are his trademark, seduce Internet users. ” I don’t think it would have gone viral in other circumstances [que la panne, ndlr] , thinks his daughter. I sincerely believe that he was put on Earth to be a dad ”.
Since then, Rob and his advice have been followed to the letter by millions of internet users thanking him for his videos. A dazzling success which the main interested party would never have thought of: “ It was terrifying. At first, I didn’t consider it a good thing. Being a father or a mother is so much more than just fixing things. You have to share your heart with your children ”, believes the one who has been nicknamed the “ dad of the Internet ”.
