Rob Kenney’s channel gives people somewhere to go to for nitty-gritty tasks.
A Chicago father of two who grew up without a dad has nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers to his channel that teaches basic skills or explains everyday things. Rob Kenney set up the channel named “Dad, how do I?” to pass on “dadvice” and help others in similar situations who may also be growing up without a father-figure.
“I had a fractured childhood, my dad chose to leave us when I was 14 and I ended up living with my brother and I learned a lot of things from him,” says Kenney. Though his videos show anything from unclogging sinks and fixing toilets to making pumpkin pie or jump-starting a car, the father of two states that he’s no professional plumber or anything, he’s just there to help kids who’re growing up without dads.
Launched earlier this year shortly before father’s day, Rob Kenney’s YouTube channel quickly gained over 2 million subscribers, largely thanks to one tweet. After an Arizona woman discovered the channel she shared it with the internet calling it the “purest thing”. The tweet then received almost 600,000 retweets and over 2.2 million likes motivating a surge in subscribers.
his father left when he was 12, now he has a YT channel called “Dad, how do I?” to help kids who’re growing up without dads. teaching them basic tasks that you’d usually ask your dad for help on. this is the purest thing 😭 pic.twitter.com/JMKXM541xd
— Mother Moon ☮︎ (@earthygissel) May 19, 2020
The humble father of two began his DIY YouTube channel during quarantine earlier this year releasing a how-to video every Thursday and a tool video every Tuesday. He starts out videos with the greeting, “hey kids”, and throws in the occasional Dad-joke. The channel has since captured the hearts of millions and Kenney has been labeled the “internet’s dad” and praised for his “wholesome” channel.
Kenney’s website, dadhowdoiofficial.com reads “I will do my best to provide useful, practical content to many basic tasks that everyone should know how to do.” At the time of writing the YouTube channel had 2.91 million subscribers and Rob and his wife of 29 years, Annelli, now plan to start up a Mom, How Do I? channel.