Welcome to So Mini Ways, Yahoo Life’s parenting series on the joys and challenges of child-rearing.
With football and soccer seasons in full swing, Ted Lasso co-creator and star Brendan Hunt is a big fan of the weekends when he can watch his favorite sports and enjoy quality time with fiancée Shannon Nelson and their 2-year-old son, Sean. “We have pretty lazy weekend mornings,” says the actor, writer and recent Wheel of Fortune champ, who notes that he’ll get up “extra early” if there’s a soccer game on. And the family will often order breakfast from a local spot so they don’t have to break away from the action.
It made sense, then, for Hunt to recently partner with DoorDash for their new campaign, “Timeout, Order In,” which encourages hungry fans to order when the game clock stops. “I never want to miss a second of the game,” says the actor best known for playing Coach Beard on Ted Lasso. “DoorDash brings you everything you need: food, drinks and more, with savings on everything you need so you can keep your belly full and your focus where it should be, on your team.”
Juggling one of his favorite pastimes with new parenthood can be a bit challenging. But Hunt, who recently announced that he and Nelson are expecting their second baby, says that when he gets his “lazy” time, so does Sean.
“We’re among those [parents] who feel like until he’s 3 years old or maybe even 4, when you can actually have conversations with him that employ reciprocated logic from both parties, stressing too much about screen time is kind of a losing battle,” he explains. “If my weekend morning is about watching the game, he can have his weekend morning be about watching Dinosaur Train. “Basically surrendering to what he wants for his lazy time is just fine, within reason … there’s no need [to be] fighting it just yet.”
Time spent relaxing and enjoying delicious meals on the weekend also presents a chance for Hunt to watch his toddler’s tastes evolve. “[My son] is just fun to watch eat in general,” he shares. “We’re still very much in the stage of like, ‘What does he like? What does he not like? What does he now not like that he used to like?’ His tastes are changing and everything. We watch him with great fascination. We’re like Attenboroughs, and he’s just a tiny dinosaur coming out from the DNA.”
Because he’s not an adventurous eater himself, Hunt is particularly fascinated when his son tries foods that he dislikes. “We’re pretty focused on making sure he gets exposed to a lot of things as early as possible,” says Hunt. “He loves bananas. I find the smell of bananas to be toxic. But he loves them. And that’s great; I know they’re good for him. They would be good for me too if I could never get them anywhere near my face, which I can’t since they’re revolting. So it’s like everything he eats, it’s just another little teary proud moment.”
In fact, toddlerhood is truly entertaining to Hunt. “[Sean] is just funny,” he says. “He has such enthusiasm for things and uses really positive language lately. Even the other day, he was sitting in his mom’s lap, and for no specific reason, he just turned around and said, ‘Mommy, you are beautiful.’ Like what? Oh my gosh. Doesn’t ever say that to me, and that’s fine. We got him some ice cream the other day in our local ice cream shop. And I said, ‘Buddy, is it good?’ [He replied,] ‘It’s perfect.’ Like we didn’t know he knew the word ‘perfect!’”
Of course, Hunt’s son has his “terrible twos” moments, just like any toddler. “The flip side of the screen time thing is we try to give him warnings, like, ‘This is your last episode of Santiago,’ and he’ll nod, and then we’re like, ‘OK, here we go, taking away the iPad,’ and he goes full telenovela: ‘Nooooooo!’” he shares. “It is an unbelievable campaign of screaming that will ensue no matter how hard we try to prepare him for it. The flipside is luckily he’s still at the age where eventually you can just distract him like ‘Hey, look over here.’”
One of Hunt’s go-to distractions: a shark puppet. “He has a little cloth shark,” the screenwriter says. “It’s about a foot long and also a hand puppet. And if I can get the shark to talk [and say,] ‘What are you so upset about?’ That can sometimes cut through. If it doesn’t, I enjoy doing it for my own self.”
Ultimately, the soon-to-be dad of two is proud to be learning to be more patient these days. “Patience is the most important thing,” he says. “Because he’s 2 years old and basically insane, you’re not going to be able to talk him through stuff just yet. So [it helps] just knowing that some day, these things will make more sense to him. You just have to be patient and wise and wait him out.”
