One dad on Instagram is warming hearts everywhere with a sweet post about the special way that he bonds with his tween daughter. Together, they do makeup tutorials. Yes, you read that right. In a post that is quickly zinging its way around the Internet, Sterling Buckley, the husband voice of the hilarious podcast, Not the Worst Marriage, talks candidly about how much he loves spending time with his daughter and learning how to contour.
“She’s been practicing her own makeup lately and keeps getting better and better,” Buckley wrote in the post. “I’m not sure I’m ready for her to be a teenager yet and makeup feels so grown up at times but…I love how much she loves doing her makeup!”
Sterling and Sara were high school sweethearts turned teen parents. After 17 years of marriage and raising a family of three kids, the couple has a lot to say about parenting and marriage – mostly that these roles are just really super hard. And while they offer up more laughs than advice on their podcast, the advice they do give is pretty darn awesome.
Like, don’t tell your kids what they should love. Instead, empower your kids to find their passion and then help support them in all the ways you can.
“As our kids have gotten older, we have challenged them to find a hobby, sport, or an interest in something that isn’t video games or TV,” Sterling tells Momtastic. “Sara and I have made it a priority to not push them towards what we want them to do but rather encourage our children to try different things they want to do.”
Their boys have gravitated toward sports, which Sterling says was something that he was able to easily connect with and celebrate their wins. But how to connect with his daughter? As he stumbled through trying to find something that he could bond with his daughter, he realized that her passion was staring him in the face.
“And a lightbulb went off,” Sterling shares with Momtastic. “Madeline has always loved makeup and will do a full face of makeup just to wash it off and try something else. She’s been doing this for the past few years. She will always show me and ask my opinion and will go into full details of how and what she used to get the look she wanted. Her makeup skills keep getting better and better.”
And that’s when dad decided to become a Guinea pig for his daughter’s experiments in makeup. Since Sara is a professional makeup artist, their daughter, Madeline, has been exposed to constant examples of the empowering way that makeup can be used to transform a person. For example, Sara helped a cancer patient learn how to draw on her eyebrows until they could grow back. And she helped a teen with severe acne regain self-confidence.
“Makeup is artistry, creativity, and most of all, a lot of fun,” Sara explains to Momtastic. “Making sure this was the perspective she has on makeup has always been very important. Madeline has always been a bit shy and reserved and watching her develop some bit of creativity through makeup has been wonderful!”
These days, Sterling and his daughter have a special hobby that is just theirs. He listens to Madeline as she explains what everything is and how to apply makeup properly and together their special bond is growing tighter.
“That is worth celebrating to me,” Sterling shares with Momtastic. “If I can post about my sons’ football accomplishments then I should also celebrate my daughter’s just as much. She’s found something that she loves and I love being a part of it.”
You can check out Not the Worst Marriage podcast here, or visit them on Instagram here.
