Translated material
“Dad, how are you?”
“How to easily tie a tie” and “How to shave your face correctly” are the titles of the most popular videos on the channel of American Rob Kenny. When he was a teenager, his father left the family, and he had to learn on his own many of the things that boys are traditionally taught by their fathers. At some point, he created a blog where he began to give fatherly advice to those who found themselves in the same situation. He calls his subscribers children. “The Father of the Internet” - in the material “Cold” .
A man created a YouTube channel where he teaches people how to tie a tie and change tires. Millions watch his videos and call him father 
“I thought, why not share the encouraging words that I wish I had heard when I was younger,” Kenny said .
At first, he expected that 30–40 people he knew would subscribe to the channel. But less than two months later, he went viral on TikTok. After this, people started talking about Kenny on other social networks . And when Reddit users wrote about the channel, hundreds of thousands of people learned about it.
In February 2026, Dad, How Do I? there were 5.5 million subscribers. There are 560 videos in total on Kenny’s channel. The most popular are “How to easily tie a tie” and “How to shave your face correctly” (more than three million views each). In other videos, he also gives practical advice, and also reads books at night and shares his thoughts about life.
As he says, the lessons that Kenny shares with the audience, he “ learned the hard way”: when he was 14 years old, his father left the family.
Tired of kids
Rob Kenny was born in 1964 in New Orleans. His father worked at Boeing, and his mother raised six children. Because of his father's work, the family constantly moved.
By the late 1960s, the family settled in Bellevue, Washington, but the parents divorced a few years later. The father received custody, but in October 1978, Kenny recalled, he told the children he was tired of them.
“At my little sister’s birthday party, he officially announced to everyone that he didn’t want to deal with children anymore. It was pretty heartless. All I remember was the feeling of disappointment,” Kenny later said .
The older children were already adults, so the younger ones moved in with them. Rob, who was 14 at the time, moved in with his brother Rick and his wife Karen. His nine-year-old sister Angie moved in with 27-year-old Mary. And for 16-year-old Don and 17-year-old Joe, their father rented an apartment.
Although Rick taught his younger brother a lot and in some ways even replaced his father, Rob Kenny, according to him, had to cope with many of the difficulties of adult life on his own. He didn't have anyone who could tell him how to shave, tie a tie, or change the tires on his car.
Now Rob Kenny and his wife Annellie have been married for more than 30 years and have raised two daughters. Kenny joked that he did a good job of parenting because his kids “still talk” to him.
“I never wanted to be rich. I never necessarily wanted to succeed. My goal in life was to raise good adults (not good children, but good adults) because my childhood was difficult ,” he said.
## April Fool's Day
Kenny had long wanted to create a channel, but put the idea off for several years. In the spring of 2020, he finally decided to do it. “Then there was a pandemic, and I, like everyone else, was stuck at home. I've run out of excuses for why I still don't get down to business. My daughter encouraged me. She said, 'Dad, you just have to do it,'" he recalled .
Kenny created the channel on April 1, 2020 - and then joked that “it happened on April Fool’s Day for a reason.” First of all, he decided to show how to tie a tie correctly. On April 2, Kenny posted a two-minute video filmed in the bathroom.
Already at the end of May, the channel went viral on the Internet, and Kenny gained a million subscribers. Now his first video has 3.3 million views.
Despite his popularity, Kenny continues to shoot videos by simply mounting his phone on a tripod. The video is also edited on the phone. “I'm a dad, so I think being super fashionable goes against my charm. I have an iPhone, so I use the iPhone,” he explained .
Kenny's videos receive several thousand likes. Many people write that they cry every time they watch it. “I'm not ashamed to admit it, but this video broke my heart... I have a pretty shitty relationship with my dad and I could never ask him to teach me anything <...> Thank you man,” one commenter wrote .
“Hi, dad. I am 68 years old"
At first, Kenny didn't expect his videos to make people cry, but he soon realized that it was important for people to feel a connection with their father. And this applies not only to young people - according to Kenny, he was surprised that adults also write comments to him with gratitude.
“You know, I address the audience with the word “children.” So, now I have 80-year-old children,” he said in an interview.
While in college, Kenny played American football, so he decided to record a couple of videos with “dad tips” on how to catch and throw the ball. Later, one viewer wrote to him: “Hi dad. I'm 68 years old and no one taught me this before. Thank you".
At first, Kenny thought that the channel would be more useful to young men - after all, tying a tie and shaving their faces was important for them. However, over time, he realized that some things are important for everyone to know. “At first I got comments like, 'Why should I know how to change tires when my boyfriend will do it?' Well, what if you're driving and your boyfriend isn't with you? And if it’s dark outside and you’re alone? Are you going to hope that some nice man will show up and help you? I think it’s important to educate everyone,” Kenny said .
And if at the beginning 80% of its viewers were men, then over time the statistics changed. Kenny said in 2024 that on YouTube there were 40% women, and on Instagram and Facebook there were even more men - 60%.
“I am the mother of a 13 year old boy raising him alone after my husband died of a heart attack and I thank you for all the videos. You can’t imagine how much you help,” one viewer wrote in the comments.
Kenny says he understands the feelings of people who grew up without a father - because he “was like that himself.” It took him a while to stop being angry - he only made peace with his father towards the end of his life. Now Kenny hopes he can help other people forgive their fathers.
Photo: Dad, how do I? / Youtube
Author: Daria Voloshina