Simon Pipe: Learning to be a good dad

SIMON PIPE was a carefree 21-year-old working in a bank and doing music part time. He would go to work (“because I had to pay rent”) and then play gigs at night, getting home at 4 a.m.  He then had a few hours sleep so he could be at his 8 a.m. job.

All that changed when he found out then girlfriend Carlie was pregnant with first son Stone.

“We never had the discussion about starting a family or having a family. We were living our own lives.”

Stone was unplanned, said Simon, but they rolled with the punches.

“I went to the doctors appointment and I was there for the birth. I wasn’t squeamish. It was fascinating to see. I didn’t want to touch him when he was born.”

Simon said the nurses placed Stone in his hands and he was in love.

Simon said Reginald, now a-year-and-half was planned.

“Carlie begged me for another one. And she told me she would be more hands-on this time. It was a lie,” he said, laughing, while Carlie chuckled.

Simon, because of his work, is mostly at home where his studio is. He has more time with the children.

“I don’t mind, sometimes I let them run wild, but when I have corporate clients they go by grandma.”

Reginald and Stone, now eight years old, are polar opposites.

Stone likes reading, technology, while he asks questions, he doesn’t talk a lot. He is a deep thinker, very sensitive.

“I see a lot of Stone in myself, “ said Simon.

Reginald is a hellcat.

“He is always running towards danger, he climbs the tallest furniture, we go to the beach and he runs straight into the ocean.”

Simon said he grew up with a family unit and said that was the way he wanted his life to be.

“I have been married to Carlie for the past eight years. A family unit was always my goal. We were friends for a long time from secondary school. We are so similar in our thinking. I knew she was someone I was going to grow old with.”

Simon said he and Carlie are learning from their mistakes, in life and as parents.

“People see me with all these tattoos. But I am just a regular musician. I am teaching my children values. Everyday I try to be better. I don’t think now about me, I think about the boys and Carlie.

“The boys see me as the fun guy . . . . All Reggie wants is daddy and mummy can’t help him at all,” he said.

While he won’t push the boys into the music industry, he said he will leave them to make their own choices. (NS)