From the joys of her toddler pulling down her trousers to her daughter trying to rub out the lines from her face, it’s all in a day’s work for mum-of-three Sophie McCartney.
Their daily antics convinced the Liverpool-born mum to share her perilous parenting journey online and catapulted her into the world of comedy.
“Kids are constantly saying funny and embarrassing things,” the 38-year-old tells me over Zoom.
“I went to a fancy dress party at the weekend dressed as Cher. When I showed my daughter Evelyn a recent Cher video, we discussed her age. She stopped me and said: “but how is it possible that she’s older than granny and she looks younger than you?
“I went on to have a chat with her about studio lighting, filters and make-up. My husband walked in at the point where I said: “I think you would find if Cher was sitting in our kitchen right now and you looked at her close up you would agree that mummy looked younger”.
With over 1.1million online followers, a Sunday Times’ bestselling book in Tired and Tested: The Wild Ride into Parenthood, and a successful podcast behind her Sophie has taken to the road with her own stand-up show.
“When I first started touring, I was distraught about leaving the kids behind and then I discovered silence. I’ve had a good two months at home now, so I’m ready to leave again and start the next leg of the tour,” she beams, excited to be visiting Belfast for the first time.
Best known for her wickedly accurate insights into adulting, Sophie’s stage show will take audiences on a rollicking transformation from non-maternal noughties wild child, through mating, birthing, body changes to school WhatsApp groups.
She describes her show as “a life journey from perky tits to killing nits” and confesses the latter has left her with “some residual trauma”.
“It was the night of my daughter’s birthday party, where all her friends were shaking their heads together in a bouncy castle. She was scratching lots, so I parted her hair and a nit the size of a horse head jumped out. I panicked and screamed, which is like the worst thing I could do and have probably scared her for life.
“I then had to contact all of the parents who were at the party to let them know my daughter had nits, which I imagine is like messaging your previous partners to tell them you have a sexually transmitted infection.”
Nitbag**NEW VIDEO** When your kid starts school and you acquire some new friends, of the creepy crawly variety... #Nitbag #GetYourNitsOutForTheLads
Posted by Tired 'N Tested on Thursday, November 5, 2020
Before having her children Jack (10), Evelyn (8) and Nate (18 months), Sophie, admits that as the youngest in her family, she had “no expectations about parenthood”.
Surprised at how she took to her new role, has she any parenting advice for our readers?
“Don’t leave them in a supermarket and don’t get social services involved,” was her quick response.
Speaking with sincerity, she adds that her best advice is for parents “not to compare yourself to others”.
“I was only 28 and the first of my friends to have a baby, and I found it really isolating. It’s hard not to compare and feel inadequate. Mums put so much pressure on ourselves and at the end of the day, kids just want your time.
“In the school holidays we think we need to plan exciting things, which cost a fortune, but kids just want you to play Monopoly or do something simple.”
In contrast to the picture-perfect Instagram images of motherhood, Sophie’s reels are renowned for their honest insight into life as a 30-something mum – from the runny poo in a swim nappy to eating After Eights for breakfast
“I especially can’t cope at Halloween with all the pumpkin patch pics. We get ours from Co-op for £3.50 and I can grab a cheap bottle of wine at the same time,” she laughs.
Sophie’s parental highlight happened recently when she managed to link her son’s Switch Fortnight account to his PS5 account.
“It’s taken me three weeks and numerous phone calls and emails with Epic Games. If I hadn’t done this, he’d have lost about 20 quids worth of V-Bucks and all his skins, so I was his hero,” she gushes.
And the lowest point of her parenting adventure so far?
“One day my daughter, when she was very young, picked up dog poop in a park and threw it at,” she chuckles.
“Every age of childhood comes with its own challenges. At the minute the tweenage drama revolves mainly around PS5 time, but the other day Nate stood in a rage pulling my trousers down because I wouldn’t let him touch the oven. You can’t reason with that logic.
“There are days it’s hard, but what I always try to get across in my comedy writing is that I’m dead lucky to have three lovely kids. They gave me a new outlook on life and led me to do what I’m doing now.”
Sophie shot to fame when her video parody of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You went viral in 2017 and her Facebook followers went from a few hundred to 80,000 in the space of a few days.
With musical talent running through her genes - Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney is her dad’s first cousin – will we see her sing a Beatles parody in the future?
“Live and Let Die would definitely be a good one for parents,” she ponders.
“When I did the Ed Sheeran song I was so naïve and didn’t get the rights for it. I honestly just thought my friends would see it, but then the world saw it and Universal got a little cross.”
“If it was a case of calling Paul up I would, but even he doesn’t have rights to half of his own stuff,” adds Sophie, who got the rights from Sony to record her MC Hammer inspired Can’t Teach This during lockdown.
Last year she published her debut fiction novel, Mother Hens about four best friends who head to Ibiza for the mother of all hen-dos.
“There’s something so special about being able to make up this entirely new world with characters that would do and say things that you couldn’t ever get away with.”
Whilst she has already plans for two further novels, Sophie is adamant she won’t be having any more children.
“My daughter half overheard a conversation between myself and my husband and proceeded to tell her teachers that her Daddy was going to have a special injection that meant that he wouldn’t have any more babies.
“He wishes it was a special injection. I think there’s a little bit more to it,” she laughs about her husband’s forthcoming vasectomy.
Sophie has another busy year ahead, with plans to write a second tour and a TV adaptation of my book under discussion.
If a television panel show offer came along, she would “jump at it”, quickly adding she doesn’t “aspire to fame” and would happily settle with making people laugh and her kids smile.
