Being a good dad to his two young daughters is something country star Brett Kissel takes very seriously
Nothing more important than family, says proud parent
For country music star Brett Kissel, fatherhood comes first.
Sure, he sells records, packs concert stadiums — and he’s the only Canadian artist to tour with Garth Brooks — but, if you were to ask the 28-yearold Alberta native, he’d say being a dad beats them all.
“It is, without question, the most important title I’ll have in my life,” Kissel says of fatherhood. “The awards, they’ll come and go. Playing for crowds is very, very special, but getting a chance to hold my two little girls and being there for bedtime, bath time, breakfast — whatever I get to be a part of with my busy life as an artist.
“Those are the moments that I cherish the most.”
In Vancouver to support his role as an ambassador for the retailer Mark’s, which has launched a campaign searching for Canada’s superhero dads, Kissel looked every bit the country star — and proud parent.
Wearing his trademark black cowboy hat and fitted black jeans, he completed the ensemble with a gift he said his wife Cecilia and two daughters, Mila, age 2, and Aria, age 1, recently gave him in honour of upcoming Father’s Day.
“My wife and daughters picked this out for me, which is why I wear it, especially around Father’s Day, with pride,” he says, motioning downward to the red T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase Canada’s Best Dad.
“I actually encourage all the moms, wives and kids out there to go and get this for your husband or your dad.”
The openly biased T-shirt style is one he’s more than happy to share with his fellow Canadian dads, though he’d rather not follow the paternal pack with any of the clichéd, groan-worthy dad stereotypes such as oversized dad sneakers, loose-fitting blue jeans or shudder-inducing fanny packs (back in fashion with the style set but, according to Kissel, still a vehement no-go) that have been shared gleefully around the internet lately.
“It’s everything from dad jokes to dad style — to everything that dads do,” he says of the comical memes. “But I’m quickly becoming one of them.”
While the We Were That Song singer may have fallen prey to a few of those knee-slapping dad jokes himself, he offers a few words of advice for fellow fathers when it comes to style.
“Go sleeker on the shoe, find a pair of great-fitting jeans, find a great T-shirt and don’t wear your family reunion hat,” he advises with a raucous laugh. “And never, ever wear a fanny pack.”
Style is something he’ll surely encounter quite a bit of as his daughters grow older. But it’s not fashion wisdom that he’s interested in imparting to his two young girls — although, throughout their lives, he’ll likely offer his fair share of positive commentary.
“I think it’s very important in my role as a dad to instil happiness and confidence in my little girls,” he says.
It’s a role Kissel doesn’t take lightly. And he has the perfect role model in his wife, Cecilia.
“I look to my wife for a lot of guidance because she’s the strongest woman I have ever known,” he says. “She loves using the saying that’s everywhere that the future is female. As parents, we have a giant responsibility — and also a very good opportunity — to raise strong females. And to make these little girls into strong women one day.”
In addition to being a positive influence on his parenting, he admits his wife is also better at the more heavy-handed tasks such as disciplining and behaviour modelling.
“Cecilia often says sometimes I’m a little too lenient and too loose with parenting,” he says. “Being consistent, especially with little kids, is very important.”
Kissel is confident he has a good reason for being a little too lax, though.
“Even if my little girls are misbehaving, it’s still just so damn cute,” he says with a laugh.
In many ways, though, Kissel and his wife are re-enacting the parenting roles he witnessed in his own home growing up.
“My dad was a big influence on me, but I think more so now that I’m a dad. I can ask him a number of questions about what it was like raising myself and my brother, and how he did it in a very gentle, quiet way,” he recalls.
“My mom was very much the strong one in the relationship. But, my dad was the guy who, in a quiet and a gentle way, taught us some amazing lessons that we will never forget. From the little things like how to be a gentleman, to the big-big moments.”
Kissel says that foundation he’d built with his father as a figurehead, friend and role model was rattled last summer when his dad was involved in a farming accident.
“That was the most difficult call I’ve ever received from my brother and my cousin as they were out searching dad,” he recalls.
Kissel says his father was eventually discovered, badly injured, and was transported to an Edmonton-area hospital, where he spent the next several months recovering — and learning to walk again. While it may sound odd at first, Kissel says the time he spent sitting at his father’s bedside was some he will cherish forever.
“It’s those moments, oneon-one, at four in the morning in the hospital when my dad can’t get to sleep and I’m there to be with him,” he recalls. “And we’re talking about being a dad and the important responsibilities that you have to your kids.
“As he thought he was at the end of his life, he took those moments to say the things that he never had the opportunity to say.
“And I appreciate that and it taught me to be very, very thankful for where I’m at, to be grateful to be a Canadian, to be grateful to have kids of my own and to not wait until the next day to say something that’s on your mind. Especially to say the words ‘I love you.’ ”
Now, with his father back in good health, Kissel is looking forward to the times when he can lean on his father for advice as his little girls grow up and edge toward those difficult teen years.
“That’s something I do look forward to,” he says with a smile. “But that’s something my buddies who have teenage daughters already are encouraging me to go on a three-year tour during. Maybe in Europe or something — and come back when they’re older.”
It’s very important in my role as a dad to instil happiness and confidence in my little girls.” Country star Brett Kissel