A group of tradies have been praised for being "supportive uncles". Video / @gohappiest
Auckland tradies have charmed the internet with a hilarious live rendition of the kids’ song The Wheels on the Bus.
A video of employees from construction company Panelab breaking into song and dance to entertain their boss’s baby daughter is doing the rounds on Instagram.
The clip is captioned, “When the boys come over but you’re on daddy duty”, and has social media users applauding the Kiwi dad and his workmates for being “the best uncles”.
And while the clip is actually a year and a half old, it’s remerged online to find new fans across the globe.
The little one’s father, Sean Sullivan, tells the Herald that one of the boys in the video filmed it, uploaded it to TikTok and it went viral “straight away” - and it’s now doing the rounds on social media for the second time.
“I’ve had a lot of people send it to me, asking if it’s me, or just saying ‘how good’,” he shares.
Sullivan, who appears in the video with his daughter Bobbie, tells the Herald the toddler is “regularly in” at work with him and has just turned 3.
Sean Sullivan regularly brings his daughter Bobbie with him to work. Photo / Supplied
“By the time Bobbie came in, we’d had a few beers,” he shares.
“We basically made [the song] up on the spot. The whole video is impromptu, it just came out like that,” he laughs.
Did little Bobbie rate their singing? “She loved it. She’s a little shy but she loves the boys.”
Sullivan runs the North Shore-based construction company Panelab Limited with his dad Wayne, with a 40-man crew working on aluminium cladding systems for mainly commercial or industrial projects, with some residential.
Sean Sullivan describes Panelab as a "family and friends" business, with his cousins and his best mate working with him.
And he reveals the company has a “family and friends culture”, explaining that the boys in the video include his cousins and his best mate.
“Two work in the factory, two work onsite ... my daughter is in the video, and her mother, my partner is quickly too.”
“Every last Friday of the month we have a barbecue at the factory, 1pm start, beers and food supplied. We also do haircuts, two of the boys are ex-barbers.”
The video has proved to be a hit once again with Kiwis on social media.
“The giggles from grown men had me rolling! I love it!!” one follower gushed.
“I appreciate how you say ‘daddy duty’ rather than ‘babysitting’. So many people will say Dad is ‘babysitting’… it’s like, NO! That’s his kid!!! He’s being a dad!” another pointed out.
Others loved the fact that little Bobbie has a whole team of “uncles” to look after her.
“They are going to protect that child so fiercely,” one commented, with another adding, “The kid got the best uncles”.
Another joked, “The advantage of being an uncle is you can have all the joy of having a kid, but in the end of the day [sic] you can return them to their parents.”
Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in lifestyle human interest stories, foodie hacks (what can’t you air fry?!) and anything even remotely related to coffee.
