Marcus Stricklin, a stay-at-home dad, has four kids learning virtually due to the coronavirus epidemic, a wife who works from home and a 3-year-old son who isn't in school yet. There's lots of chaos to coordinate.
So the Glendale, Arizona dad turned to lovable villain-turned-father Gru from "Despicable Me" for a bit of help setting ground rules for his kids' upcoming school year.
In a TikTok video, Stricklin and his daughters, Sophie, 11, Addison, 9, and Nora, 8, recreate a scene from the popular film when Gru brings his adopted daughters, Agnes, Margo and Edith, home for the first time.
"Clearly, we need to set some rules," Stricklin lip synchs at the start of the TikTok. As he moves through Gru's rules like, "You will not touch anything," and, "You will not bother me while I'm working," his daughters adorably mimic Agnes, Margo and Edith's questions and caveats.
Stricklin's school-aged kids, who range in age from 16 to 8, are well behaved, he says. Still, the idea for the funny video struck him last week as the school day was winding down.
"Sometimes it can be boring, so the kids tend to get bored when a sibling is on a Zoom and then get loud," Stricklin explained. "Instead of laying down the law, I said, 'Let's do a TikTok to "Despicable Me" and set out the rules,' and they laughed about it, but I was half serious."
Stricklin says making videos has been a fun outlet for his kids during the quarantine, so combining an activity they like to do with a set of important rules was a no-brainer.
"I just wanted them to know that even though we are stuck in this unfortunate COVID-19 quarantine, we have to understand that there are many people working in the house and we have to be respectful of them and allow them to do their work."
Disclosure: Universal Pictures and TODAY share the same parent company.
