All your parents want is for you to settle down with a nice spouse who will treat you like the prince or princess they have always known you to be.
And some will go to hilarious lengths to ensure their grown up little darlings will dodge a life of microwave meals and cat parenting.
Indeed, one sweet dad took things to the next level, using a family holiday as the perfect excuse to set up his trio of ‘wonderful, successful, handsome, alas unmarried, sons’.
On Boxing Day, Neil from Oregon will be flying out to New Zealand accompanied by his wife and their three single sons, Benjamin, Jeremy and Matthew.
In preparation for the trip, Neil has done what any meddlesome father would do: taken out a dating ad in The New Zealand Herald which details the many attributes of his beloved sons.
The personal ad reads:
Hello Parents, we are from the States (Oregon), visiting your beautiful country. My wife and I have 3 wonderful, successful, handsome, alas unmarried, sons between the ages of 28-32.
We are not expecting, just hoping, to introduce our sons to nice NZ daughters. At the very least we’ll embarrass our sons and the truth is, we do find some enjoyment in that.
The ad continued to clarify the family would be holidaying in New Zealand between December 26 and January 7, plenty of time for this dad’s lads to bag themselves a New Year/holiday romance.
Neil included his email address (neil.brightapt@gmail.com for those interested) for fellow interfering parents to contact him should they so wish.
However, if you are looking to put forward your singleton daughter, then you might have to join a pretty long queue. Much to his surprise, Neil has proved quite the amateur matchmaker and has already received 200 responses.
Chatting with the New Zealand Herald after his ad went viral, Neil revealed his sons remain blissfully unaware:
We like to travel and I have gone with my kids to Europe, Australia and Japan, but we have never really interacted with anybody and in my mind I was just interested in them getting to know people, meeting people their age, and maybe develop some lasting, permanent relationships,
I have never done anything like this before and they don’t know. They are clueless, which I love.
Neil added how he might let his sons know of his meddling on the journey over, either on the plane or once they’ve landed:
I might say ‘oh by the way I did place a little ad for you guys’,
I am sure they will be surprised and annoyed, but I am sure they will laugh. We have a good relationship and are always joking with each other. They know I am a little unusual in that regard.
Neil admitted he would prefer prospective daughter-in-laws to live close by, however all he wants really wants is for Benjamin, Jeremy and Matthew to have ‘happy, healthy’ relationships. Aww.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.