It all started with a football trick shot video.
Billy Perry, a dad from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, decided to film himself kicking a football over his house and into his backyard pool in August 2019. He was then convinced by his daughter Dru to post the video on TikTok, a social media app that rose in popularity in 2019, on account that she made for him that they ultimately named BillyVSCO.
The video was the first of his to blow up, Perry said.
“My phone started going crazy. I’d never seen anything like it. I was like, ‘Dru, do you know what’s happening here?’ And she’s like, ‘you’re on the For You Page’ and I’m like, ‘the for you what?'” he said.
Perry’s video had been picked up by TikTok’s algorithm and currently has over 811,000 views and more than 74,000 likes.
The video that launched his TikTok career, however, came four days later. Dru and Perry’s wife, Lyndsey, recorded a video where they turned him into a “VSCO” dad, which was a fashion style for teenagers in 2019 involving scrunchies, Hydroflask water bottles, and a deep love for saving the turtles. The video took off and currently has over 5 million views and 847,000 likes. In the nearly four years since, Perry’s platform has grown to an audience of 12.5 million followers.
Now, Perry’s content focuses less on trick shots and turtles and more on how to inspire parents to have better relationships with their children. The change was caused by comments he received on the viral VSCO video.
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As the VSCO dad video blew up, Perry said the number of comments he received on that video from people saying they wished their parents were more like him was astonishing.
“I’m like, man, okay, something’s got to change with dads if they’re not getting involved with their kids, we got to go. So that really set us in motion,” Perry said.
From that moment on, Perry began making videos centered around how to be a better parent. His content focuses on creating “respect, communication and love” between parents and their children as they navigate issues like relationships, trust, and growing up.
Perry and his family members began filming sketches where they acted out a conflict between a parent and their child. All of the family is usually involved: his 18-year-old daughter Dru, 14-year-old daughter Kynna, 19-year-old son Darrion, and wife, Lyndsey.
It often begins with Perry reacting negatively to the situation, and then offers an alternate reaction that could please both parents and children, ending the video by explaining how the first response could be harmful and urging parents to “do better.”
It’s important to Perry that viewers know that what works in his household may not work in theirs. He said he knows people disagree with him on some of his methods, and that’s OK.
“These are just opinions that work for us,” he said. “I don’t I don’t have any degrees in parenting.”
The account began gaining momentum in 2020, and it became more apparent to Perry during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns that people needed the videos more than ever.
“With everybody just kind of trapped, some people unfortunately trapped with the wrong people, mental health wise and things like that, it was just a was a true blessing for us to come in and just give some people some laughs and some hope and to just spread the message about respect, communication and love,” he said.
As his follower and view count rose, so did the number of people commenting that the videos were helping them, whether they were parents or children.
“I want to be that voice for them”: Perry inspires others and himself
For Perry, the comments on his videos were the first sign that he and his family were beginning to make a difference. While his videos still receive comments such as “I wish you were my dad,” the positive ones are what keeps them hopeful.
“Bro is single handily changing parenting for an entire generation,” one user commented on June 7.
“Thank you for the reminder. 💙 I struggle with this, honestly,” commented another on an April 25 video.
Perry said some of his favorite comments are ones from parents who are working to become better versions of themselves for their children, like one June 4 user who commented, “I’ve watched you for a while & you’ve truly changed my perspective & parenting! thank you!”
He reads as many comments on the videos as possible, whether it’s positive feedback and negative parenting stories from viewers, he said.
“I listened and by listening I think we saw there was a huge need,” Perry said. “We heard stories, you know, in my DMs that I would get that were horrible from COVID, you know, parents [that] don’t know how to talk to their kids. They don’t know how to relate to them. They don’t know how to listen to them. And that became my thing, is I wanted to give the kids a voice.”
Giving the kids a voice did not come without backlash. Perry said he often is asked why he does not give parents a voice in his videos, and he answers people by telling them that parents always have a voice.
“My videos are strictly for motivating, encouraging parents, inspiring parents to do better because kids don’t get as much of a voice as adults do, so I want to be that voice for them,” Perry said.
One of the most rewarding parts of running the account is hearing from the people who have changed their parenting styles after watching the videos, he said.
Since beginning the TikTok account, Perry said the videos have also helped his family as he has improved his relationship with his children throughout the process.
“I inspire myself,” Perry said. “My videos are just as much to me as anybody.”
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A ‘true family business’
While all of the family is involved with the TikTok account, Perry said it is his children’s choice on whether or not they want to be creating content.
“It has turned into, everybody’s on payroll, and everybody has a say so in what we do, so nobody is forced to be in any videos whatsoever,” Perry said. “We don’t really put too much out there to make it perfect. It just is what it is. and we’ve kind of learned that those videos do the best that are just real.”
Despite the rise to TikTok fame, Perry said his family has been able to separate their social media presence from their home life. He and his wife have worked from home for the last decade, so nothing changed when the account blew up. The biggest changes have been positive, he said.
Despite the platform, the family’s message will stay the same
In the future, Perry said he and his family plan to continue to spread parenting positivity through TikTok. As some states are beginning to ban the app, Perry said his family will maintain their presence on other apps to inspire others.
When he thinks back to being on TikTok in 2019, Perry remembers acquaintances asking him what he was doing on a kid’s app. He said the ridicule he received at the time was worth it.
“They were late to the party and they wish they would have listened a little bit more back in the day instead of making fun of us and joking around,” Perry said. “But we knew we had a message to spread, and we knew we were making a difference, and as long as we were doing that, it didn’t matter what anybody else said.”
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Kate Perez covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kperez@gannett.com or on Twitter @katecperez_.
