Three-year-old Adia Leidums has become popular on her dad's social media accounts for her pep talks to herself as she learns to ski.
Image Credit: Instagram/thatmountainlife
March 20, 2021 - 8:00 PM
Fernie dad Erich Leidums saw his online audience skyrocket this year after videos showing his daughter coaching herself while skiing went viral.
Leidums, Courtney Haeusler and their three children were recently featured on CNN for their large online audience and spoke about their outdoorsy mountain lifestyle, calling themselves anti-helicopter parents.
Leidums has documented his adventurous life with his three children on his social media channels, called That Mountain Life for the last two and a half years. But it was a video featuring his three-year-old Adia Leidums talking to herself through a microphone as she zipped down the mountain that caused his Instagram audience to skyrocket from 3,000 to 75,000 followers since February, he said.
One video of Adia on his Instagram Reels account has been seen more than 8 million times.
“I think it’s great because as much of the content about cute, adorable kids growing up in the mountains, I’m trying to weave in some more meaningful messaging,” he said. “It’s just that idea of giving them room to be kids and allowing them to fumble and fall… I think (that's) the recipe for competent and confident kids.”
Leidums used to be an outdoor educator, taking kids on multi-day outdoor expeditions, he said.
His other two sons used to talk to themselves when they were learning how to ski when they were toddlers and he got the idea to record Adia in this way from a hockey player who put a microphone on his child at a hockey practice.
He doesn’t pretend his life is perfect and documents the fall-downs, arguments and challenges his family experiences in the outdoors.
“I want to be consciously sharing meaningful content and that involves it to be a bit more real and not perfect and polished,” he said.
The family can be seen on CNN and through Leidums’ Instagram and YouTube channels.
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