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'Never again': Grandpa's hilarious text messages while babysitting go viral

By Naomi White|

T?here's a fine balance that's needed between too few จC and too many จC updates when someone else is caring for your child.

Many parents appreciate a babysitting check-in or update - a quick photo of the kids looking happy can do wonders to calm a parent's nerves.?

But this grandpa, John, went to extremes, bombarding his daughter Molly Madfis, 37, and her husband, Gideon, 42, with texts throughout their three-day babymoon.

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John, aka Poppy, and Arlo. (Instagram)

Asking the couple, from Los Angeles, everything from how to make toast to how to store pizza while caring for their son Arlo, five.?

Taking to TikTok to share the exchanges, ?Molly captioned it: "Never again."

In the clip we ?see John ('Poppy' to Arlo) leaving to take Arlo to school 30 minutes late - without a schoolbag.

Then Molly shares his many toaster-related questions - from how to use it, to the setting he chose to how it turned out. He then asks where things are in her fridge, and checks in to see whether he should refrigerate leftover pizza.

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Grandpa texts. (TikTok)

But when it came time for the update she really needed - a photo of Arlo, he'd apparently hit text fatigue, telling her the ultimate dad reply, saying: "Why, you know what he looks like?"

Eventually calling a babysitter to give him a hand, she then asks them to take a sneaky photo of her dad in grandpa mode, only to be sent a photo of him drinking a beer.?

Her clip has since gone viral, so far notching up more than 1.2 million views. Many of her followers have also shared their own hilariously bad stories of babysitter mishaps.

"I asked my father-in-law for a pic of my baby so he sent me a pic that I sent him of her last week?," said one.

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John's texts covered everything from how to use a toaster to food hygiene. (TikTok)

"My father-in-law was house/kid/dog sitting for us and husband opened Facebook and saw our two dogs' pic in our neighborhood group asking if anyone knew who they belonged to?," shared another.

Others appreciated his nonchalant attitude.

"Dad needs a babysitter," joked one. "Do we have the same dad?," quipped another.

As Molly, who has since had their second child, Izzy, told TODAY, ?she and Gideon had anticipated a few questions, but not to that level.

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Molly and Gideon with their kids Arlo, five, and baby Izzy. (Instagram)

?"Arlo worships my dad," she said.TODAY.com "But I was a little nervous about leaving them alone together. My dad is pretty co-dependent กช like, he'll go to CVS [a US pharmacy chain] and then call me eight times with different questions."

Rrvealing that her dad didn't really do a bedtime routine the first night, things improved once they had the sitter there.

"At first my dad was actually kind of mad that we had our babysitter come and help. But after we got back, he thanked us," she told TODAY.

And her dad is loving his new-found fame. ?

"He loves the limelight," Madfis said. "He was like, 'Am I going to get more followers?'"?

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The couple's babymoon ended up being anything but relaxing. (TikTok)

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