Jonathan and Hedy | Glenfield
Jonathan: “Hedy, where do you call home?
Hedy: New Zealand.
Jonathan: New Zealand, there you go. I’m Jonathan Goodchild. This is Hedy Goodchild, and yeah Auckland is home.
Can you share a happy memory with us?
Hedy: I’m having a date with him.
Jonathan: Oh, having a date with me. Very cool. That was the other day, actually. We had a dinner; a lunch date.
Hedy: Yeah, a burger date.
Jonathan: A burger lunch date.
Hedy: It was at Burger King.
Jonathan: No, Burger Fuel. There’s a difference.
Hedy: Burger Fuel. We had Burger Fuel. Jonny gave me a selection and I chose Burger Fuel. I wanted to be with him.
Jonathan: Yes. She calls me Jonny. She’s always done it. I am her biological father.
Hedy: I call him Jonathon, Jonny or Dad.
Jonathan: We were out with my wife and her parents, and they were going for ramen and I didn’t fancy it, so I said to Hedy, what would you like to do, come and have burgers with me, or have ramen with Mum and her parents, and she chose burgers with me, which is a wise choice.
We’re both Kiwi now. She was born one and I’ve been naturalised. This is a few years ago, but I’m from London originally. I came over after university in the UK, met a Kiwi girl, came over, usual story, and we broke up and then I met her mum and we got married, and her mum’s from China. New Zealand is a far better place to live than either China or the UK, in our opinions, and so here we are.
It’s a joy [being a Dad] yeah. That’s only a very recent thing.
Hedy: I love Jonny. He’s my best parent, ever.
Jonathan: It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done by a million miles and I’m very happy to tell anyone who will listen, who’s having kids; be aware – it’s horrible – it’s so hard, if you’re doing it properly, horrible, but it’s really good now.
Hedy: First time I am the baby I didn’t like Jonny, even if he had everything for me.
Jonathan: For the first two and a half years she hated me. I mean, it was just constant. You know, it was a thankless task. Really hard work and then we were in Australia on holiday and she was two and a half, and everything just changed overnight and I became the favourite, and it’s been like that ever since, thank God. It’s been much better, but I think some people they either naturally just like young babies and children enough that they bond with them immediately. I don’t know how they do it. They’re better than me, but for me, now she’s got a personality.”
