SINGAPORE — Not content with being entertainment personalities, celebrity couple Kate Pang and Andie Chen are now aspiring parenting gurus.

They have taken their passion project Kandie Network (http://www.kandienetwork.com), which started out as a YouTube channel offering parenting tips, and relaunched it as a comprehensive website, which Chen dubbed “a parenting encyclopedia”.

“It’s a platform that helps new parents solve all their problems,” explained Pang, while Chen quipped that husbands who consult it “won’t get scolded so often” by their wives.

The site features blog posts and episodic videos that will be released every Monday. These cover various parenting topics. In Mummy University, for example, Pang, Chen and their one-and-a-half-year-old son Aden show what to do — and not to do — when your toddler has a fever. They also get topical tips from childcare experts.

In Kandie’s Kitchen, Pang and Chen demonstrate a simple recipe for your baby’s first meal; while House Of Kandie is more like a reality style video blog documenting Pang’s journey as a mum-to-be.

Although they have help from friends and a production company, Chen shared that a lot of the work is done by Pang and himself, including directing the videos, which they take turns to do; and scripting, which Pang does.

They also get the props and secure filming locations themselves. “I do most of the editing myself,” said Pang.

With Chen acting full-time — he is currently filming for the Mediacorp TV Channel 8 drama If Only I Could — and Pang, who not only takes care of Aden but is well into her second pregnancy, finding time to work on Kandie Network is a challenge for the couple.

“I end work at 7pm and I have three hours to edit videos before I go to bed and report for work at 6am,” Chen said.

But the self-generated project gives the pair a unique sense of satisfaction.

“After you have been acting for a while, you realise that (the show) is not completely yours,” Chen said. “If you’re lucky, you get a good script and a good director, and there’s a lot of synergy, but that’s a luxury, and it doesn’t happen all the time.

“The only way to do something that you feel is meaningful is to create it from nothing.”

Pang said that from a mother’s perspective, the ideal situation would be combining work with childcare.

“If we can make some money out of this project, that would be even better,” she said, sharing that they had invested a five-figure sum in equipment for Kandie Network.

“I’m thinking, if we are really going to do this, let’s do it properly,” Chen said, adding that since Pang has proven excellent at mastering effective parenting techniques, she has the potential to become a parenting life coach. “If our two kids grow up to be role models and not, like, mutants,” he quipped.

“I just do my homework. I was clueless at first, too, but ... I hope to raise him well and not cause trouble for myself,” said Pang. “I’m still learning a lot as we go along.”

header: Aden Chen, leading man extraordinaire

Is Kandie Network’s leading man a diva? Does he drink only Perrier and throw tantrums? We asked Kandie Network’s directors and producers Andie Chen and Kate Pang about their experience working with their fresh new talent Aden Chen.

Q: Some leading men can be demanding and difficult. What is Aden like to work with?

Kate Pang: He’s very cooperative. He understands some instructions. For example, one episode required him to hit his daddy and when we asked him to do it, he actually did. He’s quite well-behaved and he doesn’t throw tantrums. So, I think his performance is excellent. He’s quite something.

Andie Chen: He’ll give us what we want. I’m quite amazed sometimes.

Q: Is Aden nice to his co-stars?

Andie Chen: Not very nice to me leh. (Laughs)

Kate Pang: He’s okay. At first, I didn’t want to write Aden into the scripts because I thought it would be troublesome filming a child. But then I realised it lacked life. He’s better to look at (than us).

Q: Is Aden now eclipsing you in popularity?

Andie Chen: He has always been quite popular. Sometimes, when he’s out with his grandparents, people will say, “Hey, you’re Aden, right? Can we take a photo with Aden?” I think he’s a lot more popular than I am. For example, if I post a picture (of him) on my social networks — whoa, everybody loves him. If I put up a selfie, it’s like, “Nope, nobody cares. Next.”