By his own admission, Jeff Brazier has been looking forward to the start of school. As a single parent to sons Bobby, 12, and 10-year-old Freddie, folllowing the death of their mother Jade Goody in 2009, he has had a busy summer juggling being a dad with his many work commitments."We've had au pairs over the years, but I haven't had one for the last nine months," the 36-year-old told the MailOnline. "We didn't have a good experience last time – she smoked and argued with her boyfriend every day on the phone."
Jeff Brazier: "I've morphed into something quite different from your average dad"
Understandably, Jeff wants to protect his boys from any unnecessary upset. Bobby was just five, and Freddie was four when their mother passed away. "I've morphed into something quite different from your average dad," he admitted. "I'm probably far more sensitive to their feelings and I'm far more aware of when they need emotional support. "There are little side effects of my situation where you become really good at doing quite a lot on your own. I've got an ability to push myself beyond tiredness because if I don't do it, it doesn't get done."
In an interview with HELLO! Online last month, Jeff explained how the family set aside one day every month to focus on remembering Jade together."We always talk about Jade and always do things to celebrate her life, which is the way we like to look at it," he said. "We always try and make the 15th but if we're doing something that day then we say 14th or 16th. "We always try and maintain that standard so we know that we're doing everything that we can for us, because we know that expressing how we feel and talking about mummy is a good thing for us to do."
Jeff's approach certainly seems to be paying off, with both little boys described as "very happy" and "very social"."I have an eldest who is very much like his mum in a lot of respects and I have a youngest who everyone is like 'who is he more like?' But to be honest, I think he's his own creation," said proud Jeff, who has been in a relationship with girlfriend Kate Dwyer since early 2014."What I love most about Fred is he literally cannot hold a grudge for more than a minute without him wanting to forget about it and move on, and that's a really beautiful trait."