Channing Tatum joins the adventure

Channing Tatum would put his daughter Everly to bed, then sometimes sneak back into her room with a different plan. At his Ohio farm, they would dress up, head to the barn and make art for exactly forty minutes. Then father and daughter would run back and sneak inside again. He called their surprise adventure “Night Ninja.”¹

Explaining their game in 2021, Tatum said that Everly knew he would care for her, but also that they could get up to mischief together. He liked being the person who could start an adventure, as well as the one reminding her about showers, teeth and dinner.¹

That confidence had taken time. Early in his life as a single father, he remembered sitting by Everly’s bedroom door when she could not sleep. He worried that he would not know how to give her what she needed. His answer that night was to stay: “Hey, I’m here. I’m here. We’re gonna get through this.” He sat there until she fell asleep and began to feel that he could manage the job.²

Learning her world

Some of the preparation was practical. When Tatum learned he was having a daughter, he went to YouTube to learn how to braid hair. Later, getting Everly ready for preschool became a small source of pride: this was something he had figured out how to do.³

Other moments were harder to prepare for. Everly had a poncho that made her look like a slice of watermelon when she spread her arms. She loved it. One morning, as they were leaving for preschool, she suddenly wanted to change. Tatum asked: “Why? You love it. You love that thing. It’s awesome.” Then she explained that she was afraid the other children would laugh at her. He realized he was watching her begin to worry about how other people saw her.³

The moment stayed with him and helped inspire his first Sparkella book. By 2023, he had written three stories about a girl and her dad. He wanted a father who could be responsible and playful, instead of the familiar character who could not manage breakfast or his child’s hair. “I just want to make something different and offer up a different perspective on the dad,” he said.⁴

He was still dressing up with Everly, too. Shortly before that interview, they had gone to a Renaissance fair with Tatum in a wizard-like robe and horns. He described face paint and painted nails as ordinary parts of how they played together.⁴

The birdhouse he could not plan for

In 2022, Tatum described a project that tested more than his willingness to dress up. Everly wanted to build a birdhouse. She arrived with firm ideas about its appearance, colors, levels and how it would hang. He could see that much of it would not work with the materials they had. He also knew how fiercely she wanted to make her version.⁵

He did not know how to explain all the problems in advance, so they worked through them together. The day involved frustration and patience. The finished birdhouse delighted them both, though Tatum was not sure a bird would choose to live in it; they had not even hung it in a tree. What mattered to him was learning to stay with her through the project: “just go on the journey.”⁵

His approach to play was similarly direct: “My experience was to go into her world and be there with her.” If Everly wanted dragons or witches, he could find himself a part. The game did not have to begin with his interests or his expertise.⁶

He also admitted that some afternoons he was exhausted. Everly would ask him to play and he would have very little inventiveness left. She could tell when he was going through the motions. Tatum understood why a parent coming home from work might not have the energy for dress-up; being an actor did not give him an endless supply either.⁶

Their smaller traditions had their own place. Every Father’s Day, Everly painted him a pair of Converse. He wore her extravagant designs to school. She could see her work on his feet as they went about an ordinary day.¹

When she called him back

One night, Everly kept calling Tatum back into her bedroom. He knew her usual bedtime negotiations: another story, another reason for him to stay. He thought she might be trying that again, though something felt different. Then she began to cry.⁷

Recounting the night in 2023, he said she had taken a little toy car from school. She was frightened that telling him would get her expelled or make him call the police. He reassured her that neither was going to happen. “Look, you’re not gonna be in trouble as long as you tell me the truth,” he remembered saying. Once she explained, he could see her relief.⁷

The dad who sometimes returned after bedtime with an adventure also came back when the conversation was difficult. He stayed long enough to find out what she needed: someone to hear the thing she was afraid to say. He made room for it.⁷