HERRIMAN — When Seth King's oldest daughter became consistently late for middle school two years ago, he did the first thing that came to mind: He wrote a note to excuse her tardiness and included a wildly exaggerated explanation.

"Just on a whim, I thought, 'I’m going to embarrass her with this note because she’s going to have to give it to the attendance office. And hopefully it will be a little harder for her to give this note to them rather than a please-excuse-Isabella-for-being-late note,'" King said.

But what started on a whim has become a standard consequence for King's five children: Isabella, 15; Carson, 13; Sophia, 10; Nolan, 6; and Liam 3.

"We are parents that love our children more than anything, but we also love to have fun, and my wife has a great sense of humor," King said.

About six months ago, King wrote a particularly creative note and sent a picture of it to his wife, Angela, who decided to start documenting each note. She created an Instagram account called latenotes and began posting what her husband wrote.

The Instagram account, which was originally just for family and friends, quickly gained a following. The account now has more than 95,000 followers, and King and his notes have been featured on Today.com, HuffingtonPost.com, abcnews.com and many other websites.

"I’ve only written about 30 late notes in the last two years, about 30, so if you divide that by five kids, six each, that’s not terrible," King said. "So all the people out there who are shouting from the rooftop like, ‘These are terrible parents!’ they can relax a little bit. We’re trying our best. But we also have five kids. I feel like I’m trying to manage an island of people."

King's unusual strategy for encouraging punctuality paid off; his daughter Isabella has learned to be on time.

"Mission accomplished," King said. "She is almost militaristic on time now. I think she got into some good habits of getting up, getting things taken care of so she doesn’t get a late note."

Now that King's older children have gotten the message, he's writing late notes for his kids in elementary school.

"It is like trying to wake a grizzly bear during hibernation to get those two elementary school kids awake right now," King said. "I don’t know how parents do it. ... It’s a challenge that I never saw coming. I appreciate my mom and dad so much more than I did when I was a kid because, man, it’s hard."

To help their family stay close as they navigate challenges together, King and his wife incorporate humor into their everyday lives, whether through late notes or other methods, such as the time King dressed up as a leprechaun and picked his daughter up from school on St. Patrick's Day.

"Whatever it takes to kind of let them know, ‘Hey, I want to be involved in your life, and I’m not going to let you out of my sight as long as I can. I want to make sure you’re taken care of,’” King said. "I try to not push it too far. I want them to know I love them, but I also don’t want it to be a scarring experience. But first and foremost, they need to understand the priority they are in my existence."

For King, being a parent doesn't necessarily mean being perfect, but it does mean reassuring his kids that he'll always be there for them.

"They keep us on our toes, but it is a blast to be a parent to my five little rug rats," King said. "I hope they appreciate it, and I hope they know that we are doing everything we can to support them in their efforts. … I can’t say enough about my kids, and I just want to be the best kind of parent that I can be."

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