AS SCHOOLS reopen, you may think you have a lot to get ready – but even with 22 children Sue Radford is organised.
With 8 of her kids attending four different schools, Noel and Sue Radford have no choice but to prepare their morning routines in advance.
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As Britain’s biggest family, Sue and Noel have eight children in school, two of them in college and Max, who is diagnosed with autism, in secondary.
There are currently 19 children living under the parent’s roof, including Millie, 19, who lives at home after giving birth to her first child Ophelia last September.
Inside their 10-bedroom house lives Chloe, 25, Jack, 23, Daniel, 21, Luke, 20, Katie, 18, James, 17, Ellie, 15, Aimee, 14, Josh, 13, Max, 12, Tillie, 10, Oscar, nine, Casper, eight, Hallie, five, Phoebe, four, Archie, three, Bonnie, two, and Heidie who was born last April.
The eldest children, Chris, 31, and Sophie 26, have moved out of the family home.
Sadly the couple’s 17th child, Alfie, was stillborn on July 6, 2014.
On their Instagram account theradfordfamily, the two parents give an insight into their busy schedule, and how they keep organised.
In their latest post, the couple uploaded a photo of folded school uniforms, school shoes and drinking bottles.
“And just like that, the summer holidays are over. So sad they are going back to school tomorrow but we’ve had the best summer holidays” captioned the post.
The post, which was shared with over 400 K followers on the family’s Instagram account was met with a range of comments of good wishes for the Radfords.
“Good luck to them all” commented one person.
Another said: “Such a lovely family.”
In the Channel 4 documentary ‘22 kids and counting’ which was aired last year, the Morecambe-based couple was open about how busy life can be being Britain’s largest family.
Sue said: “We’ve got the uniforms to sort out which we get once a year and the dreaded shoe bill.”
“Sometimes you can reuse a PE kit because it still fits them from the year before but definitely not the uniforms, they just get a bit shabby” she added.
The uniform bill sets the couple back about £418 a year. Despite the cost, and chaos of two school runs every morning, Sue is happy when her children are at school.
“I think it’s nice for them to get the normality back into their lives,” she says.
Sue added: “They need their friends and their schooling, they need their routine back.”
Relying heavily on routine, Noel said that the family struggled majorly during the pandemic when the children could not be in school.
During the lockdown, Noel said: “Six or seven weeks for summer is hard enough but we’re getting on to six months now. It’s just a nightmare.”
If interested in mum organisation tips you will love this one on a mum hack to help your kids to stop losing their marker lids.
Also, watch this hilarious video of how one mum gives a very honest account of parenthood.
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