SUE and Noel Radford’s latest series of 22 Kids and Counting ended last month.
But fans have been treated to a special episode where the parents of Britain’s biggest family sit down and share their 22 most important life lessons.
In the episode, which airs tomorrow evening at 8pm on Channel 5, Sue and Noel look back at several moments and memories.
One of which is a trip to Alton Towers when they experienced what they called “a parent’s absolute worst nightmare”.
Whether you have one child or 22, keeping watch over them on fun days out can be impossible.
Sue said: “When you have so many kids to keep an eye on, when you’re out and about, or you’re on holiday, you really do have to have eyes in the back of your head.
“We usually do try and keep them in an area we can see them.”
“[But] it’s like herding cats,” Noel remarked and Sue said: “We always say that don’t we?”
Noel continued: “They’re off! They want to run off in all different directions.”
The mum-of-22 explained: “So when we went to Alton Towers once, and Hallie and Phoebe disappeared – oh my goodness.
“That is a parent’s absolute worst nightmare.”
A clip from the day was shown and Sue said: “They were right there and now I don’t know where they’ve gone.”
Noel was then heard shouting his daughter’s names but they were nowhere to be seen.
The parents usually manage their big brood by Noel being at the front, “making sure none of them are running off ahead and Sue’s at the back making sure none of them are lagging behind”.
But with this particular moment when Hallie and Phoebe wandered off at the theme park, Sue said she went “into panic mode”.
“Your heart feels like it’s going to come out of your chest.
“It was the worst few minutes ever,” and Noel said “it felt like forever”.
Noel went onto explain how “Sue stayed put with all the kids and myself and some of the older ones ran off in different directions looking for them”.
The old clip then showed Sue receiving a phone call: “Have you got them? Oh my God Noel, where the hell are they?”
Looking back, Noel said: “All the worst thoughts go through your head, somebody’s picked them up and run off with them, snatched them.”
Fortunately, Phoebe and Hallie had stuck together.
Sue commented: “When we saw them walking over the hill, it was like ‘Oh my God’.
“Honestly it was awful, awful, wasn’t it?” And Noel agreed it was.
With 22 kids, Sue and Noel have learnt a lot over the years.
Who is the stricter parent? Sue
Who is the naughtiest child? Archie
Do you prefer being parents or grandparents? Grandparents, you can spoil them more, and give them back at the end of the day!
What’s one thing you can’t teach your kids? Driving lessons, don’t even attempt to do them with your kids, it’s not worth it.
What’s something you’ve never told your children? We’ve never sat down with any of the kids and told them ‘this is how babies are made’. We’ve never had that conversation.
What’s your best parenting hack? Turn chores into games – making them fun to get them involved and help out.
How do you manage arguments and disagreements? There’s always someone falling out with someone else. When they get older, they have their own own opinions, and arguments get heated and last longer. We try to listen to them both, be the reasonable one, and get them to see it from both sides.
