Mum-of-22 Sue Radford shares hacks for getting kids to airport on time

Anyone who has children knows that it can be tricky to get them organised, dressed and ready to leave the house in a timely manner.

Lost shoes, tantrums and last minute dithering can add precious minutes to the morning.

But, usually, parents are only struggling with a few kids – unlike Sue Radford who has 22 children.

READ MORE: Mum-of-seven shares packing hacks for travelling with kids this summer

While some of the mega-mum’s have already flown the nest she still has to ferry dozens of little ones out of the door in a practically super-human feat.

But thankfully, she's got the process down to a fine art having gone on 18 holidays in just 20 months – including trips to New York, the Maldives and Disneyland she’s had plenty of practice.

One of Sue’s top tips is to make life easier before you even need to head out of the door.

The mum has to pack 15 suitcases of stuff – so uses packing cubes to make it worthwhile.

She said: “Loads of people ask me on Instagram about these packing bags.

"They are absolutely amazing."

Every child is given their own cube for their clothes and they must done with enough time for mum to pop them in the suitcases – which she manages by rolling clothing so it’s tiny before compressing in the cubes.

That way there’s no faffing on the morning of the trip.

On top of this, Sue makes sure everyone’s outfits for the airport and their carry on bags are laid out and ready the night before.

Plus, she even has lunches packed so they don’t have to buy food at the airport.

When it comes to making it easy as possible to get to the airport from their home in Morecambe, Lancashire, Sue suggests booking a hotel.

She says staying in the airport hotel the night before makes it much easier to get there on time.

Doing so means everyone’s bags are packed and ready and you’re only minutes away from the departures lounge. Plus, kids are far less grumpy when they don’t have to wake up too early!

Finally, Sue adds that getting a hotel breakfast shaves precious time off the morning’s routine.

With so many children cooking, washing up and making sure they eat can take hours.

A hotel will do all the cooking and washing up for you. So you can head straight to the airport.

Sue Radford, 48, and husband Noel, 52, have children: Chris, 34, Sophie, 29, Chloe, 28, Jack, 26, Daniel, 24, Luke, 22, Millie, 21, Katie, 20, James, 19, Ellie, 18, Aimee, 17, Josh, 16, Max, 14, Tillie, 13, Oscar, 11, Casper, 10, Hallie, eight, Phoebe, seven, Archie, five, Bonnie, four, and Heidie, three.

The family lives in a converted care home in Lancashire and support their expensive family on the proceeds from their pie shop and their media appearances and social media. The huge brood even has their own TV show on Channel 5.

Sue and Noel insist that planning holidays is the hardest part of their lives. The mum claims it’s very tricky to "get everybody together" for such plans. As eight of their 22 children are adults we can see it being difficult!

On their YouTube channel, Sue and Noel explained their point in a Q&A with fans. In reply to someone asking what the most difficult part of raising their children was, Sue said: "The worst thing I think is just like…"

"House work," Noel interjected.

Sue agreed, but added: "Yeah… And washing. But no, I think it’s like planning holidays and going out on day trips and stuff and making sure everybody is all together. I think that’s probably the hardest part."

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