TAKE ME OUT presenter Paddy McGuinness has three children.
Very often, McGuinness speaks about his twins Penelope and Leo, who happen to have autism. This week, he managed to bring the four-year-old twins on their first ever holiday and spoke about the experience on Instagram.
Being parents with autistic children, for us, family holidays have been a pipe dream until now! After 4 and a half years, we’ve finally conquered a family holiday to Preston!!!
We managed two days there, which for us, was massive. We had to take so much stuff but to see our kids having fun was well worth it. We had our own little bungalow/chalet which was great.
McGuinness went on to encourage other parents not to give up on activities like holidays:
If you’re a parent dealing with autism on a daily basis, please don’t give up hope on things like holidays. It was a hell of a long time getting there but we did it. Now all I need to do is sleep for a week!!
Paddy and his wife Christine packed two cars full of the supplies they needed for their kids, which included luggage, pillows and bedding.
Parents applauded Paddy and spoke about their own struggles trying to organise holidays. One Instagram user wrote:
Fantastic. Holidays for us are usually six months prep, with social stories, visuals, family back-up, short videos, ear defenders, iPads and chargers at the ready.
And another parent said that the scene of Paddy’s car was very amusing to them:
Made me laugh, it looks like when we go down to Cornwall, our son has autism and he takes his own suitcase down which is full of his teddies, his stuff, plus duvets, pillows. Car full to the brim. Well done for going, it’s really hard but so worth it seeing our son’s face when we get to the caravan is priceless.
