Sue Radford fans have once again had to jump to the mother-of-22’s defence after she was “shamed” on social media for her parenting style.
Some fans of the 22 Kids and Counting family seemed to deduce the younger Radford children may have taken a sneaky couple of days off school in order to spend a night in London and make an appearance on screen.
Sixteen members of the Radford clan travelled from Morecambe to the capital recently, where they talked about their latest TV project, 22 Kids and a Wedding, on ITV’s This Morning.
Matriarch Sue shared a chaotic behind-the-scenes glimpse as the family made the journey, with all the school-aged children in tow.
Sharing the clip on the family’s Facebook, Sue captioned the video: “Sixteen Radfords travelling down to London on one train! What could possibly go wrong?”
The family’s TV interview took place last Thursday, January 9 – and some detectives in the comments pointed out the children should have been settling back into school following the Christmas holidays.
Some of the 22 Kids and Counting family appeared on This Morning last week
ITV
Lancashire schools did indeed open their doors again on January 6, so the Morecambe-based family had likely returned to classes that week.
“Hello everybody,” Sue greeted through the camera as she and brood waited for their train.
“We are at the train station because we’re going to This Morning programme tomorrow,” the 49-year-old explained.
“We’re just trying to organise the kids because we’ve got eight seats in carriage F or whatever, and then eight in E,” she went on.
The Radford children seemed to take some time off school for the ITV appearance
ITV
Demonstrating the thorough planning that has to go into their family trips, she added: “We’re just like, ‘right, get in groups of eight’.
“You wouldn’t even believe how difficult it was to even do that!”
Taking to the comments section, one couldn’t help but inquire about the youngsters’ education.
“Why aren’t the children in school?” they asked simply, but an army of Radford supporters soon flooded the reply section.
“Not really your business,” one noted, while a second asked: “Are you the school police? Are they your children? Is it any if your business? No, no and NO.”
“Maybe it was because this was on tv last week and some kids were still off school,” another suggested.
“Not all videos are uploaded immediately, some could be weeks old, having a large family it’s not always possible to upload straight away,” someone else pointed out.
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The Radfords have a big online following
YouTube Radford Family
Another theorised: “They would have had to get special permission from the schools.
“No different to child actors/performers although in that case they tend to have home work and a tutor if they are away for any length of time. I should think that this was a one off. Mum and dad are very responsible when it comes to the children’s education.”
“What’s it got to do with you?” another shot back, adding: “Children can have agreed days off school it’s not [illegal].” (sic)
The family are often subjected to criticism about their way of life, with a recent insight into their Christmas sparking some complaints.
Thankfully for the Radfords, who found fame on the Channel 5 documentary series, many had also rushed to support them.