‘I remember when my children would never dress up’ Christine McGuinness shares picture of her autistic children in costumes for the first time for World Book Day as they overcome fears
Christine McGuinness paid tribute to her children on Wednesday as they made their first attempt at dressing up for World Book Day, having previously found dressing up too confusing and upsetting due to having autism.
The former model, 33, revealed eight year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and five year-old Felicity, who have all been diagnosed with autism, dressed up in celebration of World Book Day for the first time this year.
Channeling characters from Toy Story, Super Mario and Snow White, the snap showed the children turned away from the camera in their outfits.
Fancy dress: Christine McGuinness shared a heartwarming post on Wednesday to Instagram about her three children – eight year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and five year-old Felicity
Proud Mum: Christine said her ‘heart smiled’, as she shared the image to her 649k Instagram followers
Christine captioned the image: ‘My heart just smiled. This morning I have a very happy ‘Jessie’ from toy story, a beautiful ‘Snow white’ and fabulous ‘Super Mario’ for #WorldBookDay’
‘I remember when my children would never dress up because the costumes where too itchy, (I still have to put soft layers underneath) but they wouldn’t even touch the fabric!’
‘And just seeing other children wearing costumes would totally confuse and upset them. Now they understand, we prepare and they enjoy World book day.’
Proud: The former model revealed that the children, who she shares with husband Paddy McGuinness, dressed up in celebration of World Book Day for the first time this year
Sharing her pride to her 649k followers, the Real Housewives Of Cheshire star explained that the children don’t usually dress up for World Book Day, due to the materials of the costumes.
Children with Autism can have differing sensory systems, meaning they can be over sensitive to certain itchy or scratchy materials – with Christine revealing she had to put soft layers underneath the costume material.
The mum-of-three often posts sweet images of her children, being open to her followers about how the family copes with their autism.
Family Time: The mum-of-three often posts sweet images of her children, being open to her followers about how the family deals with their autism
Inside look: The family recently released their BBC documentary, Our Family And Autism, which showed Paddy and Christine meet other parents, experts and people on the autism spectrum
Paddy and Christine have been married since 2011, after meeting at a Liverpool Tennis Tournament in 2007.
The family recently released their BBC documentary, Our Family And Autism, which showed Paddy and Christine meet other parents, experts and people on the autism spectrum.
In the show, the couple detailed the judgement children and people with autism can face – admitting the tough reality.
The show also featured Christine’s diagnosis with the development disease, which she found out she had in 2021.
Happy couple: Paddy and Christine have been married since 2011, after meeting at a Liverpool Tennis Tournament in 2007
Pressures: The documentary showed how the couple deal with the outside judgement of having children with autism too