Christine McGuinness feeling 'anxious' as three autistic children head back to school

Christine McGuinness has revealed her three children have now gone back to school after two months of homeschooling, and she's feeling some mixed emotions.

Paddy McGuinness' wife admitted she's feeling some nerves as their children Leo and Penelope, six, and Felicity, four, all of whom have autism, start to adjust back to normal life.

In a post on her Instagram story, she wrote: "Mums famous quote 'I'm fine'.

"It's a mixture of emotions the children visiting school is some normality but it's also so different. I feel happy, sad, anxious, excited!

"But ultimately... I'm a very proud mummy! My little trio have been total superstars."

Christine previously spoke to our sister publication Woman’s Own about how her children have all started regressing since lockdown losing the skills – like self-care, eye contact and speech – that they’ve worked so hard on.

She said: "Their speech isn’t as clear as it was, their eye contact is not as good, they’re shouting rather than just asking for things and that’s just a build-up of a mixture of frustration and lack of routine. It’s a difficult time for everyone, but especially for them."

Christine added: "It’s a very confusing situation. These children thrive on routine, and that’s not there any more."

Christine also told us she and Paddy have never been at home together for as long as lockdown before – describing their relationship as "like passing ships" – and admitted that she’d have thought spending so much time together would have resulted in the end of their marriage.

However, she said it’s actually had quite the opposite effect.

"I thought we’d be killing each other – that we’d be arguing and bickering – but we’re really not," she said. "What we’ve realised is the stuff that we used to bicker about before was always work and who was having the kids, whereas now that’s not happening, we’re absolutely fine. We’re both in the same boat for the first time in our lives, we’re both completely equal, we’re both stay-at-home parents right now. And that’s it. No one’s going anywhere."