Parents control their 11 kids with ‘military’ routine that takes hours to prepare

17 January 2020, 11:14 | Updated: 17 January 2020, 11:26

This family spends hours in the kitchen making sure their children are prepped for the day ahead.

After a busy festive period, everyone likes to get organised in January.

But these parents push things to the extreme, as they take inspiration from the military when it comes to looking after their kids.

Zoe Sullivan and her husband Ben live with their 11 kids - Elizabeth, 14, Olivia, 12, Noah, Evangeline, Tobias, Agnes and Joseph and twins, Charlotte and Isabelle and Leah and Erin - in Scotland.

Appearing on an episode of ‘Me & My 10 kids’ broadcast on 5star, RAF engineer Ben said he uses the discipline he learnt from his work in the armed forces to influence his parenting style.

In the show, him and his wife could be seen in the kitchen preparing and labelling their kids’ lunches to make sure everything runs smoothly.

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Speaking about mealtimes, Ben told the cameras: “The quantities are measured equally and they are issued accordingly – according to rank in the house and age.

“Everybody knows where they’ve got to be and what they’ve got to be doing at any given time.”

Even the kids help out with chores, as Zoe added: "We are completely a team. If we don’t work together as a team, none of this would work.”

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When it comes to family outings, things are just as organised, as the mum and dad could be seen splitting their 11 kids into their people-carriers for a trip to the beach.

While Zoe took the younger kids, Ben was in charge of driving the oldest of the bunch.

Despite their hours of prep, the picnic by the sea was almost ruined when it started raining, with Ben revealing he couldn’t afford to treat the family to lunch in a cafe.

He said: “The hardest thing about having 11 children is the financial side of things. It’s having enough money to do what you want to do.

“That’s the one thing I’d say that I wish I could improve is our budget.”

Luckily, the clouds cleared away and the family enjoyed their lunch in the garden at home.