Early rise? We have three small children: twins, age 4, and Logan, age 6. I wake up early every day, but never on purpose. At 5:30 a.m., the kids climb into bed and on top of me. I make up stories about them having adventure trips until dawn.
Sunday breakfast? Banana pancakes with yogurt and fruit. I often mix the ingredients the night before because we have five pans. It’s amazing how many pancakes my kids can eat for their weight. They can eat half an elephant’s worth of pancakes while I sip on a strong coffee.
Your morning routine? All three of my children, including my daughter, go to the local rugby club. I played there for 15 years and now I volunteer as a kids’ coach. Every Sunday there are 70-80 kids running around like mad learning the game. It’s a lot of fun.
Going out on a Sunday? We live on the River Thames. On a nice day, even in the middle of winter, we pack a big canoe with a delicious picnic of sandwiches and hot chocolate and paddle out to the riverside beach. As we drift, we spot kingfishers and crested grebes. The twins know the names of more water birds than the average adult. Sometimes our expeditions last three or four hours. My kids start to go a little crazy if they’re cooped up in a cage for too long. They need to get outside.
Sunday entertainment? My wife Helen [Glover, professional rower]and I’m pretty strict when it comes to TV. No screen time unless absolutely necessary. When we get home we play board games, do creative projects like painting giant pictures on rolls of wallpaper, or invent our own games. We’ve been playing a lot of Blind Man’s Assault courses lately.
Do you have time for yourself? No. Helen is away a lot. She is currently training for the Olympics so she doesn’t get any rest from the kids. Even though it’s tiring, Sundays are her favorite day of the week.
Do you go to bed early? Yes, my kids have trouble falling asleep. They go to bed at 7pm but usually don’t get to sleep until 8:30pm. I spend most of that time tidying up and they’re fast asleep by 9pm.
Do you take Sundays off? I have a bath, tell the children a story and then sing the Welsh national anthem before lights out at 7pm – the children sing along even though they don’t know the words.
Steve Backshall’s Ocean tours the UK from 19th October to 3rd November (Source)
