Dec Donnelly has made a rare comment about life as a parent during his latest TV appearance. The presenter joined his sidekick Ant McPartlin on This Morning on Thursday (May 26) when he shared the sweet thing he and his wife do with their daughter every day.
The Geordie duo were talking to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about their new book, Propa Happy. The fun-filled guide to feeling good helps to raise vital funds for the NSPCC and is created alongside the charity's '‘Pass the Positivity' campaign.
"This is our first children's book and we got chatting with the NSPCC and we wanted to do something for Childhood Day this year which is on the 10th of June," Dec explained on the ITV daytime show.
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"We came up with the idea of putting together a book which is all about making kids proper happy. We’ve all had a tough time over the pandemic, kids especially, and we wanted to put together a guide of games and activities and things to help explore how you’re feeling."
The TV star, who became a dad in 2018, continued: "Honestly we were putting this together and it's not all nonky advice from our tiny brains, we've done it with a child psychologist as well and the NSPCC and they guided us and helped us, so it's all really good practical advice as well.
"But we got loads out of it as well, just gratitude lists and things like that. Just stopping at the end of every day and thinking about the how good a day you've had and the positive things."
Sharing how it has impacted him and his wife, Ali, Dec added: "And we do it with Isla now at night time, we'll sit there and talk about the nice things we've done during the day and it really has an effect on me as well when we do that."
Dec and his wife Ali Astall, who got married in August 2015 welcomed their daughter Isla back in September 2018 but the pair keep their little girl out of the spotlight and rarely talk about family life. However, in a book he released with his hosting partner Ant, Dec revealed how becoming a father transformed him as now "everything he does is for her".
Writing in his 2020 book Once Upon A Tyne, Dec said: "Becoming a dad has completely transformed me. At first, like all expectant parents, I didn’t truly understand how much it was going to change me. I just thought it was another little person coming to live in the house…
"It opened up a whole other side to me, a side I didn’t know existed. I felt a love that I didn’t realise it was possible to feel. Everything I do, every day, is for my daughter now."
