![\"Kathryn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_Chic-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKathryn is back working with Barnardos, which she admits puts everything into perspective, and feels lucky that her two daughters Ellie and Grace are doing so well<\/p>\n
Kathryn Thomas(Image: Marc O’Sullivan)<\/p>\n
Kathryn Thomas <\/a>says \u201cthe days are long but the years are short\u201d as her daughter Grace starts school later this year.<\/p>\n The TV and radio presenter shares daughters Ellie and Grace with husband Padraig McLoughlin <\/a>and can\u2019t quite believe how quickly the past few years have gone.<\/p>\n Kathryn <\/a>says her friends who are mums can also relate.<\/p>\n She told RSVP Live: \u201cThe girls are great. The years are going by so, so quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cEllie is 8 and Grace is 4. Grace is starting school in September.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my friends have kids who are a lot older than mine, because we were late to the table [having children].<\/p>\n \u201cBut the one message when I go out with the girls is the same \u2013 we all say how quickly the years have gone by.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my friends, their kids went into secondary school last year, and my godson did his Junior Cert.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathryn\u2019s brother is home from Australia for a visit, and it has been nice for the family to spend time together.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother lives in Sydney, but is home from Australia at the moment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cLast weekend we all went down to my sister in Wexford.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has an eight month old and a three month old and then I\u2019ve got my girls, and he noticed such a difference, not having been home in two years.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter how many times you do the Zoom calls, the Whatsapps and all that, he couldn\u2019t get over the girls.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so nice to spend time with him. Where does the time go?<\/p>\n \u201cThe days are long and the years are short. Never a truer word spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathryn is once again an ambassador for Barnardos\u2019 23rd annual Big Toddle.<\/p>\n Thousands of children will be putting their walking shoes on to take part in Big Toddle sponsored walks in creches, communities and their own gardens across the country.<\/p>\n This much-loved campaign for pre-school aged children raises vital funds every year to support Barnardos\u2019 Early Years Services.<\/p>\n This is Kathryn\u2019s second year of being involved and it was a no-brainer for the Q102 presenter.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think this is such a gorgeous campaign. It\u2019s very simple but very effective,\u201d she told us.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essentially to raise money for Barnardos\u2019 early years services.<\/p>\n \u201cThey do amazing work with children and young adults, but this is primarily focused on the youngest people in their care.<\/p>\n \u201cThis money is raised by very young children, for very young children.<\/p>\n \u201cAny preschool, creche, playgroup can do a toddle, whether it\u2019s around their local park or playgroup.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very cute, and I\u2019m delighted to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n As a mum<\/a>, working on campaigns such as these puts everything into perspective for Kathryn.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk to the Barnardos team, you hear about the families they support and their stories, you hear about the children in need in this country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about childhood poverty and the extreme conditions people are living in but, when you\u2019re watching the news or reading the paper, those numbers can just start to sound like statistics.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with Barnardos, you\u2019re putting a face to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are families that are struggling, children that are being deprived of a childhood in a lot of instances.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Barnardos do a really good job at shining a light on what\u2019s happening in our town. or city.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are living in dire conditions which affects not only their mental health but their physical health as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a fun campaign, but it reminds us of the people behind the statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n If you would like more information on how to host your own Big Toddle, visit www.barnardos.ie\/barnardosbigtoddle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from RSVP<\/a> ? To add RSVP as a preferred source of news on Google, simply click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kathryn is back working with Barnardos, which she admits puts everything into perspective, and feels lucky that her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,85702],"class_list":["post-494618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kathryn-thomas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}