As Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools woke up on Wednesday to a new decade, the doting parents reflected on their five children. And Jools admitted to being emotional as she thought about the year ahead, and how their oldest daughter Poppy, 17, is planning to go to university in September. Admitting it was something she had been dreading in a heartfelt Instagram post, the Little Bird designer wrote: "Happy happy new year, the year I have thought about for a long time! This year Poppy will hopefully pursue her dreams and head off for uni. When she was little I would often think of how it would feel when this moment arrived and jeez I never thought it would feel this emotional"
Jools Oliver admitted she was emotional about her oldest child going off to university this year
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The doting mum continued: "Still a few months to go yet so will just soak up everything whilst I can including this little moment. Wishing happiness and love for 2020 xxx." The post was accompanied by a photo of Poppy cuddling her little brother River, three, as he poked his hands in her eyes. Jools' followers were quick to sympathise with her in the comments section, with one writing: "Be proud that you've raised such lovely young ladies in Poppy and Daisy. Happy New Year," while another wrote: "I bet you didn't believe it would go so quickly either! Time flies." A third added: "I am in the same situation with my daughter. My emotions are like being on a roller coaster. Happy New Year to you and your family."
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Jamie Oliver with his wife Jools and their five children
The Olivers enjoyed spending the festive season together, and Jools helped ensure that her children made special memories over the Christmas holidays. Encouraging her youngest three, Petal, nine, Buddy, seven, and River, to think of others, the doting mum got them all to participate in the Giving Manger project, which saw them all complete an act of kindness each day in the run-up to Christmas Day. Each time they did something, they added another strand of straw into a miniature manger, until it was filled.
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Jools opened up about the incentive on Instagram, and revealed that her children had took it upon themselves to make biscuits for their neighbours. Alongside a photo of Buddy holding a plate of sweet treats in a local shop, she wrote: "This wonderful time of year where giving and being generous not just in gifts but in time and in spirit, starting our giving manger this year the children were excited but after a few weeks really very few acts of kindness were completely! It just seemed so hard to be able to claim at the end of the day that we had done anything worthy of laying the straw in the manger...ridiculous!"
She continued: "So we decided to really give it a go this week and actually stop saying we don’t have time or any other excuses! Desperately trying to teach the children it’s just all about ‘kindness’ that’s it, that’s all that matters it’s the ONLY thing that will ever matter! So the little ones baked biscuits and took them to our lovely neighbours and in to the village. The best thing about it all was how happy it actually made them, it’s a two-way thing!!! Plus I have never been offered so many cups of tea in my life!!!! Let’s hope we get there before Christmas Day."
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