EXCLUSIVE: Candice Warner shares the hilarious reason why her daughter doesn’t want to go to school

Former champion ironwoman, Candice Warner may have endured extreme physical challenges in SAS Australia but it’s her role as a mum-of-three kids which is currently keeping her busy.

The 35-year-old and her husband, Australian cricket star, David Warner share daughters, Ivy Mae, six, Indi Rae, five, and 18 month old, Isla Rose.

With her two eldest daughters preparing for school, Ivy is going into Year One and Indi is starting kindergarten, Candice is gearing up for a busy year ahead.

“Indi’s starting school this year and she’s a very confident person but she’s a little anxious,” Candice tells Bounty Parents.

“Not because she doesn’t think she’s ready but because she doesn’t like her school uniform!”

But the former Australian ironwoman is convinced that once Indi sees her big sister, Ivy dressed in her school uniform that she’ll be fine.

“She’s very particular and she loves wearing her joggers everywhere but she can’t to school, she has to wear the leather shoes,” Candice laughs.

When it comes to her family’s home life, Candice is the first to admit she’s super organised.

“I’m one of those people who are very organised but I have to be as I’m on my own most the time, with David away playing cricket,” she explains.

“Also, I hate being rushed or feeling like I forgot something. It gives me peace of mind knowing that everything’s sorted. By being relaxed, I feel like it rubs off on the kids.”

Coping with homeschooling amidst the pandemic last year was tough for so many, including the Warners but Candice says there was one thing in particular that really helped.

“It definitely had its challenges,” she shares. “Ivy was starting school for the first time and she was just learning to read and write. It wasn’t easy managing the attention span of a six-year-old but the ABC Reading Eggs made my job as a mum and a makeshift school teacher that much easier.

“We would get through her school work so quickly so I’d say, ‘Let’s do some Reading Eggs’ and I’d know they are having positive screen time, they’re learning and having fun so that’s also very important.”

The past year also saw the mum-of-three compete in SAS Australia and if taking on a series of physical and psychological tests from an elite team of very shouty ex-Special Forces soliders wasn’t tough enough, Candice also had to cope with the mum guilt she felt being away from her kids.

“I always knew my kids and my husband were going to be my biggest strength but also my biggest weakness. They were the reason I was doing it and why I would carry on through different exercises,” Candice explains.

“But when you have downtime, your mind start wandering… I mean, my youngest daughter was not even one at the time, so I’d think, ‘ Are my girls missing me?’ and ‘How’s David going?’ and I’d get the mum guilts and think, ‘Is it selfish of me to be here when I should be with them?’

“It was difficult trying to juggle those emotions and also the lack of sleep and not much food and being yelled at, it was very challenging but a good challenge.”

As much as she missed her family while filming SAS Australia, Candice admits her long-awaited reunion with her daughters didn’t exactly go to plan.

“I honestly thought that my kids will be really happy to see me. I surprised my eldest daughter, Ivy by picking her up from school and she was over the moon and so happy to see me,” begins Candice.

“But my middle child, Indi was really angry at me because I told her I’d be away for a certain amount of days and I came home a couple of days earlier and I caught her off guard. She was also angry that I had left her for that time, so it took her a good few days to come around to embracing me and being okay. It was an odd reaction!”

Motherhood. If there’s one certainty with this gig, it’s that it will always be full of surprises!