Sophie Ellis-Bextor felt like a "complete failure" as a parent in the first national lockdown

Explaining her husband would tackle the cooking, cleaning and other chores, she added: "It sounds ridiculous, but you need a minimum of two adults, because Mickey is two, he can’t be unsupervised.

“I don’t know how I’d do it on my own; I tried last year, it was a nightmare. Some parents I know found the first lockdown easier, but I felt like a complete failure.”

The 'Murder on the Dancefloor' hitmaker has found it "fascinating" seeing how the coronavirus pandemic has affected her children and she knows now they'll definitely remember this period in time.

She told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "It’s been fascinating. Like a lot of parents, initially I thought, ‘OK, kids are resilient, they just react to the reality they’re in,’ but as time’s gone on, I’ve realised this is pretty significant, and something they will remember.

"I think it’s hardest for the eldest and eight-year-old.

"Because [Ray] needs school for the social stuff, he can’t replicate that online, he’s not adept at that. And for Sonny, he’s coping really well, but I remember being 16 and all the rites of passage. Imagine that being put on hold for a year?”

Sophie thinks the pandemic will shape her children's lives in ways they won't realise.

She said: "There are going to be lives that they’ll never know. But I suppose you have to be at peace with that, it’s life in general, isn’t it? Maybe you end up doing something different that feels like the right thing.”