Strictly Come Dancing's Susanna Reid admits her partner is a better parent She lives in south London with Mr Cotton, a former BBC producer who now works for a charity, and their three sons Sam, 11, Finn, 9, and Jack, eight. He's always hands-on but even more so recently because he's doing all the stuff we normally share - the parents' evenings, homework, letters from school. He is definitely in charge. He's unrivalled as a parent. I can't even come close. Miss Reid was criticised for putting her career before her children last year when she announced she would stay with BBC Breakfast when they moved to Salford, despite her colleague Sian Williams turning down the job because of her family commitments. She commutes daily, starting at 3.30am, filming the three hour show, then making the 200-mile trip back to London where she picks up her sons from school and spends the evening with them before taking the train back to Manchester for the night. When she accepted a place on this year's Strictly, which takes up most of her weekend, she had to get permission from BBC bosses to take Mondays off work. But despite her busy schedule she denies that she is ruthlessly organised, claiming she is "quite chaotic" when it comes to Christmas, and she refuses to worry about the fact that she will not have made her own mince pies. I'm organised when it comes to my children and my life, but I'm not neat and tidy. It's quite messy most of the time, and it's been sliding a bit more with Strictly," she said. There are piles of stuff everywhere.