A bitter pill for me to swallow

It is a fair claim, when you consider that never before have mums and dads had so many tools at their disposal as they do today.

If you are not sure why your little darling is off- colour, then all you need to do is either ask Siri, type it into Google or, if you are feeling particularly retro, flick through one of the countless parenting books that most of us acquire.

Then there are all the options we have at our fingertips when it comes to entertaining tiny rabble rousers: there can’t be a town in the land that doesn’t have at least one soft play centre.

And if you are still in any doubt as to whether 21st Century parents have been dealt a winning hand, then look at the home entertainment options available: television packages with 20-odd channels dedicated to younger viewers, and there are always the myriad devices which every home seems to possess.

But the one thing which most modern parents won’t do without is Calpol – the paracetamol-based medicine which is the best selling children’s drug in the UK.

Last week, a television doctor, Chris van Tulleken, caused millions of parents to drop their smartphones when he warned that some had become over-reliant on Calpol. He warned we are in danger of creating a generation to whom the “response to any problem will be to take a drug.” Although accepting that Calpol is a good, safe product, Dr Chris argues many of us are misusing it on a regular basis.

I stand guilty as charged. My default position when dealing with off-colour children (always my own, I hasten to add) has always been to reach for the distinctive purple box in our kitchen cupboard. My tendency to opt for Calpol, particularly when he shouts the house down in night, is the subject of much, ahem, debate in Chez Tapp.

You could argue the problem modern parents face is that there is perhaps too much information out there – ask the internet what it thinks about Calpol and you will get a hugely varied set of answers.

Maybe we don’t have it that easy after all.