It makes me laugh (in a hollow, silent way) when I hear parents foghorning that they’re looking forward to a night away from their kids - often when the children are in earshot.

Two things. Firstly, in a few short years - and that time will fly past way faster than you can ever imagine - those kids will be grown up and gone, without a backwards glance, and you’ll be sitting there, in your empty house, wondering what your life is for.

Secondly, and I don’t know who said it but it’s so true it hurts, your kids will treat you in adulthood the same way you made them feel when they were kids.

So if you’re too busy to turn up to every school play, concert, football match, dance class show, provide a free taxi service to and from every single drunken teenage party, among so many, many other things, don’t pull a hurty face when they only visit you in your nursing home for an hour on a Sunday afternoon every six months (birthday and Christmas).

I'd trade everything for just an hour with my daughters when they were little. Photo: Adobe

placeholder image — I'd trade everything for just an hour with my daughters when they were little. Photo: Adobe

The thing I’m most proud of in my life is the excellent relationship I have with our adult daughters, in that even though they both moved out first chance they got (I’d like to think that’s because of the confidence they got living under our roof) they call most days - not just when they want something.

Parenting is basically made up of two main emotions - regret and guilt, with the occasional streak of relief and joy. At the time it feels like nothing you do is ever good enough. And it’s never the kids’ fault, so it must be yours, right?

I don’t know much, but I know this. And it’s the golden rule of parenting. Always be there for them. Sometimes, in fact most of the time once they’ve left Primary, you’re an embarrassing irrelevance. But stick with it and it will pay off in spades.

I’ve been on hundreds of nights out in all kinds of places, seen football matches that people will be talking about 50 years after I’m dead, been to gigs that people still wear the T-shirts from and felt the buzz of working on national sports desks for era-defining games. But I would trade every minute of all of it for one hour with our daughters when they were little.

Anyway, the point of all this, if there is one, is that we got a flying visit from Daughter #1 last Saturday. I picked her up from the station, made her breakfast and then The Boss ran her in to town to buy an SD card for her digital camera that she recently bought that you could’ve picked up from Dixons in 2002. Yep, 2002 is considered fair game for nostalgia now.

Then we took her for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants (we have four now and they’re all in garden centres) before dropping her off at a house party, where she bellowed a note perfect rendition of Lady Gaga’s Alejandro on the karaoke (she sent us the video) before catching the last train back to Liverpool to see The Boyfriend.

In other family news, it’s The Boss’ birthday tomorrow and next weekend Daughter #2 gets back off her latest five-month tour of duty in the Caribbean, entertaining kids on the world’s biggest cruise ship. Next one starts mid-October until March 2026.

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