The Rules of Parenting, 2nd Edition

RULE 82

Running round after them doesn’t help anybody

You started off with 18 years and counting. How many have you got left? Because once you get to zero, they’ll be on their own. That means they’ll have to know how to shop, cook, clean and tidy (up to a point anyway), do their own washing, pay their bills, stay in the black, and all the rest of it.

I know parents – and without wanting to be sexist here it’s almost always mothers – who are still looking after their kids when they’re 18. And the kids, not being daft, let them do it. In fact, I have one friend who is 35 and still takes his washing to his mother’s. I don’t mean he borrows his mother’s washing machine, which might be understandable, I mean he hands the washing to his mother and ...