As I have surely mentioned before, I have had a problem with stress. It started around about the time I became a parent, and has haunted me on and off ever since. Now, I am not saying in any way that I regret having children – it has been the best thing I have done in my life.

The last few weeks have been quite good. Even with my daughters going back to nursery school after a long summer holiday, they have made the transition to normal routines very easily. This has helped me enormously in the mornings, where all goes smoothly without tears or frustration (on their and my part respectively). A large part of that is due, no doubt, to us all getting a good night sleep.

I still have a few problems with the evening routines. Having things done by a certain time (snack, getting ready for bed, reading a book, getting them to sleep) still gnaws away at my patience, and I hope that a bit of hard work to break down these regimented times will reap rewards.