I bought myself a DVD of the first series of “Outnumbered”. I feel so much better. I know that it’s fictional but it has to be based on real life right? Other people must struggle with these parenting issues or they wouldn’t relate to it and it wouldn’t be funny. Surely?

I have to say that it’s not quite that bad in our house. All my children don’t generally misbehave on the same day although sometimes they give me their best effort in quick succession. It’s as if they drew straws between themselves for who would go first. Yesterday was a case in point. I was a bit on edge anyway. Tuesday nights can be challenging at the best of times. Last night it was just me as my husband wasn’t coming home. And we have no hot water. It’s been a fortnight since my boiler functioned effectively so I was a little bit frazzled.

The youngest commited some relatively minor misdemeanor to which I massively over reacted and sent him to his room. So then, when the eldest did the unfortunate attitude thing, she probably got more of a lambasting than she genuinely deserved. Smarting with righteous indignation she shouted. I shouted back – more loudly.

Things calmed down. The children apologised and on we went. At bedtime, my youngest mentioned casually in passing that he had recorded my shouting on his DSi. And he had. When he was asleep I retrieved said gadget and lo and behold there is a crystal clear recording of me swearing at my child. I was so proud.

So when I watch “Outnumbered” it makes me feel less inadequate. I will pretend it’s a documentary and then allow myself to feel smug because my children aren’t that bad after all.