Alison Curtis: Walking my daughter through life's lessons with a charity 5k

"This does seem a serious and heavy topic for me to share with a nine-year-old, but I have made a point of discussing this with Joan over the past number of years, and of maturing the conversation as she matures."

Alison and her daughter, Joan, are walking 5km a day for 10 days in aid of charity.

You know when an idea hits you fully formed, you sometimes wonder where it came from. That happened to me the other night, over dinner. Just as I was about to tuck in to the food, I blurted out to my daughter, Joan, that we should walk 5km a day for charity.

Joan just kind of looked at me and then I explained that it had been a while since I had raised money for charity and that it would be even better if it was her project.