Tric Kearney: 'As if my guilt was not enough, I had to listen as they shared their tale of woe with yer man to whom breakfast is almost a religion'

RECENTLY I was listening to a social worker reflecting on how parenting has changed over the years, “If we reared our children like our grandparents were reared, we’d be in court for neglect,” he said. “They walked miles to school, left at an early age to work, and had a bath at most once a week.”

I thought about it afterwards. I’m sure they were greatly loved, but in a very different way. Parents today are a lot more careful. We like to hold our children’s hands crossing the road and do all we can to cushion them as much as possible from life’s knocks.