David O'Mahony: Perhaps ‘going in the book’ is the best way to deal with our emotions

Any time I annoy her — usually with such heinous crimes as saying 'you need to tidy all your stuff away' — there’s a high chance we’ll find Daughter scribbling in a notebook, sketching sad faces or rain clouds, usually annotated for clarity

When she was smaller she had a particular copybook that she liked to use, showing it off proudly to her grandfather once by explaining 'these are my feelings'. Stock picture: iStock

There’s a phenomenon in our house known as “going in the book”.

It’s not a Garda notebook. It’s actually something much worse.