[WillowTheWhisp]

I too go round the supermarket with my kids and discuss what we are having for tea. I also ask for and appreciate their input and suggestions. One evening my 13 year old insisted on making desert as a surprise and wouldn't tell us what it was until she produced it.

We also go bowling as a family and have a great time, or go to the cinema. We play board games indoors and on holiday we've had hilarious fun trying to get a kite to fly or just mucking about on the marsh beach. They are happy well adjusted children who have respect for themselves and others who also behave like totally typical loonies at times, giggling and giddy.

I asked them this morning if either of them could remember the last time they were smacked and it was so long ago that they couldn't tell me, but they added that it was probably because they'd done something that needed it. I can't remember either, so that shows you how regular a feature it isn't.