The grade sixers filed across the stage with a rustling of best dresses, and creaking of new shoes, and stood in three lines. Collectively, we parents drew a breath. There they were! For the first time that evening we saw them all together, bursting with pride and the importance of the occasion – their graduation dinner to mark the end of primary school...

“How do other people manage?” asked my ex-partner, Steven. We were sitting in a hospital ward as our daughter recovered from a general anaesthetic. Her arm was in plaster, resting on a pillow. “It hurts, it hurts…” she wept, and we murmured reassurance, wiped her forehead, and stroked her hair...

My kids are obsessed with the latest craze. It’s called mathematics. No, I’m not kidding! Their primary school has introduced them to a terrific program called Mathletics they can access via the internet. Once logged in, they do sums, play games, do tests, accumulate points for correct answers, compete against others and customise their ‘mathlete’ (online persona). It’s a great way to get kids into maths, and it sure beats the dreary textbook and pencil method of my childhood...

We sit in a classroom, sip coffee from our polystyrene cups and surreptitiously check each other out. Some of us exchange nervous smiles. I wonder if the others feel the same mixture of trepidation and excitement as me. We are not the new students – we are their parents...

On our local public-transport website there is such a thing as a ‘journey planner’. You key in your start and finish points and the computer tells you how to get from A to B. It’s fantastic! It can tell you how to navigate the most complicated journey. The other night, (perhaps aided by red wine) I pondered this question. What if there was a journey planner for life?...