I like to keep a tidy ship, whether it’s my office, car, home or the even the garden. I remember one day when my children were laughing and charging up and down in the garden. They were having great fun trying to dodge the water from the sprinkler. But I was more concerned with the lawn. “Stop that!” I scolded them, “You’ll ruin the grass!”

Later, however, I was reading an article on parenting and ended scolding myself for being such a killjoy and for giving a higher priority to maintaining a ‘tidy ship’ rather than seeing my children enjoying themselves. I came to see – albeit too late on that occasion – that as a father, I am in the business of raising children, not grass!

R. Ian Seymour.