Emilie Silverwood-Cope: What do wish you had known earlier?

I was going to write about the craze that is sweeping TikTok known as ‘gentle parenting’.

Watching those videos full of advice on how to be a better, calmer mum just reminded me how bad I often felt with my own small children.

I read loads of parenting books with titles like How to not shout at your children, or How to make your kids listen so you don’t feel like you’re going crazy. I used to read books like this because I felt like I was on the brink all the time, thanks to tiredness, loneliness, boredom and sometimes just plain fear. Just give me rules so I can get this stuff right!