I was a bad parent. Yes, I admit it. I can make excuses: I suffered from post natal depression; my husband left me before my son’s fourth birthday; I had to go out to work to make ends meet and in England we do not usually have the strong family network associated with India. But these really are all excuses. I was, quite simply, not up to scratch when it came to parenting.

Parenting demands a lot, physically and emotionally. Thankam Viswanathan shares some of the lessons she has learned.