The Madness of Modern Families

Once, the children's party was a joyous occasion for a parent, but not any more. Modern parents come clean about the madness of children's birthday party inflation.

There's nothing mad, modern parents won't do to get their kids into a good school: moving house, adopting religion, inventing illnesses, camping in the playground - and bribing teachers with a lot more than an apple!

Pocket money for penny chews is a distant memory: today's parents reflect on the mums and dads who pick up the bill for their children's life of luxury. Should kids be guiltlessly enjoying sushi, cappuccino and state-of-the-art electrical goods at the literal expense of their mothers and fathers?

Spying and back-biting, mad modern parents know no shame in the competition that starts at birth and continues to the school run: whose baby sleeps through first, whose child has completed War and Peace at the age of eight, who can please the school teachers most. These are serious questions for modern parents who thrive on competition and can't wait to trip each other up.

Modern parents confess to the laughable amounts of time they devote to extra curricular activites for their children. With everybody at it, no one dares give their kids any down time so it's a non-stop rush to make it to violin, sanskrit and judo and try to fit in dinner in the car.

Modern parents reveal the dark secrets about family meal times and go into delicious detail about dealing with modern-day, faddy kids, so-called allergies and the torment of eating out.