I was in a bit of a bad mummy place this afternoon when it suddenly dawned on me that whilst Yan was busy creating one of his pieces live in store as part of London Fashion Week I was on swimming gala duty.
This normally wouldn't be too much of an issue but the girls and I are off to Ireland next week for their filming slot in a forthcoming new CITV show and we will have been at dance show rehearsals all day and, well, I have loads to get sorted and I haven't even thought about packing.
So when Yan and Sonny went off to tonight's training session I asked Yan to tell them that we couldn't make it on Saturday after all.
Calmness descended over me and I instantly knew that I'd done the right thing in pulling them out.
My calm was to be short lived.
After informing the team manager, Yan had been told that it was OK as this wasn't a league gala and that they'd had to field their slowest swimmers so that they didn't get penilised.
Fire and brimstone may have engulfed me at that moment. Am I missing something? I was a swimmer, my dad was a coach. I trained every day for at least ten years of my childhood. Taking part in a competitive sport is about winning. It's about being the best. Well it used to be, though clearly not any more.
ModelGirl was over the moon when she was picked for the gala. Swimming's not her thing but she aspires to fill her spot in our family of county champions. And that drives her on. Makes her work hard in her lessons and gives her something to strive for.
Until tonight.
Am I missing something? Has the world gone mad? A swimming gala where you don't win if you swim too fast...
This modern practice of wrapping our children up in cotton wool to save them from getting hurt really has gone a step too far. Children are driven by the need to compete - many adults are too. Is that so wrong? Do you really want moments like this to be a thing of the past?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Picture Credit: Rebecca Adlington takes Olympic Gold
