My daughter’s like a grandma but I’m always out clubbing

Avon representative Sharon Riach, 46, from Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, and her account manager daughter, Becki Blackwell, 27

Sharon says: The brighter the clothes, the better the outfit – that’s my rule. I never dreamed my daughter would turn out so sensible. It certainly isn’t a trait she gets from me.

Becki acts like a grandma. She likes to joke that I’m 46 going on 16, but she’s 26 going on 70. She doesn’t drink, she hardly ever goes out, and when I do drag her to a club she’ll sip one drink all night as I hurtle around the dancefloor. I go clubbing three times a week.

When I was Becki’s age, I had three children, who I left with my mum when I wanted to go out. I believe that life is for living and there’s no reason to become boring as you age.

That’s why I spent my 40th at Birmingham’s biggest nightclub. I wore fairy wings and danced the night away drinking rum and coke. I had a monster hangover.

I am so proud of my daughter. She’s climbing the career ladder as an account manager for a local car dealership, she thinks ahead and is quietly carving out a great future for herself.

I tease her that she needs to lighten up and borrow some of my neon make-up, but she likes her vests black, her cardigans grey and her jeans modest. She knows I’m always there if she ever wants to party till dawn, and where to find me – on the dancefloor.

Becki says: I love mum to bits but I’m the mum and she’s the wayward teen daughter. We have argued so much over her wild antics. On my 21st birthday, I had to help her out of a club and pay for a taxi to take her home because she was so drunk. She’s really is 46 going on 16. She loves clubbing, dancing, drinking and smoking. She is always dressing up in crazy neon clothes and going out with her friends.

My parents split up briefly when I was 15 and with her new-found freedom, Mum rallied her friends and went out to gigs, concerts and nightclubs – and she never stopped.

When I was a teenager I thought she was the height of cool. She’d come out with me and my mates and didn’t care if I drank in front of her. If anything, we were trying to keep up with her.

But the novelty soon wore off. There was nothing for me to rebel against so, instead, I became the opposite of Mum.

I gave up drinking years ago rather than throw my money away when I’m saving up for a deposit for my first home. So I spend my evenings at the gym or watching a box set. On the odd occasion that I do go out, I don’t really enjoy it. By midnight I’m yawning and wishing I was in bed.

She blows all her wages on new outfits without budgeting for bills. I’ve given up trying to get her to set a monthly budget.

She calls me for advice and I know as soon as I pass my driving test I’ll be her chauffeur.

Mother is 46 going on 16. She loves clubbing, dancing, drinking, smoking and going out