Mairi Orchardson, 34, from Dundee, was delighted with her daughter’s true masterpiece...

Laying out her crayons, coloured pencils, paper and glue on the kitchen table, my little girl was all smiles as she got to work.

It was January this year, coming up to Burns night here in Scotland, and Alia, five, had been learning all about the famous bard at primary school.

‘I learnt a poem off by heart,’ she’d said excitedly as we’d walked home.

By the time we’d walked through the door, she’d recited the entire thing, then

Alia was so artistic proceeded to tell me about her homework assignment.

‘We have to draw something to do with Scotland,’ she chimed.

‘Oh yes?’ I asked. ‘And what are you going to draw?’

Alia thought long and hard, but I knew she’d come up with something clever.

A lover of baking and painting, she’d always been so creative.

Our home was covered in her drawings and craft projects, either taped to the fridge, up on the walls, or proudly placed in frames above the fireplace.

It was mostly flowers, rainbows and unicorns – real girly stuff.

And this was the perfect assignment for Alia.

Although she’d been born in Spain, lived there for the first three years of her life, Alia was Scottish to the bone.

Ever since we’d moved back home, she’d swapped the Flamenco for tartan and tapas for haggis, and was a true Scottish patriot.

Now, sat at the kitchen table, she concentrated hard.

‘Something Scottish...’ she mumbled to herself. ‘Oh! I’ve got it!’ Leaving her to it, I smiled and cracked on with cooking dinner, wondering what her final masterpiece would look like.

An hour later, I sat down beside her.

‘So, what have you come up with?’ I asked.

‘I made this,’ she grinned sweetly, proudly handing me a piece of pink paper.

On the paper, she’d carefully cut out and stuck a drawing. I love

It was purple, thick and bulging

‘It’s lovely,’ I said.

I didn’t want Alia to think that I was laughing at her. What if she