Reading Festival is no place for dads

VERNON KAY threatened to chaperone his daughter to Reading Festival this weekend. It was his 16-year-old daughter’s first festival and he was worried about what might happen so he and his wife, Strictly presenter Tess Daly, pictured left (and, below, with daughters), decided he should tag along, too. I’m astonished his daughter agreed to this arrangement — I certainly wouldn’t have done when I was 16. While it might seem a tender age to many, let’s not forget you can be a parent yourself at 16. I understand Vernon’s worries, but then that’s the job of a parent — to be worried. I’m not convinced ‘helicopter parenting’ is the answer. Sometimes, the role of a parent is knowing when to back off and let a child find their own way. I’m reminded of a poem by Cecil Day-Lewis (dad of actor Daniel DayLewis) about a father watching his son in the playground for the first time. It ends on a poignant summary of parenting: ‘Selfhood begins with a walking away/And love is proved in the letting go’.