I'll raise a toast as Emma's independence day arrives

DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR A FIRST TIME DAD OF TWINS

- RICHARD IRVINE

Kitchen skills: Emma can now make her own toast

Either Emma was making breakfast, or the mice we'd discovered in the kitchen could operate a toaster.

Since she'd happily exist on white sliced bread for ever more, I decided it was our eight-year-old.

Rather than interfere, I left her to it, since this was the kind of independence to be encouraged, imagining a future where my children exist as simply flat mates requiring little parenting.

When I heard her footsteps retreat from the kitchen, I checked the area for cleanliness before congratulating her.

It turned out she'd left it in better shape than I had, placing my butter-covered knife in the dishwasher and wiping away my spilled coffee.