HOWZAT

I have often complained about parents giving children too little independence outside the home.

But there is a parallel danger in giving them too much independence inside it.

The result is bad for the children themselves, bad for family life and bad for the world into which they must one day mature as adults.

maryann.sieghart@thetimes.co.uk

Designer nonsense

SOMETIMES I wonder what planet I’m living on. There we were, at the weekend, being exhorted to click our fingers every three seconds to represent the death of a child from poverty. Then, just a few days later, we were reading that eight out of ten British parents were dressing their babies in designer clothes.

Their babies? In designer clothes? Strewth! I’m still trying to keep our 12 and 13-year-old daughters out of designer labels, but at least I concede the problems of peer pressure at that age. What infant, though, is going to feel inadequate because he or she is not sporting the latest Burberry bib or Versace vest?

Designer clothes for adults are usually a waste of money, unless they are made of particularly luscious fabric or original prints. At least we get some wear out of them, though. Babies grow so fast that a garment barely lasts three or four washes. Hence the usefulness of hand-me-downs: I inherited several bin bags of nearly new baby gear from my sister, which did both of our children proud.

What is more, babies spew vile liquid from almost every orifice on to their clothes. Would you still want to buy a designer dress for yourself if you knew that, at the end of a day’s wear, it would be covered in dribble, sick, pee and poo?

Let’s face it. The babies don’t care what they wear as long as it’s comfortable. They would be just as happy if you donated the £50 you saved on each Babygro to Oxfam.

And if you care, it’s because you see them as a fashion accessory. How shallow is that?

Why I back Jacques

MUCH AS I enjoy having a laugh at Jacques Chirac’s expense, I have to concede that he is right about British cuisine. Yes, Britain has many great restaurants now, and hosts some of the finest cooking in the world. But how many of them serve real British rather than French or Italian or oriental cuisine? What is more, your average British pub or restaurant is still less reliable than those in France. There, virtually any bistro will cook you a decent steak and chips. You don’t have to pore over a guide, as you do here, to find the only good restaurant in town.

And right down at the bottom of the scale, Britain’s record is lamentable. Chirac will be proved wrong only when the food in our motorway service stations is as good as it is across the Channel.

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