Our son is growing up fast, but it’s us who need lessons on helping him learn to read | Séamas O’Reilly

I mispronounce the letters, the young lad has to put me right

Why isn't Daddy picking me up?' my son asked his mum. I had dropped him off, so he was confused. Once, last week, she had told him: We'll be right here at home time,' to dissuade him from feeling too homesick. Unbeknown to us, he'd taken this literally and believes whichever one of us delivers him in the morning stands stock-still in the playground for six hours until home time.

I guess my son is growing up so fast, I sometimes forget he's still a child, an effect only worsened by the arrival of his sister. When we set off for the maternity ward, he was a dewy-skinned babe. On our return, eyes recalibrated to a newborn scale, we might as well have faced a middle-aged man, with back problems and forklift-driving certification.