I Salute Kirstie Allsopp’s Parenting Skills. My Solo Journey Around Europe and the Middle East Aged 17 Was the Making of Me

I’ve been astonished by the hostility Kirstie Allsopp has attracted for allowing Oscar, her 15 year-old son, to go interrailing with a friend this summer. At least one person referred her to social services and she was duly contacted and asked what ‘safeguarding’ measures she’d put in place. She told the Telegraph her initial reaction was ‘real, real fear and worry and a sense of shame’.

I’m slightly hesitant to reveal my own ‘safeguarding’ failures for fear of triggering a wave of similar complaints. When my son Ludo was 13 he got a flight by himself to go and stay with a friend in Italy, and Charlie, aged 14, took a coach to Rotherham to see QPR. Much more dangerous than taking a train to Rome, I would have thought. In her gap year, my daughter Sasha lived in Mexico City by herself and Ludo, still a teenager, has just got back from a six-month tour of Latin America. When people ask if I ever worry about my children’s safety I tell them they’re probably safer than they would be in Acton.

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