MORE dads are staying at home to look after the children – 229,000, double the number 20 years ago. Many of them have made a virtue out of necessity – wife earns more, decent childcare is expensive – and grown to love it.

Well, most of the time.

As well as all the obvious benefits, it’s good news because it shows how much more flexible we’re getting about work.

None of us is guaranteed a job for life any more. Instead we’re learning to find new ways of working. Paid employment, freelance work, child care, all go into the mix and we make the best compromise depending on where we are with family and career.

Mothers have always been flexible.

Now fathers are getting the chance too. There’s been a lot of fuss recently about so many women GPs expensively trained and then working parttime.

Before long, many men might be doing the same thing for a few years.

And why not?

MORE women than ever are having babies in their 50s. I’m not sure if they’re incredibly daft or incredibly brave. But I can guarantee they’ll all be exhausted...