HELP! I'M TURNING INTO MY MUM

As the years pass, Heather Main, 39, realises she’s inheriting more and more of her mother’s traits

- HEATHER MAIN

My three-year-old daughter Francesca came charging into the kitchen recently, out of breath and hot.

'I want a drink!" she announced.

Before I knew it, I heard myself say, 'I want, never gets!'

Immediately, I froze. Was that me, or was it my mother talking? I thought

But the truth is it's the latest in a long list of reminders that I am slowly turning into my mum Julie, 71.

Since becoming a parent to Francesca and my son Alexander, six, I hear her voice coming out of my own mouth with alarming frequency. And I quote her various catchphrases as though she's my favourite sitcom character.

'Who's she, the cat's mother?"

'You'll have someone's eye out with that!'

And my personal favourite, 'I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it.'

TOO COOL

Only they're not my mum's phrases now, they're mine.I'm not sure how it happened. I've always been close to my mum, but not for a second did I think I was anything like her.

I, of course, was cool, trendy, fashionable, and she was... well... mymum. But now, on the verge of turning 40, I can clearly see that we are morphing into the same person.

My mum has always been absolutely fastidious about manners and, without realising it, I've become the same. Recently, while at a birthday party, another mum overheard mereminding my children about their table manners.