Walking on Sunshine

Olly Mann explains why he enjoys taking his kids to school every day

My mate Nick, a busy lawyer for a tech company, recently talked me through his schedule. He works late three days per week, and some nights doesn’t see his children at bedtime. “Ah, that’s a shame,” I said. “But at least you have the mornings.” He frowned at me. “Why would you want the mornings?” he scowled, as if espousing a profound truth. “Mornings are hell.”

Now, I’m instinctively a night owl, so being woken at 6am by kids was hardly a welcome addition to my life when it came, but I’m pleased to say my perspective on mornings is sunnier than Nick’s. I suspect our differing views arise partly from our opposing positions on television: he and his wife simply don’t own a TV, preferring instead to dip into prestige dramas while balancing iPads on their bedsheets, whereas in my house we have four TVs. Our lounge, if you squint a bit, resembles the IMAX at the Planetarium.