I think it’s fair to say that Kara is just a tiny bit more flexible than I am.

While I can barely see my toes, let alone touch them, Kara’s weekly gymnastics classes are paying off. It means an early start every Saturday morning but it’s a small price to pay given the way she bounces in every week with a huge smile on her face and emerges an hour later looking much the same and babbling enthusiastically about all the new things she has done.

Better still, on weeks when I’m taking her, the ten-minute drive each way gives us the opportunity to engage in a Carpool Karaoke-style singalong in the car. (Her current favourites are DNCE’s Cake by the Ocean and anything from Moana but I’m working on educating her in the Hamilton soundtrack too.)

Every few months the kids have the opportunity to earn a new badge as part of the British Gymnastics Proficiency Award Scheme, where level one is Beth Tweddle and the initial level eight is, well, still way beyond anything I could ever do. Kara achieved level five yesterday and proudly showed off her new certificate and badge as soon as we got home. And rightly so. I’m not seeing any Olympic medals in her future but she’s good enough to have been asked to try out for the local squad. The most important thing is she’s enjoying it. That’s all that really matters to both her and to us. Just don’t ask me to copy her doing the splits …

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