Giving expecting parents parenting lessons is basic common sense.

It is neither nannying nor intruding in parents’ lives – it should be taken in the spirit it was intended and I am speaking from experience as a parent.

Buddy our Parsons Jack Russell is a Battersea Homes rescue dog. Ten years ago my eldest Tasneem announced her life was incomplete because she does not have a dog and pressured me into getting one. Up to that time we have had a variety of house pets, from fish, hamster to rats and they all ended up being my full responsibility, so like most sensible parents I put my foot down and set some ground rules before agreeing to have such a huge responsibility and insisted on a rescue dog not a new born puppy.

First we looked at the website and agreed on the type and size of dog. The TV show Fraser was a big hit then and we all loved Eddie and his antics, so we agreed on a small Jackie. A couple of days later, the girls and I went to Battersea to look around and pick our dog. Battersea Homes’ policy dictated that every person who lives and daily have contact with the animal needs to be interviewed, at the time we used to share a five bedroom flat with my parents. As a result, we were unable to even pick which dog we wanted let alone take it with us until everyone at home was fully vetted! We went away empty handed that day and returned when my parents were able to come with us. Two days later we came back home with Budweiser Sweetface Idris – Yousif. But that was not the end of it, we had three further home visits to check he is fully settled and we all got along well – one of these visits was while we were out on a walk the other two were observing him interacting with all of us.

I have two daughters but I also have a degree in psychology form a four year program (US University) where I studied Child Psychology for a year and Human Behavior for a year. Nonetheless, when I became pageant, I read books and talked to other parents. I was also lucky in that my pregnancies were planned plus I had lots of support. In addition to my educational background I readied myself by reading and preparing for my babies. I was as prepared as possible for parenthood, and had a pretty good idea what to expect every step of the way yet still at time it was daunting and lonely.

The moral of the story is; if bringing Buddy home form Battersea took ardently interviewing every person in our household and multiple visits to check on how we were all getting on – isn’t giving parenting classes the least any parent should expect by way of support in raising a baby?