The ten-year-old set off on his first outdoor activity holiday with the school last week.

Four perfect, parent-free days and several bucketloads of mud later, one happy boy has returned.

As his parents, we were not concerned about him having to fend for himself for the first time.

(Don’t get me wrong, we were mildly traumatised by the sight of his pale little face, trying so hard to be brave and grown-up, as the bus departed from the school gates, taking our splintered hearts with it.)

But worrying about whether he could get showered, or organise his clothes, or eat sensibly, or remember his manners, or look after his stuff without our help? That didn’t even enter our heads.

I consider it Parenting, Level One. These are the basics, the things you teach your child over a long and sometimes painful period, to ensure they can go out into the big wide world without embarrassing themselves. Eat with a knife and fork. Cover your mouth when you cough. Clean your fingernails.

Very quickly, you have to move on to bigger things. Respect others. Don’t stare. Never swear.

Around the house, you start to teach them how to clean up after themselves, to iron their clothes, to polish their shoes. Make sure they understand the value of money, of friendship, of doing their homework.

It’s not easy, of course, as anyone who has wrestled with a stubborn toddler over the virtues of eating carrots versus biscuits will tell you. The spelling homework alone will probably kill you. But you are a PARENT. It’s just what you are supposed to do.

I read recently that a survey had discovered parents across the country want schools to ditch subjects like geography and PE in favour of teaching money management, looking after your health and changing lightbulbs.

(Changing lightbulbs? This is not a difficult thing to do. I reckon most young people could probably work it out for themselves after a few minutes wondering why they can’t see the toaster any more. We certainly don’t need to devote whole lessons to the subject.)

The VoucherCodes survey claimed many parents don’t rate subjects like religious studies and geography, or even science and history. They would rather, says the survey, have their children learn subjects that will “encourage them to do great things with their lives” - the implication being that science and PE do not? I think Marie Curie and Jessica Ennis-Hill and all manner of brilliant scientists and athletes might take issue with that.

This sounds like lazy parenting. This is parenting for the Can’t-Be-Bothered, who want to shelve responsibility when the going gets tough.

I’m all for a holistic curriculum which treats young people as individuals, with their own strengths and interests. I believe learning comes in many forms and I think teachers should inspire and guide and support our young people, as well as teach them how to read and write.

But I also believe parents have the bigger role to play in preparing children for life beyond school.

We’re the ones who have to handle the hard questions, explain what seems unexplainable, restore smiles after tears, show them where the spare lightbulbs are kept.

If your attitude to parenting is – let’s keep our fingers crossed someone else will tell them what they need to know, and hope for the best, it’s not going to end well.