Gen-Z popstar Chappell Roan, 27, says all her friends who have children are “in hell” and she doesn’t know “anyone who is happy with children at her age”. She continues: “I literally have not met anyone with young kids who has, like, light in their eyes, anyone who has slept.” I gave birth to my first child at 24 and my second at 27. I was slightly shellshocked at first. In the first flush of post-partum responsibility, I dreamed my own mother showed up and took the baby under her wing, announcing: “I’m the mother. I’m in charge.”

Occasionally, I wondered why I hadn’t wafted through a few more carefree years before signing up to the breast-nappy-bath cycle. Most of the time, though, even through a perpetual fog of sleep deprivation, I was entranced by the two most absorbingly fascinating love affairs of my life.

All babies are enchanting – and your own exude particular allure. When my girls hiccupped, I burst into applause. The elan with which they rattled their rattles stirred me more than a Beethoven sonata. They engaged my every waking thought, worried me half to death, recited nursery rhymes perfectly at 3am and taught me I had no idea what the word “love” meant until they popped up to demonstrate.

So I’m not keen on the “aren’t children a pain” line. I don’t like the fad for mothers confiding how dull they find their children and how zealously they hide at the gym to escape their sticky embraces.

I worry that it has become normal for mums to complain about their offspring, call them unpleasant names and detail the booze they sneak to take the edge off their boredom. Indeed, an entire podcast genre is dedicated to the drudgery and unremitting slog of parenthood.

True, the improbability of climbing on the housing ladder, the extortionate cost of childcare in the UK, the elusive nature of relationships and the destabilising nature of the economy may all be compelling reasons to delay parenthood.

Let’s not subscribe, however, to the idea children are not a reliable source of cuddles, laughter, joy and entertainment. Let’s not deny the biological pull of the maternal and paternal instinct. Let’s not confuse feeling tired and emotional with genuine unhappiness.

My children are the triumph, tribulation and axis of my life. My grandchildren likewise. Roan hasn’t the faintest idea what she’s banging on about.