But as head of Childline in Scotland for 12 years, her knowledge of the subject comes straight from the child’s mouth: she has often manned the phone lines herself.
She will still have her work cut out. Last week, as 52-year-old Houston embarked on a round of farewell lunches at Childline’s Glasgow headquarters, the justice minister, Cathy Jamieson, demanded harsher punishments for parents who can’t control their children. It recently transpired that a record 54,000 children were investigated by the children’s reporters in 2005, with those who were lacking in parental care overtaking the number who had committed their first offence.
No supernanny herself, the childless Houston is not convinced the politicians’ preferred magic bullet, parenting classes, are the answer.
Forcing adults back into the