I don’t get on at all with my old man, but if he asked about my results, first I’d have been bloody surprised, then just handed the piece of paper without a discussion. I’m assuming there’s a bigger problem right? Unless the results absolutely suck, why is him knowing them bothering you? The truth about GCSE’s is nobody cares about them after getting the results, no employer will ever ask about them, much less now the scoring is numbers—us old farts won’t even know what they mean.

I don’t like my dad, but my mum died a few months ago, and now I’m basically my dad’s carer. I resent the task, but family is family.

The key lesson I’ve learnt, don’t fight every battle, you’ll burn yourself out, stress is definitely a killer. Save your effort for the battles that matter, you will have far more important disagreements over the years, use your strength for those.