BEING a parent means life is full of those laugh-or-cry moments. And then there are the times where you can’t laugh until the dust settles. Or the plaster has set.

Street-surfs, the latest descendant of the skateboard, are the current craze on our estate.

And luckily we aren’t talking the decadent lawns of a stately home, as fountains, peacocks and cloth-capped gardeners would get in the way: the pavements and cul-de-sacs of 70s suburbia are better suited to the flips and rotations of these two-wheeled projectiles.

The Middle One had chosen to spend his birthday money on a street-surfing board and at three o’clock last Saturday the courier delivered it. Ninety minutes later I was driving to hospital with a broken arm on the back seat, the other children abruptly packed off to their father’s who lives only a stone’s throw away (a mere figure of speech; we’ve never tested it.) Each time this happens, and this is the third broken arm in three years, I drop everything as any mum would, and end up sprinting into A&E in whatever I’m wearing. This gives rise to some unusual outfits in the parents’ room.

I’ve now learnt to grab a jumper but was once in inappropriate diamante heels and skimpy summer dress, which became even less suitable as the temperature plummeted in the small hours.

While the Middle One was in theatre, I rummaged desperately in the car boot and unearthed an emergency set of decorating overalls which I put over the top for warmth.

The following morning the other parents looked quite confounded when I peeled off a paint encrusted jumpsuit and emerged in crumpled finery, as unlikely as a film lead who appears in dusty strapless evening gown after an action film escape across Europe hanging from a train.

I suspect The Middle One wouldn’t have made it through that kind of adventure so unscathed. He’s now cast from fingers to shoulder with a plate screwed into his lower arm but still needed persuading that he’ll have to miss street surfing club and play quietly for the next few weeks.

Anyone for snap?