I have two sisters, all three of us are competitive, and all of my cousins are boys so whenever we went camping, I ran around bare-footed in the mud playing football. We spent a lot of time together during the holidays and so I found it natural to play with boys.

I remember my sisters and I played with Barbie’s but never Lego. Upon questioning my parents as to why I never played with Lego, their answer was ‘I don’t know’. However, I have fond memories of doing a lot of crafty things like play dough or painting with my dad on a Saturday morning which were never gender specific. Our dressing up box, which was frequently approached, was full to the brim of everything from princess dresses to cat leotards, but I don’t think a soldier or any male figures featured. I guess that was down to preference, but my parents never forced us to play with girly things.

At school, there was a big divide between boys and girls in the early years. The boys played football and the girls role-played. The boys and girls had their own races at sports day. There was an unfair attitude towards the behaviour of the boys in my class, and I remember the girls got away with a lot more. However, the elder we got, the closer we became and we played British Bulldog (and various name adaptions whenever it got banned!)  and some of my best friends when leaving primary school were boys.