This mum's account of taking her own children to Rome rings painful bells – not only did I have similar problems with my own children, but also with school trips:

MAKING children excited about history can be as tricky as getting them to finish a plateful of broccoli. The group of eight-year-olds I took to The 02 Dome to see the Tutankhamun exhibition were semi-delirious with boredom after 15 minutes of looking at golden artefacts.

Since museums were a big yawn, I thought the best way to get my daughter, Holly, 8, excited about her next big school project was a family trip to Rome to show her the sights – with, perhaps the odd detour for me to those other classic Italian landmarks, Prada, Gucci and Max Mara, and gelati pitstops to keep her five-year-old brother, Rory, sweet.

Read the rest in The Times