Who else feels like a personal assistant doing ‘dadmin’ for their father?

After some initial pleasantries, he got down to business: ‘Have you managed to get online yet to order the garden gazebo we talked about?’

I gritted my teeth and patiently explained that no, I hadn’t yet got around to buying his new bit of al fresco kit but it was definitely on my to-do list. Once the call was over, I ended up doing it straight away.

Because, even though I have my own long list of life admin – booking after-school clubs for my kids, finally getting around to sorting out a will, doing the weekly Tesco shop – I know I’ll feel bad if I don’t get onto the gazebo. 

It’s just one example of the countless tasks I’ve been given over the years by my 68-year-old father. I’ve come to think of it all as ‘dadmin’.

This means I’m essentially his personal assistant/tech support/personal shopper, forever doing jobs on his behalf, such as appealing parking fines, buying birthday presents for my siblings or buying new trainers/t-shirts/trousers for him online.

I know my mistake with the gazebo. I was over at his house and he mentioned that he needed a new one for the summer: ‘Could you have a quick look online at how much it would cost?’

So after his phone call reminder a day after his initial ask, I found a website that was offering a discount with email sign up. So, of course, it’s me who ends up signing up to the marketing email – and me who must, therefore, place the order.

Taking on Dad’s admin extends beyond his own needs – he even asks me to do it for other people he knows.

More recently, Dad’s cousin was coming to London from Ireland for a visit. I was tasked with getting onto Citymapper to work out his train journey time from Heathrow to Whitechapel underground station.

Could the cousin not have done this himself, you might ask. I asked myself this too, but there’s no point in asking questions – it would take longer. So I just did it, texted Dad the answer and moved on.

Why set up your own Amazon account when one of your offspring can put in an order for you?

I’ve canvassed opinions among my friends about dadmin and it seems that I’m not alone.

My friend Catherine books all her parents’ holidays and, therefore, feels like she has a second career as a travel agent. Other friends tell me they spend two hours a week working on their parents’ administrative to-dos.

I’m one of five siblings and my brother and sisters also get roped into Dad’s never-ending roster of chores. Although semi-retired, my dad is a builder who still does small jobs.

Any time my brother visits our family home, he is ushered to the computer where he must type out quotes for potential clients.

My sister, Geraldine, is regularly asked to sort out refunds for Dad. Most recently, this was for some door handles he had ordered from Germany. So she spent a frustrating chunk of an afternoon trying to arrange the refund. In German. A language she doesn’t speak.

We have all attempted to show Dad how to do this stuff for himself, which he doesn’t like.

I do get it. With so much of our life conducted online these days, that can be harder for our parents’ generation if they’re not particularly tech-savvy (or willing).

Still, maybe that’s the whole point in having five kids. Why set up your own Amazon account when one of your offspring can put in an order for you?

And any time I roll my eyes over being bombarded with yet more dadmin, I remind myself that when it comes to his own time, he is the most generous person I know.

He is an enthusiastic babysitter and when we refurbished our house recently, he helped us out with everything from plumbing to rewiring the electrics.

But Dad, next time you need new trainers, do you reckon you could buy them yourself at the shop?

Because I really, really need to get around to changing my mobile phone provider.