I always knew I would be a guru one day

I have come up with a really great strategy to help teenage fashion shops convince parents that they really should buy those clothes that the kids really, really want, but mum or dad thinks are really, really awful. Yes - really.

The idea came to me in a toy shop while looking for a Hallmark Mother's Day present for my seventy-five year old mother. Yes, you did read that correctly.

Let me explain. When my mother was a kid, her mum used to try and ingratiate herself with friends and neighbours by giving their kids my mum's toys - such as her dolls and teddy bears. This is the same woman who used to put ammonia under her daughters nose as a joke, so you can see the sort of mindset we are talking about here! One of the toys she gave away was a kaleidoscope - one of her favourite toys.

The other day she was passing the toy shop and saw a kaleidoscope and took an instant liking to it. She is not the sort of person to buy such things for herself, so I thought - ah ha! - present problem solved.

Having purchased the gift I couldn't help myself - I just had to look around! Much to my surprise I came across a few familiar toys from my own childhood -such as Noddy and Big Ears. The shop radio was playing 60s music - the same songs that were around when I was a kid playing with the toys I was looking at. It's then that the idea hit me.

Many teens still have mum or dad drag along when buying clothes, and I often hear disagreements between the two opposing parties. It happened the other day in the jeans section of a department store. A teenage girl wanted a very short denim skirt and mum said 'no,' which is just as well because if she hadn't, I bloody well would have!

But what would have happened if the shop had been playing music her mum used to listen to when she was her daughters age? The memories would have come flooding back, she would have thought of all the clothes her own mum wouldn't let her buy - and wallah - mum caves in and gets out her credit card.

I always knew I had it in me to be a guru.