Case study: Sue and Fay

She later joined the staff as a nursery assistant and has worked her way up to nursery co-ordinator at number three in the management team, which also includes her mother and the nursery's manager.

'She has got there on her own merits,' says Sue. 'In some ways she has had a tough time, as she has never received any favours from me where perhaps another member of staff might have done. I didn't want any feeling that she was being treated differently because she is my daughter.

'Our relationship has survived some very testing times. A few years ago she went through the disciplinary procedure. It involved another member of staff and they both had to go through the disciplinary procedure. It was very difficult, but I had to be seen to be neutral. It helps that I have a manager too.

'At the age of 22 she has got much more experience than other people of the same age, because she has grown up with the nursery and she is used to having quite in- depth discussions about the business side of things. She knows all about the pitfalls of running the business, so she is a bit more switched on, more responsible, more mature.

'The staff understand they have to go to her. Where staff have tried to bypass Fay, I have never allowed it. I am very strict on that.

'We have not made a big issue of her being my daughter. She is part of the interview team as nursery co-ordinator, but we do not tell candidates that we are mother and daughter. She is part of the panel because she has got there by her own professionalism and hard work, not because she is my daughter.

'Once new staff join, they soon realise that Fay is my daughter. Parents do not always guess, because our name is Polish. My name is Kowalski with the "i" because I am married, but Fay is Kowalska and most people do not make the link.'