THANK goodness. I thought it was just me and my husband. I believed we were the only parents in the country mean enough to raid our children's piggy banks. But we are not alone. Not by a long way. This month, 1.3 million parents will plunder their children's money boxes to get them through until the next pay day.

Almost half of parents questioned in a survey by Yorkshire Bank admitted to finding January such a struggle, they were forced to borrow from their children.

Many kids, apparently, can easily afford to lend them the cash, after a festive windfall that, says the survey, works out at an average £191.50.

Since Christmas, I have borrowed from my daughters on at least six occasions, for items ranging from a loaf of bread to school dinner money. And my husband has also gone cap in hand for various essentials.

My eldest daughter has a stash of IOUs next to her bed, all from us. It hardly inspires confidence in us as parents.

Borrowing from them was a lot easier when they were small. Under fives aren't generally on top of the UK monetary system. To them, a couple of notes emblazoned BANK OF NODDY, are worth just as much as those issued by the Bank of England.

If an aunt or uncle slips them a tenner, they don't put up much resistance when you take it away, explaining: "Mummy and daddy will keep it safe for you."

Of course, I was never so unscrupulous as to spend it on myself. It went on kids' stuff, and I didn't feel guilty because, I figured, most of my wages go on them anyway.

But once they start school, children begin to put two and two together (to make £4) and it slowly dawns on them that money means toys and toys mean money. And cash given to them is theirs to do as they like.

Children don't miss a trick. Every coin or note that comes their way, no matter what value, is entered into a special log book (you think your child hasn't got one, think again) located deep inside their brains. You ask to borrow so much as a penny and they're drawing up IOUs and calculating interest (usually a good 50 points over the Bank of England Base Rate) faster than you can say: "Hey, stop, I'm your mother."

I hate borrowing from the kids, but it happens more often than I'd like. It is only very small amounts, not, as one friend tells me, to help pay the mortgage. I can't say that will never happen, though, because at certain times of the year - especially following Christmas and birthdays - the children are a heck of a lot richer than we are.

The worry is, if we fall out with them big time and they decide to call in our debts in full. What if we can't pay? I'm mentally preparing myself for the moment when they march into the living room hand over a piece of paper with the words KIDS' MONEY COLLECTION COMPANY' scrawled across it, unplug our TV, lug it up to their bedroom and lock the door behind them.