When Parenting Becomes Risk Assessment

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It seems, in the last three months, I have stopped being a mother.

Not fully, I still have two children and I am definitely still 100 per cent mother to Boo. With G though, while I am still mummy in the traditional sense-loving and caring for him, I have become so, much more.

I say no so many times in the day. When he puts something in his mouth that he shouldn’t. When he climbs on something he is likely to fall from.

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He is such a good little boy but he is fearless and fearlessness in the under 2’s is fear in droves for me.

If we go to the supermarket-even in the trolley seats which have ties, he manages to wriggle out. I have found for those emergencies when you have to physically go to the supermarket rather than have it delivered-you know for milk, bread or wine, a book will keep him in the seat for two aisles.

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I pray that they have samples at the deli counter. Those broken up biscuits or cubes of cheese will keep him in the seat for two more aisles-four of I send Boo back for another sample for him.

He has been walking for a while now but if he sees the nappy for a pit stop or the sleeping bag for night time, he literally runs away. He also thinks it is hilarious to run away when he has something in his mouth which he shouldn’t-like a stone from the garden or a die which hasn’t been put away from one of Boo’s boardgames.

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Thankfully in the house there are not many places to hide but there are walls and it seems my little tinker builds up such a speed that walls a regularly the thing to stop him in his tracks because he hurtles straight into them.

We moved the footstool to our lovely wing-backed chair because he climbed it and didn’t have the sense to climb off the normal way. I have found him head first in the corner on a few occasions before the stool was removed.

I bought the two of them a little table and chairs from Ikea, envisioning crayoning and playdoh sessions. Not only would G eat said crayons but he was regularly using the little chairs as step-ups to the table and dancing on the table, thinking he was the funniest baby in the world. He is the funniest baby in the world but not when dancing in front of patio doors and giving his mummy a heart attack.

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I hate saying boys are so different from girls but in my case, they really have been. Whereas Boo would and still does like to sit quietly playing with toys, G is only happy zooming up and down the living room with one foot on a toy tractor, one on a baby walker and with a remote control in each hand.

I am not complaining. He is amazing. Whereas Boo can leave me mentally exhausted, with G it is physical but he is delightful and there is no need for television in our house when G is around because he provides all of the entertainment anyone could need.

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I am going to add risk assessment management to my CV now though. I have gained so much experience in it over the last 15 months, I could write a manual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Comments

  1. I am right with you on this one Emma. Little 3 is sooo different to the girls. He is now moving stuff to climb up somewhere and is half way up the stairs before i have enven shut the gate! They say boys will be boys and I like you certainly have my hands full!!

  2. My little boy is the same. I can’t leave him alone or I will find him standing on the couch (the other day he walked straight off it, I expected him to burst into tears as he fell to the floor but he got up and laughed!) he too just runs back and forth like a crazy kid!
    Your little one looks so cute and cheeky!

  3. Ha ha! Ben wasn’t a climber, but I definitely know what you mean about boys being different from girls – he needs physical activity and can’t bear sitting and playing quietly (unless it’s with superhero toys at the moment). You need eyes in the back of your head!

  4. Oh jings! Tell me about it! have three boys aged 7, 5 and nearly a year and honestly, the three of them terrify me on a daily basis! I’d be all for just replacing the whole of the house with soft play and making padded rooms, because honestly, if there is something to break or destroy or climb on, they do it! Yesterday they managed to break a cup without even going near it (they were jumping up and down on the other side of the room and it fell off a shelf). It’s very stressful, ha ha!

  5. Aww, G sounds like he’s definitely got the energy of a very happy little boy. I definitely agree with you adding the risk assessment bit to your CV – my background is in events and you’d be surprised by how many people don’t know how to consider or manage basic risks, let alone the ones children can create!

  6. I can so relate to this post. A baby wriggling free from the straps meant to hold it in place to a toddler running around with a remote in hand. #MaternityMondays

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