Looking Back - The toddler years

As my boys are growing up, we seem to be having less of those incidents that make you want to scream, you know the ones....  where everything goes quiet and they are up to something.  I have had quite a few of them.

Permanent Pen

Maxi once drew on everything with a black pen that you used on paper to make a road for a car to follow, no where on the box did it say the pen was permanent, but oh my it was, he was 20 months old and nearly didn't live to see his next birthday.  The sofa, the walls, the doors, the TV, in fact most things in the sitting room.  All done when I was putting mini down for a nap. 

He took the pen from its storage and just did it, I was beside myself and the resulting mess was unmovable from the sofa's, not even the insurance company's special "man" could get it off.  We managed to save the TV and repaint the walls etc.

I learned my lesson on this one, everything that can do damage away, not just in a cupboard but out of reach and the company now label all their sets as having a permanent pen in them!

It's Snowing Mummy

We use washing powder soft tabs from Simply Washing and I store them in the utility area (or the futility area as it is known in this house).  I get them delivered in bulk, so more often than not there is a number of boxes there.

Well the boys took it upon themselves to make it snow one day and went through the whole lot of them tearing open the boxes and the bags and opening the little tablets to allow the powder to make a snow.  I can not remember what I was doing this day, but I walked in to the kitchen to chaos.   They had started to half open the tabs and throw them at themselves allowing the "snow" to flutter down all over them and everything else in the kitchen!

Mini the amazing safe-cracker

We never had to put door locks on anything with Maxi, he never went in to the cupboards once he had been told sternly a couple of times NO, but Mini, oh my Mini is very different indeed.  More often than not he is driven by his tummy and his sweet tooth.  I have found him with his head in the fridge (having figured out the lock) more than once, with all the yogurt gone, or his fingers in the jam!

He also cracked the treat cupboard pretty fast too, we don't have many biccies etc, but I pop them in a cupboard, but mini too know how to bypass the latch.  I stopped putting things in high units or shelves, as he would drag in a chair and manage to get them.

You would think that he is starved, but I have fruit out always and they can help themselves to that anytime, but no that would be too easy for Mini!

I could also tell you about the day Maxi got in to my make up bag, hence why I no longer have one, or when mini was found in the back of my wardrobes having fallen asleep playing hide and seek, I am sure that this isn't the end of it, just the beginning .  I can not believe that my babies, have been toddlers and are now children.  Come September I will no longer have a preschooler either - wow time flies.

Childhood innocence lost or a mum behind the times

A tweet and a blog post by Sandy Calico of Baby Baby Fame about shag bands today really got me enraged and started me thinking - not a good thing.

I read about these horrendous things a while back, but thought that they hadn't reached the UK yet and I have to say they really upset me, there is a post in The Times about them.  I know that we can not shield our children from sexulisation, but we can hold it back for as long as possible.

I have long been a mum who doesn't like slogan tshirts and tops, especially ones that sexualise children or even say things like "here comes trouble".  Now my boys are not angels, but I dont want them wearing a top letting people know that they are little monkeys  or here comes trouble and also would hate to see it becoming a self fulfilling prophesy.

Why would you want to put a child in a tshirt stying that there job is to create mayhem, or lock up your daughters, or god forbid a girl in a playboy tshirt.  They are not clever and they are not funny.

But it often seems that I am in the minority these days and I am seeing more and more children wearing these terrible tops. I have even seen ones that say "I have done F*** all today", "They Beat Me", "ASBO" and "Botch job" what message is this passing to our children? 

Now I will admit that I am an older mum and that my idea of a funky tea shirt is one with bungle from rainbow on it and the thankful thing is the the mini's wont wear anything that they can not read.

I Think that children should be children for as long as possible and it is our jobs as parents to protect, shield and discuss these things with our children when necessary.  We should dress out children like children, leave the knee high boots, spaghetti straps and mini adult clothes for the older children, what is wrong with the more traditional wear.  Well for one thing the shops which sock the style of clothes I want the boys and my nieces to wear are expensive.

GAP, Boden, Fatface, MiniMode have lots of age appropriate and lovely clothing, but it is often three times more expensive if not more than, George, Tesco and Primark.  This is the first year in four that I have been able to find good value plain tops in Marks and Spencer for the boys.  I can not be the only mum who is facing this dilemma.

I think that sadly it is a symptom of today's shock media and also the fact that parenting has changed dramatically since I was younger.  I didn't even get my ears pierced until I was 13.

So what can I do to change or affect this, well it has made me very aware of my responsibility as a mother of two boys to do my job correctly and raise my boys to respect woman and girls.  To teach them that sex is not a cheap object to take from someone just because you can.  To help them put a real value on girls.

I hope that the fact that MadDad truly respects me that they have a good role model.