Please Don’t
Play
in the Toilet
What is the matter with baby boys?
Don’t they like to play with toys?
Why would they rather spend time in the loo?
Washing their hands in the watery blue
What is the matter with two-year old boys?
Apart from the time they spend flushing their toys
Why do they dress up in spider man clothes?
Rescuing teddies while picking their nose
What is the matter with boys who are three?
Toilets are places for doing a wee
But they all insist on the sunny outdoors
And run to the lemon tree dropping their drawers
What is the matter with boys who are four?
Leaving their toys and their clothes on the floor
Spitting and shooting with guns made of sticks
Scaring the dog with their spider man tricks
What is the matter with five-year old boys?
Driving their mums up the wall with their noise
Blatantly breaking all of the rules
God bless the nannies, teachers and schools
“I know now that everything changes, and it’s usually too quickly.”*
Having children reminds us of the changing nature of ourselves and our world. Before children entered my life, years could go by and I would usually have external events to mark them. Now, years are remembered for my children’s birth or ages, and our experiences together. (And the time before the birth of my first child feels like a thousand years ago!). Their growth seems rapid and shockingly sudden – and my time with them is all the more precious for knowing that.
* © from 'Being Mummy' by Anne‑marie Taplin, published April 2007