Eyes in the back of my head February 28 2015 4 Comments

There are times, many times when I am home alone with all four children and I don’t know what each individual is up to. I have a pretty good idea, but as all Mums of toddlers know, silence is not golden. 

  

Over the year that the twins were two, we had two gorgeous Au Pair's help our family. A lot of the time, their sole purpose was to follow the twins around making sure they weren't up to too much mischief. Bless their German hearts, they adored the boys and helped them thrive. 

The older two can be like a couple of ducks gliding along a lake.......don't be fooled by their calm, graceful looks. Recently I was reminded that there is a lot happening beneath the surface when I found this on my computer

We were lucky to have moved into our current house when we already had two little boys. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine what would happen next to our family, but nonetheless we renovated our home and garden with the forethought to make it as childproof as possible. And when I say child proof, I mean boy proof. Climbing, eating, sneaky, cheeky boy proof. Thank goodness. 

Today I was cleaning the kitchen after a particularly slow and messy Saturday morning and thinking these exact thoughts. I could see one, hear another and I knew the eldest was on the iPad. The fourth and final was nowhere to be seen or heard. After a quick lap of the house, I found him in the garden putting a pair of roller skates on. Having not yet mastered that skill, I think I caught him in the nick of time. 

That’s pretty much what my life is at the moment when all of the boys are home with me. Pre-empting disasters and having eyes in the back of my head. Constantly averting them of danger and trying to teach as we go. I want them to be brave, to trust themselves and to remember their childhood as carefree and fun. But I do not want to have to jog my memory of that first aid course or test my calm in a crisis. No thank you.

I'd love to know some tips from other Flat Out Mums on how you keep your eyes in the back of your head?