Harry Don't

I remember mum saying that when my brother was little, she used to worry that people would think his surname was ‘Don’t’ because it felt as if all she used to say was ‘Barry don’t’.

I now know how she feels. Keeping Harry out of trouble is a full time occupation and Melissa and I are forever saying ‘don’t’ or ‘stop that’ to him.

Last weekend we were weeding the vegetable patch and, as usual, Harry wanted to help. Rather than walking around the vegetables, though, Harry was determined to walk through them, which resulted in some rather fraught exchanges and one or two onions pulled a little bit sooner than expected.

Then, when Melissa decided to plant some flowers, Harry followed her around pulling up every single one. We later discovered some hidden in a watering can. It sounds funny now, but it wasn’t at the time and for a while it sounded like all we were doing was telling Harry off.

I said as much to Melissa later, and she replied that some days all she did was tell him off. When I returned home the other night, Melissa looked shattered. I asked her what was wrong and she said it had just been one of those days. At one point, he had covered the bathroom in shaving foam before Melissa managed to wrestle the can from his hand.

As Melissa said, it’s just part of growing up and Harry learning where the boundaries are – and how far he can push them. When we do tell him off, he frowns and says things like ‘No cross daddy. Harry want happy daddy.’ It doesn’t make discipline any easier.

Anyway, Melissa has now decided that we need to try a naughty corner.

The idea is that when Harry misbehaves, we make him stand in a corner for two minutes. The advantage of a naughty corner is that it’s completely portable, as opposed to a naughty step which may or may not be available depending on where you are. Will it work? I have no idea – but it’s got to be worth a try.