Tiarnan in the playground

Today, Tiarnan, sixteen months, was in the playground. It was early evening and, while playing, he noted something which drew his attention.

Across the playground, some ten metres or so, away, there was a newspaper on the ground. Curiously, he stopped playing and ran towards, bending down to pick it up. His mother, who was watching, assumed that he was going to play with it, and worried about him getting dirty, for it was an old paper. But no, Tiarnan had other ideas.

He took the paper and ran across the playground to where a tall, metal bin, stood. Then he stretched up and threw the paper into it.

This rather surprised his mother, for she hardly expected a boy of sixteen months, to start tidying up his environment.

He then surveyed the playground, in the growing gloom, for further detritus to remove, spotted some and set about doing the same thing with this new rubbish. He roved about the playground picking up rubbish and throwing it in the bin (which he could barely reach).

As I write, I am beginning to think that it is rather refreshing, for any parent, to have a toddler who actually TIDIES up a space. As anyone who has ever been a parent will know, they are usually excessively gifted in the "making a mess" department.

Let's hope he makes a habit of it!