The Battles of Parenting

I never imagined in a million years I’d see parenting as a battle. I think I had a very Disney version of how parenting would pan out in my head as you can imagine I have been severely disillusioned now. It was all going so swimmingly – I honestly had the most perfectly perfect baby. She was happy and content, only cried when she was in pain or hungry, laughed a lot, listened to her mama and apart from a few sleeping issues was just amazing. Then she discovered she could talk and move and a whole new world opened up. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying she is incredibly naughty or badly behaved (she DOES have her moments) but she is strong-minded, stubborn, independent and two and whilst I’d like her to turn out as a power-house of a woman, I’d quite like to keep some of that under wraps some days as it does occasionally make getting things done a bit difficult and I’m not alone in my dilemma…..

Currently we have a couple of battles on our hands that appear at regularly timed intervals to keep me on my toes I swear. Firstly, it’s doing as she’s told. Now, I totally get that as children they must be hugely frustrated at their lack of control in life. They want to be able to eat, do, make everything they see everyone else doing and for one reason or another cannot necessarily do that. OH MY GOODNESS – what is with “the drop-out”!?!? Do you know what I mean – you’re walking along calmly, hand in hand, it’s a lovely moment and they ask you for something and you happen to say no or not now or maybe later and BOOM! They drop to the floor and go stiff as a board. Pulling the whole side of you down with them and either won’t move or begin to scream.

Through gritted teeth that’s shaped somewhat like a smile you bend down to their level (whilst thinking that the money you’ve recently spent getting a physiotherapist to fix your back is probably wasted until your child leaves home!!!) and calmly try and reason with them. At which point they either accept your reasoning and move on (happened ONCE,) they accept the distraction you are offering (look free apple, banana or orange for you to throw all over the supermarket floor) or you grab them round the waist, throw them over your shoulder and make a break for the car. I do often at these moments, stop and wonder what someone else would do?!

The other semi-battle we’re having is with toilet training. She is so ready and shows a lot of the signs and some days she’ll play ball and others she just cannot be bothered (I know the feeling!) However, with this situation I was offered a little help from none other than Bing & Flop and got myself to sit down and think, #whatwouldflopdo ?!

Alyssa and I (okay just Alyssa but as it helps me too I’m claiming part ownership) received a brand new #BingBunny toilet training toy through the post. Can I tell you… I had barely opened the box before I heard a squeal of “It’s BING!!!!!!!” So, I am guessing she was happy to see him. We’re big Bing fans in this house – yes occasionally I do think he is the male version of the very spoilt Peppa Pig, but actually thanks to Flop I think Bing isn’t too bad and he always says please and thank you so he’s okay in my book… if a little whiney at times.

As I said, we received the new ‘Toilet Train Bing‘ who is actually a little bit cool. He comes wearing his green t-shirt and a pair of pants and is super cuddly as well as his very own blue plastic lightweight toilet. I pulled the tab and another squeal escaped Alyssa’s mouth as she suddenly discovered that Bing spoke. Not only does he speak but he plays games and has loads and loads of interactive sounds too. He had Alyssa playing hide and seek (for this she put her hands over her eyes and magically disappeared!!)

However, he also asks to go to the toilet and on the wee-wee train and your child has to take him and sit him on the toilet where you can hear him going for a wee whilst he hums. If he doesn’t make it in time a small light up patch appears on his pants and he says “oh oh!” Honestly, I thought this toy was brilliant and so much more than a toy. Obviously to begin with, Alyssa just thought it was something to play with and then I think she actually started to listen to what Bing was saying. I showed her that when he needed a wee she needed to quickly pop him on his toilet for what we call a “Bye Bye Wee – it was at this point that Alyssa decided to try and sit on Bing’s toilet herself! Moving on from this, she then got to see what happened if he didn’t make it and I assured her it was okay and that we needed to give Bing a cuddle and then we could play again.

My little one has such a good imagination anyway, so to have a toy of a character she loves that interacts with her is brilliant. Bing has been on all sorts of adventures already and can often be heard playing in the garden with Alyssa who will be talking to him non-stop. I’ll occasionally here an “Oh No!” from both of them and my little one will appear, hugging him and saying “S’ok Bing. S’ok Bing!” She then has to go and get her Flop figurine to sort him out and make it all okay again.

For a children’s toy, I think it is absolutely genius. Children as young as 2 can use it (we’ve only just turned two and my little one has no problem with it at all) and for £31.99 I think it is really good value. It doesn’t just help teach your little one about going to the toilet, it plays, interacts and sparks imagination too and to me that is priceless. #Whatwouldflopdo ? Well, I think he’d head on out and grab a Bing toy for Bing, Sula, Pando, Coco and Charlie and then they can all play together. Good for you Bing Bunny!

This is a collaborative post.