Bunchin Madras diaries 3

Our house is  not child friendly. Not by a long margin. We realised it everyday everytime, Bunchin would reach out for a dangerous object. For a starter many switchboards were at ankle level. I dont know what is so fascinating about a switch board but Bunchin has to reach out for it and try to wriggle his tiny fingers in the plug hole. I just dashed across and pulled him out.Out came the tape and the plug was plugged, child safe. I did it while he was watching with total fascination. Immediately he put his fingers and tried to pull it out, the same way he saw me spread it out. He almost succeeded. Then D told me, that it is safe not to do such stuff when he is around. Otherwise he gets ideas and will continuously work on it and give us anxieties. Lesson learned!

We made a wall cabinet some years back with lots of ideas and consultations with all stakeholders!  And it was from ground level. We added pull out draws at the ground level with the thought, " something handy to just push it in.  A temporary storage, we said. But it has become semi permanent storage of all important papers which we are too lazy to file it. We forgot that there would soon be a tiny toddler in the house and this will be his treasure hunt!. We could not tape it shut for obvious reasons, that it was being used several times everyday. So,  Bunchin used to have a field day pulling it out, sitting down comfortably and rummaging the contents. If he is quiet for a while, you can be sure he is at this spot. What did I say , our house is not child friendly. No, a small correction. Looking at it from Bunchin's viewpoint, it is totally child friendly. Everything is within his reach!

We bought a corner table, just to keep bunchin's stuff handy near the staircase landing. But then it had soon metamorphosised into the mobile and tablet charging point. Bunchin will climb the stairs in a jiffy and immediately he has his hands full, pulling at all the esoteric electronic stuff. Thatha is amused at all other times with Bunchin's 'vishamam' but his mobile and his tablet are sacred for him. So Bunchin is soon thwarted.He need not worry some other child friendly stuff will be quite near.The room has a corner  table with two pull out draws. Again it has all odds and ends of unclassified nature, many of them were lost and found objects. But they were not child friendly objects. Many of them were breakable items, some with sharp edges and some with wires sticking out. So they were taped when Bunchin was busy fiddling with some other stuff in another room.

The washing machine. It is a front loading one and he is fascinated by what is happening inside.Colourful(and dirty) clothes are making various movements and he is seeing and not able to handle them.So he tries the knob and they are just within his reach. Why can they not have the knobs in a panel on the top!Atleast they can make the front loading door opaque! Korean manufacturers should wear Edward de bono's thinking hats!

Kitchen is of course his ultimate playground. Here we are a little more relaxed. Everything is stored within his reach in small containers. And unbreakable variety. So he can pull anything out and fool around with them or the vessels. It is only a nuisance to clear them away, but he is safe. See, kitchen is the most child safe place in our house. And it was a shock to me when western magazines tell us not to encourage a toddler inside a kitchen as it is quite a dangerous place. East is east and west is west!

The clothes cupboard and its contents used to fascinate him for a while. He would pull out the just washed clothes from my cupboard, again sitting down comfortably on the floor. I made a game of it. I would fold and play act as though I am ironing it. He was happy that he can play a game pulling out things. This went on for a while.Till one day, he pulled out every single cloth in the last three shelves and it filled the entire room.  I was not very amused and after that he lost interest in this silly game!

Bathrooms fascinate him. Especially the taps and the western toilets. D is not at all amused as the taps are within his reach and he drenches himself thoroughly. Good that chennai has a weather where such childish pranks do not have very serious repurcussions most of the time. Plumbers should realise that every house will have toddlers sometimes and it is best to have taps at an 'adult' level!.

Let me not get started on door stoppers. He easily pulls out the floor level ones. What happened to the good old rectangular woodden ones at our shoulder level which will keep the door shut. D came out with an innovation to keep a thick towel hanging on the door, so that Bunchin is not able to shut the door completely and hurt himself in the bargain. Carpenters, please go back to old fashioned door stoppers.

........more to go