I knew it was starting to become a problem when Ben picked up the remote control and gestured towards the television.

I could have predicted when a quick glance at the clock confirmed it was only 6.30am that the subsequent refusal would start the day off on a disappointing vibe.

A red faced screaming child pre-dawn is not what you need to get you off to a flying start.

But despite the hollering, dramatic throwing to the floor and at one stage actually stamping his feet (which in fact had me smirking) Mum stuck to her guns, the TV stayed off.

Two things struck me about that episode; one, where the heck was he learning these tantrum tricks and two, how quickly he went from ‘this is the worst thing that could have happened’ to ‘oh look a crayon that hasn’t been put away, silly mummy’.

Fascinating to see how he was prepared to give a performance an Italian footballer would be proud off in order to get what he wanted but then quickly give up when he was met with a referee aka Mum who was having none of it.

I couldn’t resist giving myself a mental pat on the back for not folding but then reminded myself that he had only been up ten minutes and this could be the start of a very long morning. This indeed came to pass.

Every single thing was met with a ‘no’, shaking of the head, walking (yeah!) away and red faced screeching.

By the time we had negotiated breakfast, with his bib ON, my soft reasonable tone was wearing thin. I vented my fury out of earshot in the kitchen where I exclaimed I would do some physical damage to the child if he didn’t buck his ideas up.

This was greeted with a look of panic from Ben’s dad who clearly didn’t appreciate that I wasn’t in fact serious and that his only son and heir would not remain strapped in his high chair until he chewed his way through the harness to freedom.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with admitting when the kids get on top of you, but the trick seems to be not letting them see it.

On that particular day in question, bed time could not come soon enough when I could then enjoy a very reasonable amount of red wine.