I THINK Ben is set for a career in construction – or perhaps demolition would be more up his street.

Nothing is safe in the house at the moment. If it can be pushed, ripped, whacked or dropped, then Ben is your man.

It’s not just the mess I object to but the way in which he delights at mass destruction. Whether it is the noise of clattering toys or the satisfaction of completely wrecking a perfectly-built stack of blocks I am not sure, but the boy is intent on chaos.

I find it quite fascinating to watch when he is playing with his little girl friends as they seem to want to create and build only to watch in horror as Ben bellyflops onto a Lego construction.

Similarly with Plasticine, while his mother toils away fashioning butterflies, trains, people and a bird in flight (I was quite proud of that one) Ben revels in pulling bits off my mini models until they are just a pile of multi-coloured blobs squished into his podgy hands.

I wonder if there is anything I can do to encourage some sort of creativity in him. Whenever I set out the crafts at home he stays interested for about five minutes before the paint or glue is being dotted onto his face, the table or an unfortunate toy, because that is obviously much more fun than using the potato prints I lovingly crafted out of two Maris Pipers.

I am told he is just discovering for himself and learning loads while he is wreaking devastation, but still it would be nice to have something to show for it. While other parents have paintings stuck to their fridges I have an over-used cloth and carpet cleaner to show for a hard day at home.