THIS is what happens to the bed when I clear all my clothes (and the odd adapter for a camera that I never use, and some small versions of magazines from the airport that I read like two paragraphs in). But apparently it is OK for the baby things to go all over the bed.

I don’t know what these double-standards are all about. If this child is going to be so selfish then how are we going to get along? He/she, by having all these things on the spare bed, has pushed me to a situation where I am storing my clothes in the wardrobes and drawers (that were previously empty) – except the charger for the camera I don’t use, that is just lying around, and the small copy of GQ & Total Film, they are in a carrier bag.

Oh and the stuff in the bottom right of the picture is still my stuff. But what do you want from me? They are all things I would not notice if I never saw them again – unless I momentarily realised I didn’t know they were around, then I would desperately need them until the moment I found them – and then would not need them again.

It seems like we have a lot of stuff to look after it. I am not saying I want to collapse a building on top of this child. But, you hear all the time (once a decade) about baby being found in the rubble after a massive earthquake or something. Like I say I am not planning to collapse a building on this baby. I am asking if we, as a species, do too much for babies if some are OK in rubble for a day.

Of course manufacturers of things for making the life of babies safe and healthy wouldn’t make so much money if babies were kept in earthquake rubble.