xanthous
Congratulations on surviving! At least you know the kid’ll be a year older and (hopefully) wiser the next time Thanksgiving rolls around (admittedly this may mean they’ve found new and more creative ways to destroy things, but they should also be more receptive to the Steely Glare of Doom when you tell them not to. You have a year to practise!)
RickJay
Unless you’re going to take the position that “sucker” refers to “anyone who childproofs even a little more than me” I think you’re going to have to admit that you did do childproofing in your house (just not very much) and that other people might put the threshold at different points without necessarily being idiots.
F’rinstance, I’m getting the vibe from your posts that you were mostly (or even solely?) just dealing with one preschooler at a time. I, on the other hand, can cheerfully report I’m not even in the same room as my one year old son for a good chunk of the average day, and unless I were to haul him bodily with me every time his big sister wants a drink or his middle sister needs her nappy changed, I don’t see how it could be any different. He’s got plenty to practise his “doing what mummy says” skills on just with “don’t pull the cat’s tail”,“don’t thump your sisters on the head”, “don’t push buttons on the computer” and “don’t throw crockery on the ground” - I’m not going to add in another dozen breakable things at hand height that I have to run around saying “no” to all day