Parents trying to wean their toddler son from dummies enlisted some unlikely help from bin men in East Dulwich, writes Katherine Johnston…
Helen Kelsall and Paul Clark from Underhill Road wanted to give their two-year-old son Harry a distraction to help him get used to life without his dummy.
Paul explained: “We thought it was going to be a huge problem as he was really, really attached to it. When he went to bed at night he would always ask for ‘dummy, dummy, dummy’ before going to sleep.”
His parents hatched an ingenious plan to dump the dummies for good, and fortunately their local crew from Veolia were only too happy to lend a hand with the unusual request.
The toddler is obsessed with rubbish trucks and looks forward to seeing the friendly team of rubbish and recycling collectors every Tuesday morning on his way to and from nursery.
Helen and Paul asked the crew if they would make a surprise visit to see Harry, and encourage him to hand over his dummies. They explained to Harry that his dummies could be recycled and used for babies who needed dummies more than him. In exchange, Harry got a goody bag with his own high-vis jacket, a story-book all about a special rubbish truck called Munch, and his very own toy truck.
Awestruck Harry was more than happy to comply and spent the morning with bin men Benny, Michael and Patrick.
Harry is now sleeping well without his dummies and has even told his parents: “Harry big boy, baby dummies.”
Helen and Paul said: “We can’t thank the crew enough for helping Harry giving away his dummies and for generally being the best and friendliest crew in the world!”