Family Friendly Week Part 3 – Ian Wilson

For part 3 of Family Friendly Week we interviewed Ian Wilson – Lanes Group Regional Development Manager for Scotland:

Ian is in the middle of the ‘terrible twos’ – but he loves it!

Ian Wilson admits there are times when he feels his two-year-old son, Conrad, is running rings round him – but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ian is the Lanes Group Regional Development Manager for Scotland, so is used to the trials and tribulations of managing a team of sales people, many with big personalities.

But compared with keeping up with a two-year-old? A doddle! To mark National Parents Week, 20-26 October, Ian shares his secrets about looking after a toddler with energy to spare.

Ian says: “Conrad was walking at nine months, talking at 15 months and is now into anything he can get his hands on. My strategy is to try to get him exhausted as quickly as possible, but it doesn’t always work.”

Popular pursuits include playing football, trampolining, disco dancing – did you say disco dancing, Ian?

“Yes, we’ve just come back from holiday in Lanzarote where Conrad had his first romance. He was at the mini disco, met a girl, and had a kiss and a cuddle. Two-year-olds are certainly advanced for their age, nowadays.”

Ian does a lot of travelling for his job, all over Scotland and the UK. His wife, Deborah, who works for a global engineering firm, managing mergers and acquisitions, travels even further, across the whole world.

“Fortunately, we have a large family of aunties and grandparents, all within five miles of us. So there is always a family member who can look after him, if we’re both away. Conrad loves it, because he’s spoilt rotten by them.”

The family also comes in handy when Ian feels he needs a break from parenting duties.

Ian admits: “If Deborah leaves me with Conrad for the day, I often just take him round my dad’s, then have a kip on the sofa. Then I take him back. When Deb comes home, she thinks I’ve been hard at it all day, and lets me go for another rest!”

Well that ruse won’t work anymore, Ian. “I must admit,” he says, “Deborah must sometimes wonder if she’s looking after two children at times. No matter how much effort I put in, she seems to work twice as hard.”

Not that Conrad is a conventional terrible two.

Ian says: “He’s a lovely lad with a hearty laugh. As soon as he was born I wished we’d had him 10 years earlier. I certainly don’t know now what I did with my money, with all my time, and why I needed all that sleep!”

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