Henfield toddler crowned UK’s messiest child

Emilia Herbert won the competition after her mum, Lois Herbert, entered a photo of the two-year-old ruining her sofa with an artistic display of nappy cream – and doing so with a devilish stare.

By coming out on top in the competition, Emilia has won her family a brand new sofa worth £699 from ScS who ran the contest.

Lois said: “Oh my goodness this is amazing! We can laugh about the incident now but at the time I wasn’t too pleased. I was upstairs bathing her baby sister at the time.

“Of course, it feels amazing to win and definitely cheered us up in this crazy and anxious time we are all facing.

“We will be able to enjoy family movie time on our new sofa while we all stay safe together, thank you so much!“

With many working from home with young children to entertain during the lockdown, households are sure to get messy.

This prompted sofa and carpet specialist, ScS, to challenge parents across the nation to send in photographic evidence of children wreaking havoc on their homes while asking parents and experts to share tips on keeping them entertained.

Parenting blogger and author, Lucy Rycroft, gives her advice to limit children’s mess whilst indoors: “Use screen time wisely and create a schedule to divide the day into short blocks. Fully invest in your kids for some of these blocks, especially early on in the day, as then they are more likely to self-direct once they have had some attention.”

“If you are working, have designated times in the day when you are going to work and stick to them.

“Make sure your kids and your colleagues know when this is happening and if possible this should be at the same times each day. Schedule what you need to do in each work slot to maximise productivity and review each evening for the next day.”

Dale Gillespie, head of acquisition at ScS, said: “These hilarious pictures show how much mess innocent children can make in such a short space of time, with some even ruining expensive furniture in the time it takes for a short trip to the loo!

“We’re thrilled to be able to provide our winner, Emilia and her family a new sofa, and hope these insightful tips will help save some furniture!”

To see more messy toddler entrants, visit https://www.scs.co.uk/lifestyle/messy-toddlers

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