Imagine your husband comes home from work one day with another woman. He introduces her to you and explains that she will be joining the family from this day forward. He goes on to advise that for the immediate future she will be receiving all of his attention and, furthermore, she will be noisy, selfish and demanding. It turns out that even though your husband will be unashamedly showering her with affection, she will make him short-tempered, tired and impatient.

According to a friend of mine, this is how a first child experiences the arrival of a new baby into the household. Horrifying isn’t it? The sense of betrayal is mortifying. It is with this in mind that I have been contemplating a little brother or sister for my almost two year old.

Naturally there are ample benefits that the arrival of a sibling would afford my son, not least of which would be gaining a much-wanted playmate. However, realistically, most of the advantages aren’t likely to become apparent until many months or even years into the future and, as we know, toddlers live in the ‘right here, right now’.