Forget soft play areas. If you want to entertain your children, take them to a skip | Nell Frizzell

Some might call them danger zones. But dumps are ideal for helping youngsters expand their own limits - and have the time of their life

How do you entertain a group of small boys for the day? Take them to a skip, of course.

This week, my son's school was closed for an inset day". As is tradition on inset days, several of us had forgotten all about it, which meant a last-minute panic to place the kids. Because I work from home (and by work" we mean this, so, you know, it's a relative term) and have just the one child, I am always very happy to scoop up a few extra playmates for the day. After all, there are only so many times I can watch someone hit a ball of snot at a wall. Which meant I found myself in charge of a group of four boys, all under the age of six, with no plan. As the comedian, author and heart-throb Rob Delaney puts it: A house with three boys can seem like a ramshackle zoo on the edge of town: loud, dangerous and terrifying to the observer." This is very much a mode I lean into. In fact, at one point during the morning I looked down and noticed that I was standing, in a set of blue overalls, chopping up fruit, which I then laid out on a tray and threw on to the floor of my son's bedroom, before walking steadily and swiftly towards the door. All I needed was a tetanus shot and a name badge and I was effectively running an animal sanctuary.

Nell Frizzell is the author of Holding the Baby: Milk, Sweat and Tears from the Frontline of Motherhood