Most youngsters will be giving their mums chocolates and flowers for Mother's Day tomorrow – but not 10-year-old Edward Pinder.
Instead, the youngster will be throwing rather sharp knives at his brave mum, Erika.
Edward, of Bisbrooke, near Uppingham, in Rutland, is a knife-thrower for the family circus, which has just started its new season touring the country.
"I've been doing a lot of rehearsals and I think I'm quite accurate," he said. "I'm not nervous at all, but I think my mum is a little bit. When I get better I might start throwing some stars and axes and I might even get dad involved. The knives are about as sharp as kitchen knives, but I'm not allowed to use those ones at home."
Edward will be throwing the knives at his mum twice a day at weekends and during holidays during the coming months.
The act was performed for the first time in Stanford at the weekend and went down a storm with the crowd.
Erika said: "I was a bit nervous, but Edward was really calm and everything was fine – and the audience really enjoyed it.
"It was really, really scary when I was waiting for him to throw his first knife at me.
"I had seen him practice and knew he could throw in a straight line, but my heart was jumping, I was terrified."
Erika said there had been no accidents so far – but there had been a few close calls.
"Edward uses professional knives and they're really sharp – they have to be to stick into the wood," she said. "Edward knows it's a very dangerous act but it works because we both feel comfortable and both trust each other. Touch wood, we haven't had any accidents so far.
"When he's throwing the knives, he's in charge – he's the parent and I'm the child – but only for the few minutes of the act."
She said it would be an unusual way to spend Mother's Day.
"I'm hoping for flowers and chocolates, but I know I'll be getting the knives thrown at me in the ring first."
Dad Eddy is a clown in the family circus, called Pinders Circus. He believes Edward may be the youngest knife- thrower in Europe.
The circus, which includes jugglers, musical clowns, aerial acts, acrobats and dancers, will be in Cutts Close, Oakham, from Friday to Sunday.
