Parenting Tip: Take Them Everywhere
In little Oliver’s first 4+ months, he’s been a lot of places and seen a lot of things. They are a lot of places and things that he won’t remember – but he’s been there.
And the reason that we’ve taken him, is twofold.
1) We want him to get used to experiencing different environments and become comfortable in large groups of people.
2) We want to go to these places.
We recognize that we’re lucky and that timing has been a big part of our ability to have a lot of his early life outings. His later-April birth meant that we have had a full summer of opportunities. And we’ve taken advantage of that luck as much as we can.
So far Ollie has been to…
2 Outdoor Concerts (Jess Moskaluke @ Country Wild Fest in Cobourg, ON & Meghan Patrick @ the Port Perry Fair)
2 Car Shows (Autofest Oshawa & Lindsay’s Classics on Kent)
1 Toronto Blue Jays Game @ Rogers Centre
1 Wedding (Congrats and love to Jess & Mike)
1 Demolition Derby (Port Perry Fair)
1 Brunch with Friends in Toronto
As well as family hangouts, dinners, visits, shopping trips, the library, and more.
Note: I understand that not all babies/toddlers/children are as good in crowds or busy spaces as Oliver is. And if that’s the case, please understand that I’m not trying to tell you to force it… but I would recommend giving it a shot.
I’ve noticed two things at a lot of these events…
1) We’re often not the only ones out with a little baby.
2) People still look at us with surprise/curiosity/wonder that we’re out with the little baby.
What we’ve also noticed is that Oliver is really good at being out in public. Whether it’s with a small, isolated group of friends and family, or hundreds or thousands of strangers, he handles it. And as long as he’s got his ear protection on, and his mom or me to hold him when he gets a little anxious/tired/hungry, he’s able to power through and be a good little dude.
None of this is to say that he doesn’t hit a wall of course. On the Labour Day weekend at the Port Perry Fair Ollie was great from the late afternoon all the way through the start of the night time country music concert. But when it was time for Meghan Patrick to hit the stage at 9 o’clock, he’d had about enough. His little hands started to reach up repeatedly to pull down his headphones, and he started to get more and more fussy. It was time to go, maybe a little earlier than we’d hoped, but after a good 5+ hour run in the sun, crowd, and noise.
Note: We are extremely fortunate that the baby is cool to eat and nap in his ear protection headphones. 100% lucky and grateful.
Reading his cues and knowing that they are different when we’re in public is another big part of being out with the baby. He isn’t as vocal or playful when we’re out, but he’s still smiley and welcoming to new people. He’s quieter about letting us know when he needs something like a fresh diaper or food – so we have to be paying attention to make sure we don’t accidentally let him reach to meltdown mode.
We know it’s going to happen at some point. We probably aren’t ready for it. We probably can’t be ready for it.
But, even with that risk and possibility, we know it’s important to be out with him. We know that he’s learning how to act in a crowd. We know that he’s learning how to be comfortable with lots of people around. And we hope that it’s going to pay off in the future when he’s walking and talking and pointing and all that jazz.
And, like I said, we still want to go to events and cool places. We don’t want to be stuck at home parents. We want to see our friends and do things we love and see cool things. We still want to have lives outside of being Oliver’s mom and dad. Ya know?
So we take him.
And we plan to continue to take him.
And we hope, that if you’re able, you take your little ones to things too.
All of the things.
Good luck.