The Silver Screen Issues

Yesterday evening I went to watch a really disappointing remake of Footloose at the cinema with two of my siblings and their partners.  Besides from having extremely annoying guys sitting behind me whose ideal job would be Sports Commentators, as well as the movie sucking big time, there was one other thing I want to complain about.

This cinema in particular provides booster seats for children - that is something pretty awesome.  Back in my day, we used to have to balance on the folded-up seat and try not to fall off it in order to be able to get a better view of the screen.  The one thing this cinema does not provide, is a nappy changer.

At first I  thought that it could be located in the disabled toilets, so I checked. Nope, no luck there.

Now I understand people rolling their eyes and thinking that a movie theatre is no place for babies. Fair enough.  Potty training can start as early as when the child is 18 months of age.  However, you still find 2 or 3 year olds in nappies when out/  Potty training is messy and a lot of parents don't want to risk accidents happening when out and about.

There is no minimum age limit to go to a cinema.  After all, movies marked as Universal are appropriate for all ages.  Why shouldn't a toddler be taken to a cinema? If they can sit still through a movie, why not?  I just feel that a nappy changing facility would be appropriate to have if you're trying to have a young target audience amongst your clientele.

I'll protect you from the hooded claw, Keep the vampires from your door.

Baby Proofing your house will be a nightmare - so get help.  I'm still in the process of accomplishing Baby Proofing Nirvana myself as it is a rather lengthy process.  There are so many things we take for granted that once you begin taking into consideration all them tiny details, it can become rather overwhelming.

The most important things to begin with are having clear floors.  It will be a few months before Baby will start crawling.  Clear floors also means super-clean floors.  If cost is not that much of an issue, and you live in a building with tiled floors, I'd advise you to get one of them "magic brooms" that make sweeping the floors a much easier task.  That way, if you don't have the time and/or energy to wash the floors everyday, you'll at least have pretty clean floors anyway.  When it comes to washing floors, you might wish to invest in a good mop.  It speeds up the process both when it comes to cleaning and to the floors drying up.

Make sure to pick up every single tiny thing that is on the floor the moment you notice it.  This can be coins, beads, candy wrappers, a piece of string, a button - you name it.  As a generic rule of thumb, if something is smaller than the hollow bit in the cardboard roll of toilet paper, then it presents a choking hazard.

Cover up any unused electric sockets with a child-proof cover.  This will minimise the chances of accidental electrocution. Also, tie up any loose wires that might be dangling like vines in a jungle under your desk.  Your Baby will soon turn into Tarzan if allowed.

Put nonslip mats in bathtub and on the floor next to the tub.  Make sure all toiletries and out of children's reach. And make it a habit to put the toilet lid down when not in use.


The more mobile your child becomes, the more precautions you will need to take. Here is a pretty extensive check-list that will help you ensure everything is taken care of.

For other Safety-related blog entries, clicky here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Once bitten, Twice shy

I've always been a dog person.  I grew up with dogs and to me, a house without a dog is just that - a house, not a home.  Unfortunately, rental properties rarely allow pets, so at the moment, my canine family members reside at my parents' house - and my sister's resides at my grandma's.

about 2 years ago or so - Whiskey & Cara  [courtesy of my sis]

I am aware that introducing a new family member can be an awkward situation - especially when it comes to babies and dogs.  I've been asking around to see how different people coped with the intros.  I've been given more or less the same kind of advice by both pet-owners as well as people who work with animals.

I don't know if their advice will work - as in my case I have three dogs to introduce Creature to.  I am not really concerned about Whiskey and Cara - they are very outgoing dogs.  Whiskey is extremely friendly and energetic, but very obedient as well.  He is used to not jumping up to greet me nowadays whenever I see him, so   I don't think it will be an issue walking in my parents' house with Creature.  

Although people may say it is a bad idea to ever trust an animal - I do trust Whiskey.

Cara, on the other hand, is more shy in her approach but she is still very friendly.  Being a small dog means I'm not overly concerned by her jumping up to greet me as with her forelegs outstretched she barely reaches my knee anyway.  I find her trustworthy as well.

Whiskey & Cara

The one dog I am a bit concerned about is my sister's dog.  I never trusted him - for some reason he has a very odd character.  He can quite easily snap at you for no apparent reason at all - quite a moody dog.  When I voiced my concern to my sisters, they both said we would need to keep an eye out to ensure things run smoothly.  I am not sure how to proceed though.  I myself have been snapped at by this dog - and all I did was try to pet him.  I happened to be sitting at the table when this happened - he clearly was wanting food, not to be petted.  Other family members have been snapped at but thankfully no one has been actually injured.  I'm just worried that the injured person will end up being Creature - you can't really tell a baby/toddler not to be all fussy around a certain animal and expect them to obey.

It is a bit of a dead end as I don't know how to go on about this issue.  I'm guessing my best bet would be to keep Creature as far away from this grumpy dog as much as I can - this though would mean that whenever my female siblings, or my mum, would be babysitting Creature, it would need to be done either in my own home, or at my parents' house.  This is quite unrealistic since my Grandma needs to be looked after as well.  It is why I'm stumped.

Enough rambling, anyway.  What I've been advised to do is to get someone to take home a piece of clothing, or a burp cloth for example, which has been used by Creature and give it to said dogs to sniff at.  This would help them familiarise themselves with Creature's scent before taking him/her home.  I'll be giving that a try and see how it goes.

In the meanwhile, here is a site I found with some guidelines of how to prepare well in advance for similar circumstances.  I've only mentioned the one solution of sorts as that is the only one applicable to myself since I don't live 24/7 with the aforementioned Dog-people.

What's this? What's this? There's colour everywhere!

Them little sprogs are expensive.  That is a known fact.  So, why not spare yourself unnecessary expenses whilst you still can?

Toys are a necessity for Baby's learning process - however in this day and age where technology rules, even a simple newborn-friendly toy can cost an arm and a leg.  We're all so focused on being up-to-date with the latest gadgets that we forget our childhood favourites were probably the most inexpensive toys of them all.

I've been looking up fun stuff to do, and inexpensive toys to acquire, whilst I still can.  Here's a list of fun ideas for Baby and you!


Anything
Seriously.  Look around you and choose a few items, then show them to Baby.  Take your time and allow Baby to observe them properly, whilst you explain what the item is.  Repetition at this stage is important, not boring.  So don't despair if you don't really have a lot of Baby-safe things.

Baby him/herself
Having a sister 9 years younger than me means I've had daily exposure to a Baby already.  One of my favourite memories from both my childhood and from interacting with my sister back then was simply playing tickling games, or pointing out different body parts, or peek-a-boo.

My mum still recalls quite fondly the hours we used to spend playing peek-a-boo back in the day.  Only in my case, the words to accompany the game were "Open" and "Closed".

Songs and handplay are fun and will last for a good number of years, especially once Baby knows what the words mean.


Paper

It isn't just Micah who is featured in the above video that finds tearing up paper amusing.  It seems to give babies a sense of satisfaction to create permanent change in such a simple manner.


This means one thing - keep all important paperwork out of Baby's reach.

Torches

Besides from being a convenient tool to have lying around, a torch can provide various sources of amusement.  Babies can find it fascinating just to see the light going on and off, to begin with.  Followed by chasing the light, and later on, playing with creating shadow puppets.

Boogie!
This is probably one of the cheapest source of amusement of them all Crank up the volume to your - that's yours and Baby's - favourite tunes and dance all over the place with Baby in your arms.  As s/he grows older, the dancing will evolve in something s/he'll be able to do unassisted. 


Travels
Most babies tend to like the whole travelling experience - so if you drive, sometimes all it takes to amuse your wee one is to go for  a ride.  If you, like me, don't drive, you can either ask someone to be the chauffeur or hop on a bus and make sure Baby can watch the changing scenery.


Also, a trip to the airport to watch planes take off and land can be quite amusing!



Boxes & Wrapping Paper
Sometimes people end up being disappointed when they give some expensive toy to Baby and s/he seems to be more interested in the wrapping paper and/or box it came in than the toy itself.

Wrapping paper is all colourful and provides different textures for Baby to be fascinated with.  If you give a gift to a baby, make sure it is wrapped - that is probably the only time in a person's life where they'll truly appreciate the wrapping paper.

Boxes, or the other hand, are marvellous.  They can provide endless hours of fun for children up until  their late childhood years.  After all, a box is rarely ever a box.  It can be a hide-out, a ship, a car, a plane, a train, a house, a workshop bench, a shop counter and a million other fun things!

Canned Foods
To tie in with the above-mentioned boxes, once your child is older, they may enjoy playing Make Believe and pretend to be a shop keeper.  I know it used to be one of my childhood favourites, much to my mum's desperation at seeing the larder being emptied, only to have to reshelve everything all over again once play-times were over and done with.

Building a fort
Be it a pillow fort, or a makeshift tent, this tends to be a childhood favourite with young children.  I must admit I still love the idea myself up to this very day and age!

There are a lot more games that are inexpensive and fun - all you have to do is let your imagination run wild.  If your imagination isn't as fertile, or you get stumped, a quick Google search will provide you with several ideas.  In the meanwhile, you can clicky here for a never-ending list of ideas.

Enjoy playtimes! I know I will!

I'll be going through changes

Becoming a parent is one hell of a big change. "No shit, Sherlock," I hear you say.

Seriously though. It is a HUGE change. If you previously were fine with living in an organised chaos, you will now have to get used to keeping the organised chaos out of toddler's reach. If you hated Xmas and the decorations and carols and all that jazz, you're screwed. You will now be expected to decorate your house, go overboard with gifts, set up Xmas stockings, suffer in silence and mentally envision the tragic death of all those people responsible for teaching your child all those horrible Xmas Carols. If you hated the idea of spending a day at the beach.. again, you're screwed. You will get to spend literally, a day at the beach, in the company of endless beach toy supplies, sun block, water mattresses, swimming aids, snorkeling gear, and more likely than not, a tantrum at the end of the day thrown as loudly as possible by an overtired child who doesn't want the day to end.

You will also get to annually be around dozens of screaming, sticky children, frantically trying to prevent them from destroying your house. Gods forbid you have a clown phobia! You'll be bound to be forced to face your phobia, for your child's sake. And, you will have to succumb into being The One To Sing The First Note Of 'Happy Birthday'. Over and over again.

The best part of it all?  Getting to not only listen to the aforementioned annoying songs when they are justified, but also listening to them over and over again all year round.

The Reason Behind Embarrassing Baby Photos

At this time of the year, a lot of parents seem to have the brilliant idea of dressing up their babies/toddlers/children in all sorts of Seasonal Costumes.  Looking at the pictures, one might say "What on Earth were they thinking?! Poor child! The embarrassment!!"

That, is exactly what they're thinking. Embarrassing the child is exactly the purpose.  After all, one has to start early building up blackmail material against their own offspring!  How else will they successfully manage to embarrass their child when s.he brings home their partner in years to come?

Becoming a parent pretty much gives us the opportunity for payback.  We all have that embarrassing photo where we're butt naked in the bath tub, or wearing some silly outfit, or perhaps even wearing a bowl - or Gods forbid, our own potty - as a hat!  If you're lucky enough to have a sibling, they may take advantage of these photos and use them as blackmail material against you themselves! Maybe even end up putting them online! The horror!!

This, is why parents do it.  It is a vicious cycle of sorts.

Hell, I know I look forward to it myself!

This is no place for children!

Before getting pregnant, I was one of those people who would grumble if I happen to be anywhere public - like a restaurant or cafeteria - which features a screaming baby/toddler. "This is no place for a child. Why don't they get someone to babysit? Or check in advance whether it is a child-friendly environment?" I'd say to whoever happens to be with me.

I'm sure the majority - or at least, a fair number - would have checked in advance - had they had the opportunity to do so.  I have yet to see on a website any mention of whether the restaurant/cafe' is child-friendly or not [excluding places such as McDonald's/Burger King where one takes these things for granted].  Making a "quick phone call" might be  the last thing the parent[s] find time for - considering how demanding children can be, and how many things said parent needs to remember to juggle.  Also, sometimes, you just want to go some place with the child. Or, a baby sitter is not an option [due to lack of contacts/funds/pick-up and drop-off arrangements].

You don't really look out for ramps that will make entrance with a pushchair/pram easier, or baby changers, or high chairs, unless you're either pregnant, or have children of your own.  I've been trying to keep track of which places have the aforementioned facilities, and which don't.  Needless to say, I'm failing as I have become rather forgetful. Perhaps, I should start writing these things down [if I remember].

My suggestion to the catering/entertainment establishments is this:
Put it in writing. Any child-related facilities existing in your establishment should be promoted on your websites. It will be good for business - both in setting all customers' expectations, as well as attracting new business.

Bottom line? Simple. Help us help you.